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Home > Featured Stories > Engaging Society > August 2007 > Certified for Seven-Digit SalesCertified for Seven-Figure Sales
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Bolts of yarn await the start of the weaving process in a North Carolina textile mill.
The clock was ticking for Carolina Narrow Fabric Company, which was just days away from losing their biggest client.
“We had to get ISO 9000 certification or lose the customer,” said Joe Cashion, Carolina Narrow quality control manager. International Organization for Standardization (ISO) certification demonstrates that a company has reached an internationally recognized standard of quality that must be documented and implemented according to strict standards. Clients, like Carolina Narrow's customer, often require ISO certification before doing business with vendors and suppliers.
Cashion turned to the Industrial Extension Service, NC State University’s outreach arm and front line for economic development that provides a range of business support counseling and expertise. Agents work with clients all over the state, helping them build successful plans and rebuild processes.
Cashion and other employees from Carolina Narrow signed up for the ISO 9000 Technical Assistance Program taught by IES specialist Phil Mintz. “IES came in and acted as our guides,” Cashion said. “That’s good. They didn’t do the work for us. They helped us learn how to do it ourselves.”
Less than two hours after he received the registered letter announcing Carolina Narrow’s ISO certification, Cashion got a call from the client. “He said he had to find someone else if we didn’t have it,” Cashion said. “I had the letter in my hand; we saved about $2 million in annual sales.”
IES works to transform knowledge into economic value by stimulating financial growth in North Carolina. 1B4NC—One Billion For North Carolina—is IES’ five-year plan to create $1 billion in economic impact for the state by 2010. IES’ work has already generated almost $200 million in overall impact.
