Awards

Norstar Windows & Doors the largest company that manufactures and installs custom-made window products in the Hamilton-Wentworth and Halton regions. Selected by Profit Guide Magazine for 3 years as one of Canada’s Fastest Growing Companies.

In 2003 Norstar received many awards including: Outstanding Small Business by the Hamilton Chamber of Commerce, Corporate Citizen of the Year by the Stoney Creek Chamber of Commerce and Outstanding Small Business by the Ontario Chamber of Commerce.

Norstar Windows & Doors is the first ISO 9001:2000 certified registered company in Ontario, third in Canada and seventh in the world that manufacture and install windows and doors. ISO is a rigourous, thorough system of quality assurance standards for both manufacturing and service organizations. Intended to help companies improve internal processes by implementing effective quality management systems, the standards also give customers a way to compare when evaluating vendors.

What prompted us to opt for ISO 9001:2000?

We decided to implement ISO 9001 and obtain registration because it assures our customers that the company has a good Quality Management System (QMS) in place. An organization with an effective QMS will typically meet customer expectations better than an organization that does not have an effective QMS. It has also proven over the years that it leads companies to better operations, improved performance and improved profitablity.

We must respond to the quality expectations of our own customers. Our customer needs are better understood as customer feedback is sought, received and analyzed. Goals and objectives are adjusted based on this information and our organization becomes more customer driven.

The cornerstone of ISO is a comprehensive audit and documentation of objectives, production processes, quality policies, job descriptions, organization charts, customer requirements, quality control procedures and problem-solving methods. All this documentation results in clearly-stated quality control instructions that are implemented company-wide.

Internally, the formalization and standardization of processes helps employees become more productive. Increased productivity results from the intial evaluation and improvement of processes that occurs during the implementation process and from inproved training and qualification of employees. Better documentation or control of processes leads to consistency in performance, and less scrap and rework. This helps decrease the "frustration factor" and makes it easier for people to do their jobs more effectively and efficiently.

What it means to be ISO 9001:2008 certified

Increased productivity, better documentation and control of processes leads to consistency in performance, and less scrap and rework.

• Customer satisfaction increases are seen as Goals and Objectives and take the customer needs into account.
• Customer needs are better understood as customer feedback is sought, received and analyzed. Goals and objectives are adjusted based on the information and the organization becomes more customer driven.
• Goals are focused on the customer, the organization spends more time working together to meet customer needs.
• Well defined and documented procedures improve the consistency of output
• Quality is constantly being measured
• Defect rates decrease
• Defects are caught earlier and are corrected at a lower cost
• Lower production costs because of fewer nonconforming products, less rework, lowered rejection rates, streamlined processes and fewer mistakes.