Century International Arms Seeks to Improve Their Quality Systems and Results

Century International Arms is an importer and manufacturer of firearms, based in Fairfax, Vermont, providing unique, affordable and innovative products to the collector, hunter and target shooter. They market their products to the US Consumer and US Government. The company was founded in 1961 in St. Albans, Vermont. In addition to the Vermont facility, sales and customer service offices are located in Florida. The Vermont facility employees 200 FTE. 

Century International Arms was seeking to pursue ISO 9001:2015 certification to improve business systems and results. They wished to be ready for their registration audit in early 2018 and preferred to be trained and coached to develop and implement a quality management system that worked for their team.  To achieve this, the team at Century International Arms contacted the Vermont Manufacturing Extension Center (VMEC), a NIST MEP affiliate.

VMEC’s suggested their ISO 9001 Collaborative Program, which allows small-medium size companies to undertake the certification preparation process with the necessary support from a team of experts but also train teams and develop an ISO 9001 compliant management system. The collaborative is a unique, workshop-based program where companies work together to upgrade or develop their Quality Management Systems to ISO 9001:2015 Standard for compliance and/or registration. The collaborative focuses on providing systems, documentation and training in a classroom setting as well as on-site consultation for companies wanting or needing to comply with ISO 9001. Six full-day classroom sessions and an equal number of on-site sessions helped Century International Arms develop and implement an ISO compliant quality management system, and prepare for their registration audit.