ISO 9001: Building Quality Together

How Sem Aardenburg puts quality management into practice

ISO 9001 helps Selmers further strengthen its quality management. With that goal in mind, the company launched its ISO 9001 programme, resulting in ISO 9001 certification in October 2025. Work Preparation & QA Officer Sem Aardenburg played a key role throughout the process alongside Operations Director and Quality Manager Ramon Keizer. “We wanted to further develop our quality management. ISO 9001 provides us with a solid framework to achieve that,” says Sem.

Sem first joined Selmers as an intern while studying Business Engineering. After his internship, he stayed on as a working student. Following graduation, he returned to Selmers. In his role as Work Preparation & QA Officer he is responsible for workshop planning, preparing production and quality related tasks. It’s the variety that appeals to him most. “I’m not sitting behind my desk all day. I’m constantly walking around, talking to colleagues, and every day is different.”

Building a solid foundation

Operations Director and Quality Manager Ramon Keizer started the ISO 9001 implementation in 2024. After returning to Selmers, Sem joined the project and took responsibility for much of the coordination. One of the biggest tasks was documenting the company’s business processes. Every department mapped its own way of working, from Sales through to Site and Global Service.

“It was a huge amount of work,” Sem explains “But now we have all our processes clearly documented, making them transparent and easy to follow throughout the organisation. That makes it much easier for new colleagues to get up to speed and helps us explain exactly how each process works.”

The work doesn’t stop there. Annual reviews ensure that Selmers continues to evaluate its processes critically and improve them wherever necessary.

Improving everyday practice

The ISO 9001 programme has already led to several practical improvements. One example is the checklist that now accompanies every machine leaving the workshop. Technicians go through all key checkpoints and record any remarks for the Site Manager. The completed checklist is attached to the machine in a sealed document pouch, allowing the Site Manager to see immediately which checks have been completed and whether any points require attention.

For Sem, quality should never become a paperwork exercise. “We don’t want to create documents simply for the sake of documentation. They have to provide information that people can actually use.”

Quality is built together

By involving colleagues from the very beginning, improvements become practical and widely supported.  “If you simply tell people, ‘This is how we’re going to do it,’ you’ll lose them. Together we look at what works and how we can make it even better.”

That approach fits the culture at Selmers. Everyone is encouraged to share ideas and contribute to improvements. As one of the younger colleagues, Sem works alongside employees with decades of experience. Even so, he has never felt that his age was a disadvantage during the ISO 9001 programme. “As long as you stay connected with people and listen to each other, it doesn’t matter whether you’ve just started or have been here for twenty years.”

For Sem, quality ultimately comes down to one simple principle: “Doing things right the first time and delivering something you can be truly proud of.”