Applied Industrial Technologies (Cleveland, Ohio) reports it has achieved audited ISO 9002 compliance at all of its 419 facilities in the United States. Applied operates over 460 facilities in the U.S., Canada, Puerto Rico and Mexico.

81 of the 419 are fully certified and registered under ISO 9002.

The difference between ISO-registered certification and ISO "compliance" is that ISO "compliant" locations have not undergone official certification audits by a RAB-certified auditor. Instead, Applied fielded its own internal ISO audit staff, using the same audit criteria and procedures as the RAB-certified auditors.

ISO compliance, as certified by an internal audit staff, is often accepted by customers as equivalent to ISO certification. This is especially true, as in Applied's case, when that customer may also be using one of Applied's fully ISO registered facilities. Alternately, a customer may send in its own audit staff to verify compliance in those areas it believes are most important.

The main reason most companies seek to prove ISO compliance rather than pursue ISO certification is the cost. Full ISO certification and registration by a certified auditor can easily cost hundreds of thousands of dollars. In most cases, the cost and business disruption is simply not justified unless a key customer demands full certification at a specific location.

Applied indicates it is ready for that possibility. "Becoming compliant means each location could quickly become registered should a customer make the request," said President and CEO Bill Purser.