Monarcas Morelia Wins the Quality Soccer Match
The Mexican Football Federation (FMF) soccer team, Monarcas Morelia, has earned ISO 9001 registration for its Basic Forces (youth seed team), administration and stadium.
Monarcas Morelia is owned by TV Azteca, which is owned by Grupo Salinas (GS) a $3.1 billion conglomerate traded on the Mexican Bolsa and New York Stock exchanges. Other subsidiaries, also registered to the ISO 9001 standard, include TV Azteca, Azteca America, Grupo Elektra, Banco Azteca, Afore Azteca, Seguros Azteca, Unefon, Iusacell, Movil@ccess, Todito.com and Telecosmo. Monarcas Morelia belongs to the 19-team First Division professional soccer league. The team plays 34 seasonal games per year. Credit for GS's quality vision goes to the late José Ignacio Morales, former chief financial officer (CFO) of TV Azteca and IUSACELL. After spearheading the drive for a Quality Management System (QMS) and ISO 9001 registration at TV Azteca, Morales and GS Financial Director, Jorge García de la Vega, became leaders of a quality team that guided registration at other GS subsidiaries.
When Dávila took the helm of Monarcas Morelia six years ago, the team was at the bottom of the Mexican league. Since implementing quality processes, Monarcas Morelia won the Mexican Soccer Championship for the first time in history and later finished in second place. Eight months after developing its QMS, the Monarcas Morelia earned a profit for its TV Azteca shareholders.
Why would a soccer team have a QMS, and why would they seek ISO 9001 registration? According to majority shareholder and company founder Ricardo B. Salinas Pliego, "Every Grupo Salinas company must create value, and Monarcas Morelia is no exception."
Morales had taught the company that a QMS created value. He believed that ISO 9001 registration added even more value because it provided independent, third party registration of the QMS. Registration also compels managers to seek continuous improvement and customer satisfaction.
Dávila believes all soccer teams must develop a QMS and seek third-party recognition before the sport can once again become a respected, family-friendly institution. "We need to make it (soccer) a gentlemen's sport again, with fair play, and teams behaving as rivals, not enemies," said Dávila.
Soccer fans and other stakeholders demand continual improvement and customer satisfaction. The language is universal: fans demand the components found in ISO 9001.
Click here to see all Customer Success stories