1. Introduction
In
today's highly competitive market and uncertain
economic climate, quality has become a critical
factor for business success. The deciding factor for
customers often depends on the quality of a
company's product or service. One of the ways that
companies can demonstrate their ability to supply
quality products and services is to have a
well-managed, properly designed and certified
quality management system in place.
Implementing the ISO 9000
standards is a first step to setting up such a
system. ISO 9000 is a series of international
standards on quality management developed by the
Geneva-based International Organization for
Standardization (ISO) in 1987. It was developed to
assist companies to design, develop and implement
effective quality management systems.
ISO 9000 has been widely
adopted by more than 100 countries around the world
as their national standards. In fact, being ISO 9000
certified has become a minimum prerequisite for some
countries when assessing imports. This is because
many countries believe that the ISO 9000
certification demonstrates that the company
exporting the goods has met minimum quality
standards.
In Singapore, the ISO 9000
series of standards was adopted as the national
standards (SS ISO 9000) in 1988. Many companies have
since jumped on the certification bandwagon. Up to
December 2000, there are some 3000 ISO 9000
certificates issued in Singapore, up from a mere 50
in 1988
The ISO 9001: 2000 standard
was published in December 2000 and was adopted as a
Singapore standard by the end of December 2000. PSB
Certification has already certified several
companies to the new standard.
2. The PSB ISO 9000
Certification Scheme
PSB Certification Pte Ltd,
as Singapore's national certification body, leads
the way in ISO 9000 certification. PSB Certification
provides third-party ISO 9000 certification and is
the market leader in Singapore. It gives recognition
to companies that have properly designed and
implemented quality management systems. The scheme
is voluntary and the quality management systems of
companies are assessed and certified to the relevant
part of the SS ISO 9000 series of standards.
3. World-Class Standard and
Global Recognition for PSB ISO 9000 Certified
Companies
One of PSB Certification's
key roles is to ensure that export-oriented
companies can gain wider market access. All PSB
certified companies are of world-class standard and
are recognised globally for their achievements. The
high standards, credibility, worldwide recognition
and acceptance of PSB Certification services are
enhanced through:-
International
Accreditation
The ISO 9000
certification scheme is accredited by the Dutch
Council for Accreditation (Raad voor
Accreditatie- RvA) and the Singapore
Accreditation Council (SAC). PSB Certification
was also the first certification body to be
accredited by SAC.
The International
Certification Network (IQNet)
PSB Certification is
the Singapore representative in the
International Certification Network (IQNet), an
international fraternity of 29 major national
certification bodies from Europe, North America,
Australia and Asia. With its headquarters in
Switzerland, IQNet members have issued some 40%
of the total management system Certificates
issued worldwide.
IQNet member countries
include Japan Quality Assurance Organisation (JQA),
N.V. KEMA (Dutch), Korean Foundation for Quality
(KFQ), Quality Assurance Services (Australia),
Swiss Association for Quality and Management
Systems (SQS), DQS (Germany), AENOR (Spain), etc
4. The Professionalism,
Credibility and Competency of PSB Auditors
PSB Certification has one
of the largest pool of full-time qualified lead
auditors/auditors in the Asia Pacific region. The
auditors are highly professional, experienced,
trained, credible and competent to carry out quality
management systems audits on a wide range of
industrial sectors. PSB Certification's auditors
meet all requirements of the Institute of Quality
Assurance (IQA), International Register of
Certificated Auditors (IRCA) of the United Kingdom.
All auditors are registered with the IQA, IRCA and
in addition, a large number of them are approved
external auditors of other reputable overseas
certification bodies such as JQA (Japan), UL (USA)
and SQS (Switzerland).
5. Benefits of ISO 9000
Certification
Most users have obtained
measurable benefits early in the process of
deploying the standard requirements in their
operations. Some of the benefits that users obtained
are as follows:
-
a template for the creation of a sound quality
system and a foundation to develop future
quality initiatives
-
lower costs
-
improved customer satisfaction
-
greater brand loyalty
-
stronger market performance
-
an important step on the road to total quality
management.
-
help to identify best practice and ensure
everyone in the organisation are moving in the
same direction
-
transparent internal organization that is clear
to all employees.
-
a powerful management tool that complements
other key management functions such as financial
and strategic planning
-
help to capture corporate knowledge
