Category Archives: Certification schemes

The Benefits of Certification

The vast majority of certified companies seek certification because a major customer either requires it, or at least strongly favours suppliers that are certified. In other words it is a pre-selection criteria on more lucrative contracts. This applies most often in B2B supply chains Continue reading

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What will an auditor accept?

A few days ago an old acquaintance called Pat (we go way back) called me up for a piece of advice. She wanted to rejig the way she did her internal audits and asked me if her auditor (from BSI, as it happens, although that is by the by) would accept the changes she wanted to make, or would he judge it to be non-conforming. I get asked similar questions quite often and, sadly, there is only one answer … However there is a solution and this is it. Continue reading

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The real benefits of ISO 9001 certification

ISO 9001, that part of the ISO 9000 series that defines the quality management system requirements, clearly means many things to many people. There are certainly people with a vested interest in promoting its virtues and (sometimes) overstating its merits in the process. There are also some very vociferous opponents, including some career critics who have made a good living from disparaging it. But let’s try to be objective and think things through clearly Continue reading

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Are 3rd party audits actually 1st party audits?

I’ve been thinking. Isn’t that more or less how 3rd party certification audits are positioned and dressed up these days? In fact, they even refer to the certified entity as “the client” (the person requesting the audit). They seem happy to flaunt the consultancy they often perform in tandem with the assessment, so certification bodies are hardly independent any more Continue reading

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Certification – Who is the customer?

I am hoping the story that has broken relating to the PIP implants and TUV Rheinland will bring this debate into a sharper focus and, again hopefully, clarify the whole point of conformity assessment … The gist is that TUV Rheinland issued the safety certificates relating to the infamously faulty and dangerous PIP breast implants and a French court has held them liable for (at the time of writing) about £150 million in compensation for their dereliction of duty Continue reading

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