Certification quality

Jahn G., Schramm M., Spiller A., 2005, The Reliability of Certification Quality Labels as a Consumer Pohcy Tool, Journal of Consumer Policy, 28( 1) 53-73. 

Publication Doc. 70/99/E Carbon Dioxide Source Certification, Quality... 

Bernstein, M. D. and L. W. Yoder. 1998. Power Boilers A Guide to Section 1 of the ASME Boiler and Pressure Vessel Code, New York American Society of Mechanical Engineers. Focuses entirely on design considerations related to power boilers and their attachments. Materials, piping, fabrication and welding, testing, inspection, certification, quality control, safety, and potential causes of damage or failure are all covered. 

The use of these techniques is an important element of industrial policy since they contribute to the creation of a business friendly regulatory environment allowing the combination of measures taken for internal organisational reasons and obligations of certification without lowering the level of safety to be achieved. Wlienever possible a choice between product control and quality assurance procedures is offered to manufacturers. 

A final component of a quality control program is the certification of an analyst s competence to perform the analysis for which he or she is responsible. Before an analyst is allowed to perform a new analytical method, he or she may be required to successfully analyze an independent check sample with acceptable accuracy and precision. The check sample should be similar in composition to samples that the analyst will routinely encounter, with a concentration that is 5 to 50 times that of the method s detection limit. 

Internal methods of quality assessment should always be viewed with some level of skepticism because of the potential for bias in their execution and interpretation. For this reason, external methods of quality assessment also play an important role in quality assurance programs. One external method of quality assessment is the certification of a laboratory by a sponsoring agency. Certification is based on the successful analysis of a set of proficiency standards prepared by the sponsoring agency. For example, laboratories involved in environmental analyses may be required to analyze standard samples prepared by the Environmental Protection... 

Ceitification and records for components and materials. The examiner shall be assured, by examination of certification, records, or other evidence, that the materials and components are of the specified grades and that they have received reqiiired heat treatment, examination, and testing. The examiner shall provide the inspec tor with a certification that all quality-control requirements of the code and of the engineering design have been met. 

The assessor should establish what percentages of key tollers do have an ISO 9000 series quality assurance system or other. Check whether the purchasing function has copies of certification including scope of certification. 

This section covers only the tests that are essential on a completed motor, irrespective of the manufacturing procedure and stage quality checks. If ISO 9000 guidelines are assimilated, practised and enforced by a manufacturer so that a customer s trust is obtained, a final pre-despatch inspection by the customer may not be necessary. The customer, having gained confidence in the practices and Quality Assurance Systems of the manufacturer, may issue an authorization to the manufacturer to despatch the material under their own inspection certificate, rather than an inspection by the customer. We discuss below the test requirements procedure and the acceptance norms prescribed by various national and international standards for such machines and adopted by various manufacturers. 

Philosophy of quality systems Testing of electrical machines Procedure for testing Load test No-load test Tolerances in test results Certification of motors used in hazardous locations... 

The advent of ISO 9000 certification has helped bring the quality issue to a focus. While ISO 9000 emphasis is on documentation of methodology and performance to the documented methods, the discipline that results is a direct step toward improvements in reliability. Out of this seems to come a goal of continuous improvement. This is a sharp contrast to the high growth era that took place in the early 1980s when poor quality on the part of the equipment suppliers was a significant factor in the lack of reliability at the field operation level. 

Prior to the publication of ISO 9000, several nations had developed national quality system standards, with many used only in the procurement of military equipment. With the emergence of the NATO Quality Control System standards in 1973, the Quality Panel of the UK Society of Motor Manufacturers set out to develop an equivalent standard for non-military applications. The result was BS 4891, which was published in 1972. In 1974 this was followed by BS 5179 with the title Operation and Evaluation of Quality Assurance Systems. However, BS 5179 was intended only as a guide and it was not until 1979, with the publication of BS 5750, that major purchasers in the UK had a standard that could be invoked in contracts. A certification scheme was eventually established in 1983, following the UK government s white paper on competitiveness ... 

In 1991, the Verband der Automobilindustrie e. V. (VDA) published VDA 6.1, Quality Spstem Audit, a questionnaire on quality system evaluation based on DIN EN ISQ 9004. VDA 6 is a series of guides covering the basics for quality audits, auditing, and certification. They were therefore not intended as supplementary requirements to ISQ 9000 but as guides for auditors performing audits of automotive suppliers. Their intention was to improve auditor competency in the industry by providing a uniform interpretation of ISQ 9000 requirements and a common approach to automotive audits. VDA 6.1 has been revised several times and is currently in its fourth edition. There are nine volumes in the series (see Appendix A). 

ISO Guide 62 1996 General requirements for bodies operating assessment and certification/registration of quality systems... 

General criteria for certification bodies operating quality system certification... 

Currently a supplier supplying customers in the USA and Europe needs to seek certification to QS-9000 and either VDA 6.1, AVSQ 94, or EAQF 94. Within Europe, certification to any one of the three European quality system requirements is, at least in theory, recognized by customers in the other countries. 

The certification business has grown enormously in the last ten years. The International Accreditation Forum (lAF) recorded 616 accredited certification bodies in January 1999. The experience of the vehicle manufacturers with ISO 9000 certification led them to question the wisdom of so many certification bodies chasing the same business in a competitive market. The results seemed to indicate that cost reductions by the certification bodies led to a decline in the quality of auditing and that was the opposite of what the vehicle manufacturers wanted. The vehicle manufacturers had not seen a significant rise in product quality as a result of ISO 9000 and they believed this was partially due to the quality of the accreditation and certification schemes being operated as well as inadequacies in the quality system standard. When the four national automotive schemes were launched, great emphasis was placed on regulating more closely the accreditation and certification schemes. From a customer perspective, the ISO 10011 scheme had some particular problems ... 

In brief, the auditor has to be qualified by lATF to perform the audits and, to be eligible for qualification, the auditor has to be sponsored by an lATF-approved certification body that is subject to witness audits performed by qualified auditors from vehicle manufacturers. Such measures will inevitably improve the quality of certification offered by certification bodies and will be good for the global automotive industry. 

Most certification body auditors who are currently performing audits against one or more of the national automotive quality system requirements (QS-9000, VDA 6, AVSQ, or EAQF) will qualify. To qualify, auditors need to ... 

The entire quality system shall be assessed at a minimum of once every three years. The audit plan for a supplier has to cover all requirements, all sites, all locations, all operations, all functions, all customers, all processes, all procedures at least once in a three-year cycle, unless it is an upgrade certification (see clause 4.6). Hence the sample of operations taken on each audit has to cover at least Veth of the whole. 

The audit plan must include all elements of the supplier s quality system that meet the needs of those customers recognizing ISO/TS 16949 certification of their suppliers, even when these requirements go beyond ISO/TS 16949. 

If your organization is registered to one or more of the existing automotive quality system requirements and the scope is unchanged, the required man-days for the initial audit may be reduced by 50%, but if you decide to change certification body or have changed the scope, there will be no reduction. 

Declare the intentions regarding the use of a documented quality system and its certification to national standards. 

You need to develop documented procedures that define your subcontractor evaluation and selection process and in certain cases this may result in several closely-related procedures for use when certain conditions apply. Do not try to force every purchase through the same selection process. Having purchasing policies that require three quotations for every purchase regardless of past performance of the current subcontractor is placing price before quality. Provide flexibility so that the policies and procedures complexity match the risks anticipated. Going out to tender for a few standard nuts and bolts would seem unwise. Likewise, placing an order for lm of equipment based solely on the results of a third party ISO 9000 certification would also seem unwise. 

This would check the certification status of the quality system, verifying that any certification was properly accredited. For non-ISO 9000 registered subcontractors, a quality system assessment may be carried out at this stage either to ISO 9000 or the customer s standards. 

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