1.CERTIFICATION

1.CERTIFICATION


1.1 Introduction


What does certification mean? Is it equal to the application of Integrated Quality Control? Is certification a guarantee of better product quality? Does certification add to the workload?




The decision to certify should be made step by step. Is the result positive, a plan should indicate the phases in which a certificate can be obtained.
Certification is also gowing more important in an European context. About 40 % of the products from industrial producers will be obliged to carry an EC-label. These producers must have a quality certificate on the basis of the ISO 9000 series.




1.2.Concepts


Certification and certification procedures.

The objective of certification can be described as giving certainty and/or confidence. The client can have more trust in the qualiy of the good he buys. A certificate is a document in which an independent organization states that the subject of the certification is in accordance with the Previously stated requirments.

The subject of certification does not necessarily need to be a product or service but it may also be a quality system or a proof of professional skills.
We have mentioned an independent organization.This organization should be independent from the supplier as well as from the consumer. Therefore a certification organization has always to deal with two parties.It should be clear to both the customer and the producer what the certificate includes. Questions to be asked are:

-The subject of certification: What product? What process? What quality system? What labour-skills?

-The requirements and methods of the investigations.

-The meaning of the certification.




1.Product certification


Product certification is the oldest manner of certification. It is based on an initial testing of the type of product. Product testing can be complemented by tests of the production process. Products are tested by taking samples, by taking a product from the buver\'s supplies or by taking products in the market. The frequency of testing is low because of costs. Product certification based on product testing and complemented by investigations into the functioning of the produecer\'s quality system provides more certainty. Modern forms of product certification usually have this combination. Examples in Holland are KOMO and KEMA.




2.Service certification


This is related to providing services such as garages and cleaning companies. Service certification is based on the investigations of the service possibly complemented by interviewing customers. Often the organization\'s quality system will be investigated.




3.Process certification


Process certification consists or process testing and an investigation of parts of the quality system. Process certification is necessary if the product properties cannot be measured. An example is the process by which wood is impregnated with chemicals in order to prolong its durability.




4.Quality system certification


This form of certification is based on audits taking the ISO 9000 norms as a guideline. Until now Quality System Certification is limited to the industrial market. For the consumer market this manner of certification has no meaning. Quality system certification is of importance in situations in which organizations want to order products or services which have to conform to certain requirements. The certificate serves to give confidence that a potential supplier can deliver according to certain rquirements. This does not exclude the possibility that the customer also implements his own tests. It should be remarked that quality system certification does not include independent testing and checks.The standards for quality system certification are the 9001, 9002 and 9003 norms. These are accepted world wide.



What are the advantages of an official certificate?

1.A system certicate can have a commercial value. Potential customers can have more cofidence in a company.

2.The system can improve the legal position of the organization in the case of a legal claim.

3.It can be motivating for the company\'s employees.

4.External quality checks may be committed which can save money.

5.There will be more insight in responsibilities and competences of employees. Often employees have to make decisions independently if such a system is applied.



Disadvantages

1. It is often said that the norms are outdated. They do not agree with the principles of Integrated Quality Management, like customer care and continious improvement. Quality is dynamic.

2. There is lot of paper work attached to quality management.

3. Certification may create false hope.Certification alone does not guarantee that the products are good.

4. Much effort is required in order to get a certificate. Consultants have to advise, later followed by certifiers.




1.2.Certifying institutions


Non-recognized certification means that the certification is executed by the company itself or by an interest group. A form of self-certifying is the so-called own-label. A form of interest group certifying is for example, in the Netherlands the wool brand or BOVAG.



The recognized form of certifying can be product service process or system certifying. The certifying institution is independent of the organization, supplier, customer and the consumer. If the management decides in favour of certification they have to decide on three questions:

1.What quality norm has to be chosen? ISO 9001,9002 or 9003?

2.What part of the organization should be certified. One product group or more?

3.What certifying institution should be chosen?

In Holland there is a Council for Certification which has a register of the certifying institutions. Certifying institutions have to be recognized by the Council.



How is a certification investigation carried out? The following approach of a certification investigation is usual. The team consists of one or more persons. One investigator may be an auditor. In investigation teams there is one lead auditor, the team leader. Independent material experts can be part of the team. This team undertakes a pre-qualification. This may consist of a review of the quality manual and a limited investigation of its functioning by observations and interviews. After the initial reporting the organization\'s management can still take correcting measures in order to remove shortcomings. During the main investigations thorough insight is obtained through means of interviews, observation and reviews of the documents into the functioning of the quality system. Most certifying institutions only report in reference to the norms (non-comppliances). Some certification institutions demand full comppliance with all norms, others see if a minimum score is achieved. If the company does not comply during the main investigations, some certifying institutions allow a second audit within a short period. The validity of the certificate is mostly three years.

After the certificate has been obtained an inspection visit will take place at least once a year, during which certain aspects will be again reviewed. Costs of the certifying investigation, depending on the organization\'s size and the certication institution, are between fl 25.000.- and fl 50.000,-.



In preparing a quality manual the following phases are of importance:

Phase 1. Prepare an organigram of the organization and state tasks and responsibilities of the employees;

Phase 2. Show the connections between the different departments, that is to say analyze their relations and record the input and output per department:

Phase 3. Make an inventory of the working methods per department and check the present procedures;

Phase 4. Prepare procedures and instructions:

Phase 5. Introduce the procedures and instructions by means or trial, information, evaluation and possible adaptation of the procedures and instructions and the final approval:

Phase 6. Prepare the quality manual.



The European regulators have introduced the CE label. The CE-label makes demands on the product\'s safety and demands on environmental and health risks. From 1995 about 40 % of products will have to carry this label. The CE-label is based on a quality system certificate from the ISO 9001 or 9002 series. Actually, it is a worldwide standard, since it has been issued by the International Standards Urganization ISO. However, this CE-label is not meant to inform the consumer but to lift trade impediments between the European Community and the EFTA-countries. These trade impediments could be created by countries imposed extra conditions on products in order to protect their home markets.



The relation between the CE-label and the ISO 9000 system certificate

In 1985 the European Commission decided that goods could be moved freely within the European Community. This means that products which are considered safe and harmless to health and the environment in one member state should that also be so considered in all others. Brussels issues EC-directives for groups of products. In these EC-directives three fundamental demands are mentioned. These EC-directives have to be incorporated into the national laws within a fixed period. These directives do not contain technical details of products. Fundamental requirements are usually rather global. Generally requirements for the usefullness of a product are not included in the directive. These requirements can voluntarily be added by the market partners. The European normalisation institutions CEN/CENELEC are drawing up these European norms, which have to be in accordance with the fundamental requirements. In practice, this means that suppliers of many goods to be exported must have a system certificate based on the ISO-PRODUCT LIABILITY



The law on product quality imposes conditions on the production process. Product liability means that the producer can be made responsible for damages caused by a defective product that is marketed. On the basis of this law the producer/supplier has to prove that an accident caused by his product has not been due to a defect of the product.

Control of design, manufacturing, delivery and installation can largely exclude a potential defect. An ISO 9000-certificate undoubtedly may offer advantages. Consequently, the preventive effect of such a certificate may fulfill a practical function. About 85 % of the defects in products is due to a malfunctioning of the system, thus organizational errors. The application of a quality system is directed to removing organizational errors. Regular auditing of the product and/or the quality system by an independent third party will reduce the chance of producing a defective product. The possibility of legal claims will also be reduced. For liability we should also know if the certificate refers to the product or the quality system. A product certificate tells something about the product, whereas the system certificate tells something about the quality warranty of the production process and only indirectly about the product. A product certificate is only allowed in the case of a final product control and may raise the expectations of the customer. These expectations can influence the supplier\'s liability.