Everyone at Solar Solve Ltd was delighted but not surprised when they were told that the company had recently been successfully certified to the new ISO 9001:2015 standard by ABS Quality Evaluations.
ISO 9001 was first published in 1987 by the International Organization for Standardization (ISO), an international agency composed of the national standards bodies of more than 160 countries. It is the international standard that specifies requirements for a quality management system (QMS). Organizations use the standard to demonstrate the ability to consistently provide products and services that meet customer and regulatory requirements. It is the most popular standard in the ISO 9000 series and the only standard in the series to which organizations can certify.
The current version of ISO 9001 was released in September 2015 and contains amendments that are intended to ensure it continues to adapt to the changing environments in which organizations operate, including an emphasis on risk-based thinking and increased leadership requirements.
Chairman John Lightfoot commented, “Way back in 1991, when my daughter Julie joined the company, she was given the task of getting the business accredited to the Quality Assurance Standard BS 5750-1:1987 (Quality systems. Specification for design/development, production, installation and servicing). It was a tall order and just part of her many responsibilities but working with an advisor we were successfully certified with BSI in 1993.”
“A lot has happened since then, including the fact that in 24 years no external auditor has ever raised a Non-Conformity as a result of an audit and our Quality Assurance Certification is now with American Bureau of Shipping (ABS))”.
“Solar Solve’s Quality Officer, Mark Weatherburn; Internal Quality Auditor, Carl Johnson and all of the Solar Solve Team, who are totally committed to Quality Assurance, have my sincere thanks for the way in which they embrace this very important aspect of the company. The Board are very proud of them.”
After the recent audit at Solar Solve’s South Shields based headquarters, the auditor’s observations included remarks such as ‘The company management system was found to be very comprehensive and covered all activities on site’; ‘the Quality System continues to demonstrate high integrity and robustness’; ‘very effective controls observed to be in place, particularly in shop floor/production activities’; ‘Administrative areas were found to be extremely well organised with excellent housekeeping throughout’.
