Financial Times

ISO 1900 "a mere badge on the wall"
Many unacceptable activities have crept into the quality certification process making it more commercially oriented, warned a top quality management specialist.
Dr. Srilal de Silva President of the Sri Lanka Association for Quality (SLAQ) added that certification bodies, trainers and consultants have made large sums of money at the expense of organisations receiving certification, but the services have become meaningless.

He was speaking at the SLAQ's launch in Colombo of the ISO 9000 Forum Sri Lanka. This forum will assist business organizations to save time, energy and money in finding practical answers to the many questions that arise when taking up the ISO 9000 challenge, a SLAQ statement said.

The surveys conducted by UNDP and other organizations in Sri Lanka have indicated that ISO 9000 certifications had limited benefits. This situation had led to possibly increasing the overall costs and organizations becoming less competitive. Some organizations had given up this system due to increased cost de-motivation of staff and added confusion.

Dr. De Silva explained that ISO 9000 Quality Management Systems is a very good system with over 500,000 certificates being issued so far all over the world. He said the standard is expected to bring both external and internal benefits to an organization.

He noted that over 500 certifications are issued in Sri Lanka and many of the organisations had focussed on marketing advantages, which is identified as the major benefit. The permanent benefits such as improved productivity, motivation, improved working environment were not achieved by many of these organizations, while the cost had increased. The added certification fees, documentation and consultancy and other operational costs had come in with no real benefit in terms of reduced wastage, motivation of staff etc.

He said as the first Lead auditor for ISO 9000 certification in Sri Lanka and also as the person responsible for large-scale certification and popularising ISO 9000 certification in Sri Lanka, he was unhappy over the new trends emerging in certification activities in Sri Lanka.

Many unacceptable activities had crept into the certification process making this process more commercially oriented. De Silva quoting 'Quality World', the journal issued by the Institute of Quality Assurance in United Kingdom which said the ISO 9000 certificate has become a mere badge on the wall.

He also drew attention to the editorial of the latest issue of 'Quality Today', a SLAQ journal which highlights some unacceptable practices in certification activities. Members of the ISO 9000 Forum will be entitled to discounts on the ISO 9000 News and new editions of the ISO 9000 series, savings on attendance fee for Annual ISO 9000 Forum applications symposia, discounts on training on ISO 9000 related activities and publicity in the letter heads. Many other benefits will be made available to members in the future.

Further details on the Forum could be obtained from the Program Coordinator, ISO 9000 Forum Sri Lanka, Sri Lanka Association for Quality, 103/1/1, Issipatana Mawatha, Colombo 5. Email: quality1@sltnet.lk Tel 2506440 and Fax: 2506440.

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