Representative of AKMS to Al-Hayat: The Kingdom Needs Initiative to “Circulate Quality”
04 Jul 2007Jeddah – Abdullah AbulGhani
The ISO Technical Committee #176, which is considered the most important committee of the International Organization for Standardization (ISO), has issued new recommendations on ISO specifications 9001 and 9004, with the aim of raising the level of credibility of companies that have been granted related certificates. This took place during its meeting in the Finnish capital Helsinki recently, with the participation of more than 120 quality experts representing 45 nations and international professional organizations.
Khaled Abu-Osbeh, the representative of the Arab Knowledge and Management Society (AKMS) affiliated with Talal Abu-Ghazaleh & Co. Consulting who participated in the meeting stated: “The recommendations that were issued stressed that consulting companies who were granted the specification need to verify appliance based on the system, and those who were granted the certificate need to apply the specifications properly.” He added that the new release of specification 9001 didn’t include many revisions, so the timeline for releasing the specification was adjusted to August 2008.
Abu-Osbeh clarified that the status of ISO in the Kingdom is still modest in comparison with the developing countries. Statistics issued by ISO at the end of 2005 show that the number of companies that obtained the ISO 9001 certificate were 776,608, with China being in the lead globally with 143 thousand companies which are ISO certified, followed by Italy and Japan respectively. The number of Saudi companies that obtained the ISO certificate are only 642, which is a low percentage when compared with developing countries that have less capabilities such as Egypt that has 1362 companies, India at 24,660, Iran at 3090, Pakistan at 2013 and the UAE at 963 companies. He attributed the lack of Saudi companies applying for the ISO certificate to a lack of awareness needed to enhance technical and specialized consultative skills in preparing quality systems. The systems in place currently, primarily address developing quality in the industrial sector, without paying much attention to the certificate’s implications with regards to the services sector. Further, there seems to be a tendency to re-issue the certificates to those companies that previously held them, such as Sabec, Aramco and some food processing companies that were able to compete by attaining the quality system global certificate. Other such companies include those in the petrochemical industries, mining and foodstuffs.
He added that the prevalent thinking with some companies that were hesitant to get the ISO certification was a fear of increased working expenses. The reality though is contrary to this he stated, citing that the associated costs are very low in comparison with the benefits reaped from applying the quality system in the company. The costs to prepare the system and get certification for small to medium-sized companies is less than 100,000 Saudi Riyals, and may exceed this slightly if technical adjustments at the company are required, which happens only 5% of the time or less with companies applying the system. Abu-Osbeh elaborated: “Companies in the market that monopolize don’t care about development of services and quality, using the excuse that there is no real competition out there. Perhaps the most important factor in drawing the attention of Saudi companies to the (significance of) the system is in our joining the World Trade Organization (WTO). This is because cancelling the tariffs between WTO members is dependent on adherence to technical prerequisites, which is the main standard in facilitating multilateral trade.”
He pointed out that companies using this system were able in a short period of time to reduce costs, increase sales via improving productive quality, increase internal control and provide the necessary expertise for their employees, all of which led to improving their reputation at a global level.
He added that although abiding by this system is voluntary, it is expected that in the case it is circulated throughout the kingdom via the national initiative to promote awareness, it will raise opportunities for companies to export by as much as 25%. Also, obtaining ISO certification is considered the first step in the transformation of family businesses in the process of separating ownership from management, due to what this certification demands as far as procedural and systematic changes are concerned.
Follow us
