The South African Association of Consulting Engineers (SAACE) has announced that it has successfully achieved ISO 9001 certification in January this year, making it the second service association in South Africa and one of the first consulting engineering member associations within FIDIC (International Federation of Consulting Engineers) to achieve this worldwide.
At the presentation of ISO Certification, held on 18 May at the SAACE offices, Graham Pirie, executive director said: "Quality initiatives started within FIDIC a few years ago and there was encouragement for member associations worldwide to develop quality management systems (QMS) suitable for ISO 9001 certification. At the same time in South Africa, the SAACE realised that the industry was beginning to take strain because of client pressures to discount fees and as a result we became more conscious of deteriorating quality. Failures were becoming increasingly prominent and the SAACE realised that quality had to become a central focus. For this reason, the association changed its code of conduct to require members to install a QMS, preferably one that was ISO-based. Advisory notes were issued on how to go about this and members were given timeframes to implement a QMS.
In 2003, the SAACE, realising that we could not stand aside, embarked on the process of designing a QMS for the association itself and at the outset we set up a task team within the directorate and employed a service provider to guide us through the process.
"The process of designing the QMS and the evaluation process for the certification has brought about a greater understanding within the association and positions us well to advise member firms from an informed platform. That said, having achieved this status, also makes us acutely aware that this is the first step and that it is a continuous process of improvement and incorporating quality into all management processes."
Pirie says that of the SAACE member firms, many of the medium to large firms had already embarked on designing QMS and some had already achieved ISO 9001 and that through undergoing the process the SAACE learnt that the approach to the services sector is somewhat different to that taken with other sectors.
"We also realised that smaller firms would have difficulty with capacity to design and manage a quality management system. For this reason, we have now produced a guideline document, which unpacks ISO 9001 specifically for consulting engineering practices, and our SAACE school of consulting engineering (SCE) has developed a programme to assist particularly smaller member firms with the process. We are also pleased to say that since the SCE is such an integral part of the SAACE, it is now also ISO compliant."
In concluding Pirie maintains that the process of achieving ISO 9001 has changed the way it approaches failures within the organisation and the way in which these are analysed. It has already required that it review its relationships with its service providers.
"The spin offs in terms of members are great in that our members are quality assured just by being members. Not only that but it means that we, as an association, can offer a better service to members and clients. We do however fully realise that this is only the first step in a process of delivering a quality service."
More about SAACE
The SAACE is a non-profit voluntary business organisation representing over 425 firms throughout South Africa covering the full spectrum of engineering services.
More about the school of consulting engineering (SCE)
The SCE is an initiative of the SAACE aimed at equipping consulting engineers with the traditionally softer skills, such as business, financial, human resource and negotiation skills amongst others with a view to complementing engineering and technical skills.
Amongst the courses offered through the SCE are: FIDIC contract documents, business finance for non-financial managers, client consultant relationships, risk management, project management, quality management, dispute resolution, information technology, human resources, ethics, negotiation skills and marketing.
For more information contact Graham Pirie, executive director, South African Association of Consulting Engineers, 011 463 2022.
| Tel: | +27 11 463 2022 |
| Email: | general@cesa.co.za |
| www: | www.cesa.co.za |
| Articles: | More information and articles about Consulting Engineers South Africa (CESA) |
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