Yokogawa, a leading global provider of plant automation, has gained a sought-after ISO/TS 29001 quality certificate, issued by Lloyd's Register Quality Assurance, one of the first in Europe. Joey Dreier Gligoor, manager QHSE, MIS & Facilities at Yokogawa System Centre Europe in the Netherlands says: "The ISO/TS 29001 quality certificate gives Yokogawa a competitive advantage because the certificate is not well spread among our competitors but is recognised by our customers as very important. Besides this, it proves the added value Yokogawa can deliver and is able to comply with the high standards within the industry."
As the new technical specification for implementing ISO 9001-based quality management systems (QMS), ISO/TS2 9001 results from a successful partnership between ISO and the international oil and natural gas industry. Published as: ISO/TS 29001:2003, 'Petroleum, petrochemical and natural gas industries - Sector-specific quality management systems - Requirements for product and service supply organisations', the new standard will become the common and unique basis for the industry's quality management system requirements worldwide, avoiding multiple systems that would, if each needs to be certified, require multiple audits. ISO/TS 29001 is available for use by manufacturers of oil industry equipment and materials, upstream and downstream, service providers to the oil and gas industry, purchasers of equipment, materials and services and organisations.
The new standard is the result of collaboration between the American Petroleum Institute (API) and ISO technical committee ISO/TC 67, 'Materials, equipment and offshore structures for petroleum, petrochemical and natural gas industries'. According to John Modine, director - Certification Programs, American Petroleum Institute (API), ISO/TS 29001 is expected to result in "increased international acceptance of time-tested sector-specific quality system requirements on a broad scale for the worldwide oil and gas industry". He defines it as: 'One industry - one standard'.
For many years, the API standards served as the de facto international standards for the oil and gas industry. In recent years, however, the oil and gas sector has recognised a market need for uniform and consistent standards for worldwide application and has been making a major renewed commitment to working within the ISO system to develop a new set of coherent international standards.
In line with this commitment, the API transferred 72 of its work items to ISO technical committee ISO/TC 67, 'Materials, equipment and offshore structures for petroleum and natural gas industries', to become ISO International Standards. ISO/TS2 9001 is the result.
Joey Dreier Gligoor explains: "Top-class, internationally-recognised quality standards and certification are essential in today's highly-competitive oil and gas industry. This new quality protocol covers all essential activity of the sector and will become the standard by which every hydrocarbon-related company will be judged."
"This very early gain for Yokogawa's oil and gas capability underlines the company's VigilantPlant philosophy which applies seamless quality to operational excellence in plant safety management. It recognises our vision of plant personnel who are watchful and attentive, well-informed, and ready to take action, focusing their time and energy on building tomorrow's successes. It marks Yokogawa out as a leading supplier in the sector, dedicated to the maintenance of outstanding quality at every stage in the hydrocarbon production process."
About Yokogawa
Yokogawa's global network of 18 manufacturing facilities, 83 affiliate companies, and over 650 sales and engineering offices spans 28 countries. Since its founding in 1915, the US$4 billion company has been engaged in cutting-edge research and innovation, securing more than 7000 patents and registrations, including the world's first digital sensors for flow and pressure measurement. Industrial automation and control, test and measurement, information systems and industry support are the core businesses of Yokogawa.
Incorporating the requirements of ISO 9001:2000, ISO/TS 29001:2003 includes detailed, sector-specific requirements for design, development, production, installation and service of products. Although some of the supplementary requirements may be viewed as not specific to the industry, they are needed in TS 29001 in order to ensure that the requirement(s) are explicit and can be audited. For more information about ISO, and full details of the new standard, see: www.iso.org.
For more information contact Yokogawa, 011 831 6367.
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