Quality Certifications and Award
These certifications and awards can give your business credibility and help you stand out from the competition. You can earn these awards through successful completion of a course or through demonstration of your expertise or proven track record.
Grote Industries The Grote Industries Quality Awards (GIROQA) is a set of quality certifications and awards focused on manufacturing and engineering. The awards are a set of competency and achievement-based certification and recognition programs covering both product quality and work process improvement.
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ISO 9000
The International Organisation for Standardization (ISO) promulgates many standards that companies can either adhere to or ignore. The objective of ISO 9000 is to help businesses determine how to provide products and services that meet the needs of customers and use resources wisely.
Some of the activities measured by ISO 9000 standards include: building a quality management system organisational design quality activities quality assurance control leadership You will find this standard, along with several others, on most quality certificates you are going to get from various government agencies.
They will often list every one of the activities that are supposed to be measured in the standards. ISO 9000 is a set of worldwide quality management and quality assurance standards created to assist businesses in properly documenting the quality system elements required to maintain an effective quality system. They are not industry-specific and can be applied to businesses of all sizes. ISO 9000 can assist a business in satisfying its consumers, meeting regulatory obligations and striving for continuous development. It should be regarded as the first phase or foundation of a quality system.
ISO 1400
ISO 14000 is a set of norms and guidelines designed to assist businesses in reducing industrial waste and environmental damage. It is a framework for bettering environmental effect management, but it is not mandatory. ISO 14000 certification is available to companies, although it is an optional certification. The International Organisation for Standardization (ISO) introduced ISO 14000 set of standards in 1996, and it was most recently revised in 2015. (ISO is not an abbreviation, it comes from the ancient Greek word sos, which means equal or equivalent.)
ISO 14000 is one of a number of standards that deal with various aspects of environmental legislation. It is designed to be a step-by-step guide for establishing and accomplishing environmentally friendly goals for business activities or products. The goal is to help businesses manage processes while minimising environmental impact, unlike the ISO 9000 standards, which date back to 1987, were focused on the finest quality assurance management methods.
SO 14000 covers a number of standards that address components of the managing practice’s internal facilities, the immediate environment around the facilities, and the product’s life cycle. Understanding the impact of the raw materials utilised in the product, as well as the impact of product disposal, is part of this. ISO 14001 is the most well-known standard, and it lays out the criteria for implementing an Environmental Management System (EMS).
Then there is ISO 14004, which provides more information and specialised requirements for EMS implementation. A corporation can obtain ISO 14000 certification by having a certified auditor verify that all of the standards are completed or by self-declaring. Obtaining ISO 14000 certification can be seen as a symbol of a company’s environmental dedication, which can be utilised as a marketing strategy.
It may also assist businesses in complying with some environmental standards. Other advantages include the ability to offer items to businesses that use ISO 14000–certified vendors. Companies and customers may be willing to pay more for environmentally friendly items. Meeting the ISO 14000 criteria, on the other hand, can help cut costs by encouraging the efficient use of resources and services.
QS 9000
QS 9000 is a certification for companies based on quality system requirements unique to the automobile industry. The biggest automotive firms, such as Ford, General Motors and Daimler Chrysler, developed these criteria. This standard is no longer valid and has been superseded by ISO/TS 16949 or ISO 9001. The automotive supply chain was the focus of this certification.
Organisations seeking certification to the current version of QS9000 must submit an application, undertake a document review and pass a certification audit. Following receipt of the certification, annual or regularly scheduled audits would be conducted to ensure continuous compliance with the standards.
Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award (MBNQA)
The Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award honours outstanding performance in the business, healthcare, education and non-profit sectors in the United States. The Baldrige Award is the President of the United States’ sole formal award of performance excellence in both public and private businesses. It is administered by the Baldrige Performance Excellence Program, which is based at and overseen by the US Department of Commerce’s National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST).
Manufacturing, service, small business, education, healthcare, and charitable organisations are all eligible for up to 18 awards each year. In 2016, 113 prizes were given out to 106 organisations (including seven repeat winners). The Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Improvement Act of 1987 (Public Law 100–107) established the Baldrige Performance Excellence Program and the related award.
The programme and prize are named after Malcolm Baldrige, who served as United States Secretary of Commerce from 1981 until his death in a rodeo accident in 1987 during the Reagan administration. The name of the programme was modified to the Baldrige Performance Excellence Program in 2010.
Each year, three MBNQA awards are granted in six categories:
- Manufacturing
- Company that provides services
- Small enterprises
- Education
- Healthcare
- Non-profit
An impartial board of examiners evaluates organisations that apply for the MBNQA. The Baldrige criteria for performance excellence recipients are chosen based on success and development in seven areas:
- Upper management’s leadership of the organisation, as well as the organisation’s leadership within the community.
- How the organisation sets and plans to implement strategic directions are referred to as strategy.
- Customers: How the company develops and maintains solid, long-term customer connections.
- Measurement, analysis, and knowledge management: How the company uses data to support and manage important processes.
- Workforce: How the company empowers and engages its employees.
- Operations refers to how a company creates, manages and improves critical processes.
- Customer satisfaction, money, human resources, supplier and partner performance are all factors to consider.
The Baldrige Excellence Framework for Business and Non-profits is accessible for the years 2021-2022. The Baldrige Excellence Framework for Business/Non-profits, Healthcare and Education for 2019- 2020 is now accessible. The criteria are focused on managing all aspects of an organisation as a whole, cybersecurity risks and understanding the function of risk management within the context of organisational performance management from a systems perspective.
There are three elements to the Baldrige Excellence Framework: performance excellence criteria, fundamental principles and concepts, and scoring procedures. The framework has two primary functions: to assist organisations in evaluating their improvement efforts, diagnosing their entire performance management system, and identifying their strengths and areas for improvement and to select Baldrige Award winners who will serve as role models for other organisations.
Deming’s Application Prize
The Deming Prize is the world’s oldest and most prestigious award for TQM (Total Quality Management). It was founded in 1951 to honour W. Edwards Deming, who made a significant contribution to Japan’s post-World War II adoption of statistical quality control. His lessons benefited Japan in laying its foundation, and as a result, Japan’s product quality is regarded as the best in the world. His teachings were originally intended to reward Japanese enterprises for significant improvements in quality.
The following are the facts related to the Deming Application Prize:
- The Deming Application Prize is an award that is presented to a company that has achieved distinctive performance improvement by adopting TQM practices suitable to its management principles, industry, business and scope.
- The prize is given on an annual basis.
- Any organisation of any size or from any location across the world; be it public or private, can apply for the prize irrespective of the industry type.
- A division of a company can also apply for the prize if that division manages its business autonomously.
- There is no limit to the number of potential recipients of the prize each year. All organisations that meet the criteria are awarded the prize.
The following evaluation criteria are used to determine whether or not the applicant companies should be awarded the prize:
- The applicant companies have established customer-oriented business objectives and strategies under their clear management leadership that is too aligned with their principles, industry, business, scope and business environment
- TQM has been implemented properly to achieve business objectives and strategies
- Outstanding results have been obtained for business objectives and strategies through the application of TQM practices
Rajiv Gandhi National Quality Award in India
The Bureau of Indian Standards presents the Rajiv Gandhi National Quality Award to Indian organisations that excel in their performance. It was named after Rajiv Gandhi, India’s former Prime Minister, and debuted in 1991, following his death. The award is intended to encourage quality services to consumers and to recognise organisations that make major contributions to India’s quality movement.
The following are facts related to the award:
- The award is given annually, according to the financial year, and is similar to other international quality awards such as the United States’ Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award and the European Union’s European Quality Award.
- The Rajiv Gandhi National Quality Award (RGNQA) provides recognition to organisations that improve the quality of products, services, processes and procedures, and contribute to the development of the industry, environment and science and technology in India.
- The Award is for very specific sectors. All those organisations that meet the relevant criteria are eligible to be awarded the RGNQA. For example, the award for the pharmaceutical sector is for those who innovate new, commercially proven and cost-effective methods for pharmaceutical manufacturing. The reward for civil services is for organisations that make a significant contribution to nation building through their work.
- The award is given out by the Standards Development Authority of India (SDAI).
- To qualify for a Rajiv Gandhi Award, the organisation must be ranked in the top 40 per cent of Indian organisations by size and category by the SDAI, and be recognised by the Prime Minister as having performed well in their field.
- They must also have made significant strides in addressing the 12 quality standards issued by the SDAI. Every three years, the award is granted.
- An organisation can qualify to be eligible for the award if its employees and management are always found displaying exceptional performance. The organisation must also be recognised for the quality of its work and have to be benchmarked against international standards.
- Not all organisations can qualify to be eligible for the award. As per the norms, they are supposed to have a workforce with not less than 50 per cent of its employees engaged in customer service.
- The criteria for assessment are based on three different models: random sample, case study, and life cycle model.
- Rajiv Gandhi National Quality Award winners receive a certificate of recognition and appreciation from the Government of India, Rajiv Gandhi Award medallions and a citation.
- Companies can receive the award for making a noteworthy contribution to Indian business, through innovation, quality or best practice. They can either be Indian or companies registered in India. Any company registered as a composite entity can participate.
- Companies can register online via the Bureau of Indian Standards official website. Once the company is registered, it can upload all the documents related to the entry.
