<h3>First Ethiopian Construction Companies Receive ISO 9001:2000 Certificate</h3>
Good quality management practices are vital for companies to improve the quality of their services. The Engineering Capacity Building Program (ecbp) is establishing a national quality infrastructure and encourages companies to improve their quality management. The University Capacity Building Program (UCBP) is working along similar lines: For more than one year, UCBP has been working together with numerous companies from the construction sector to implement the world’s most important quality management system, ISO 9001:2000.
Eight of those companies will now be awarded for their efforts: They are the first Ethiopian companies in the construction sector to obtain the ISO 9001:2000 certificate. In the whole country, only about 10 companies have received ISO 9001:2000 certificates before. Making eight companies fit for ISO 9001:2000 in less then two years – and more construction companies are about to receive the certificate – is an outstanding success for ecbp and UCBP. Issued by the German certification organization ZDH Zert, the certificates will be handed over on March 6th 2007, 6:00 p.m., at the Hilton Hotel/Addis Ababa.
The ceremony is jointly organized by ecbp and UCBP. The achievements will be recognized by H.E. Ato Tefera Waluwa, Minister of Capacity Building, Peter Keller, Director ecbp, and Martin Hansen, Director UCBP. The certificates will be handed over by Dr. Wolfgang Pech, lead auditor from ZDH Zert.
“Implementing ISO 9001:2000 standards helps the companies to lower costs, work faster, reduce wastage and improve the quality of their products”, explained Martin Hansen from UCBP. “Since October 2006, we have been cooperating with 29 construction companies, construction management consultants, architects and engineering firms. Eight of them are receiving their certificates now, four companies are in the process of being certified. Many others will follow soon, also from new partner companies within UCBP.”
Quality management is not only of great importance to companies in the construction sector, but to all companies in the country, Erik Ruh, Manager in the ecbp and responsible for the establishment of an Ethiopian Quality Infrastructure, pointed out: “Many international clients expect companies to meet ISO 9001:2000 requirements. Therefore, the certificate increases the export opportunities of companies that apply the practices.”
About ISO 9001:2000 Certificates
ISO 9001:2000 is a set of standards and guidelines on quality management systems established by the International Organization for Standardization. Companies are encouraged to verify that the management works effectively by documenting work processes, formulating aims and checking whether these aims were achieved or not. It helps the companies to improve their management and organize work more effectively.
Since the ISO 9001:2000 certificate shows that the company takes a systematic approach to quality management, it is seen by many clients as a proof that they will receive products or services that satisfy their expectations. Every company, independent of size and sector, can implement ISO 9001:2000 standards; however, the certificates can only be issued by independent certification bodies.
ecbp’s Work for an Ethiopian Quality Infrastructure
ecbp is a national reform program for economic development, implemented by the Ministry of Capacity Building and supported by various German development agencies. Amongst others, it aims at creating a national quality infrastructure. This includes the establishment of a certification body that can issue ISO 9001:2000 certificates. Since Ethiopia does not have such a body yet, companies have to rely on foreign certification organizations, which are very expensive. This new body should be established by the end of 2008. ecbp is also helping companies from various sectors in implementing ISO 9001:2000 standards by providing training to companies and so called auditors - experts that will monitor the success of the implementation.
UCBP and Quality Management
UCBP is a large-scale capacity development and construction project conceived, steered and fully funded by the Ethiopian government. Over the course of four years, the UCBP is constructing 13 universities throughout Ethiopia. UCBP stresses the importance of good quality management in all companies it works with in the construction sector and started training on ISO 9001:2000 in October 2006. The training is offered to the companies and future auditors. So far, more than 1500 people have been trained throughout Ethiopia by UCBP, not only in the rather big partner companies in Addis Ababa but also on construction sites and in small enterprises in rural areas.