In Focus
Setting standards for success
Standardisation organisations in the UAE ensure an era of excellence and quality. The Emirates Authority for Standardisation and Metrology (ESMA) is responsible for setting UAE standards
- By Latha Krishnan, Gulf News Report
- Published: 00:00 January 21, 2007
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- Educating staff about standardisation principles is an important step in the journey to excellence.
Standardisation organisations in the UAE ensure an era of excellence and quality.
The Emirates Authority for Standardisation and Metrology (ESMA) is responsible for setting UAE standards, conformity assessment procedures and establishing the metrology such as weights and measures used in the country, thereby, establishing a link with international measures.
"At the same time, Standardisation Organisation for the GCC (GSO) does the same work at the GCC level, as all the GCC countries are its members," explains Dr. Rashid Ahmad Bin Fahad, Vice-Chairman of ESMA and Secretary-General of GSO.
ESMA is a Federal UAE Authority, established by the UAE Federal Law (28) in 2001. As the only reference in the UAE in terms of quality standards, ESMA supports the national economy by establishing a new era of excellence and quality. It is an independent body with its headquarters in Abu Dhabi. Shaikh Hamdan Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Deputy Ruler of Dubai and UAE Minister of Finance and Industry, chairs the 11-member board comprising individuals from the government, academia and industry professionals.
The main goals of ESMA are securing protection for health, economy and environment, supporting the national economy, ensuring with the scientific progress of standards and quality management control, and making use of every possible method to educate people about standardisation and metrology activities. These activities are achieved through standards, metrology, accreditation, conformity assessment, information centre, human resources and finance departments in addition to the technical office.
ESMA has been preparing, approving, publishing, reviewing, modifying, issuing and adapting standards and technical regulations, and establishing a national measurement system (NMS) in the country. ESMA is also responsible for establishing a national metrology institute (NMI) and stimulating the legal metrology activities in the UAE.
"In the past five years, we have tried to provide the required standards for the UAE for some of the products that are essential. We see that any rule or activity of ESMA is inline with internationally accepted standards because the UAE is a signatory of the World Trade Organisation (WTO) and, therefore, is beholden to certain treaties such as the Technical Barriers to Trade (TBT) treaty, which prevents us from applying any standards that will harm international trade. Whenever ESMA brings out a regulation, we have to notify the secretariat of the WTO and give 60 days to all members to be aware of it and give their positive or negative reactions to it," says Rashid.
Committees comprising industry professionals and academicians have been set up by ESMA to look into the standardisation of industries such as foodstuff, automotive batteries and parts, electrical appliances, mechanical products, building materials, etc. The organisation continues to identify the sectors that need to be addressed. ESMA has established Emirates National Accreditation System (ENAS) to ensure competence of conformity assessment bodies (CABs) operating in the UAE. It has also signed mutual recognition agreements (MRA) with international organisations working in this field.
ESMA has started the process of accreditation and providing certificates to different organisations that conform to its standards. It has also passed the UAE quality mark, which will provide customers with confidence about the products and services. The mark shows that the company has conformed to standards of ESMA. "Quality is being misused by ruthless suppliers and consumers are the ones suffering because they are being fooled into thinking that they are getting good quality products when the certification is for the management and not the product of the concerned company. We intend to penalise companies who use the ISO and other certification emblems on products when it is not relevant to the product. We will also clear the market of spurious accreditation bodies," says Rashid.
GSO is the newer version of GSMO (Gulf Standards and Metrology Organisation) and was formed in Riyadh in May 2004. It is looking to do similar kind of work as ESMA but at the GCC level. GCC standards cover major economic sectors and are prepared by technical committees through consensus of all stakeholders. About 115 Gulf standards in the oil and gas sector represent seven per cent of the total number of published Gulf standards.
According to Rashid, both ESMA and GSO need to create more awareness of what they are doing for standardisation of products and services. "The GCC must use its clout when and where necessary in the issue of standards, at least in industries that are of economic value to us such as petrochemicals, aluminium, building materials, etc. Products being imported into the Gulf should meet GCC standards. It is not enough to have high quality standards; we have to enforce them. At the same time we have to be sure that whatever we produce, sell or re-export from the UAE is also of a defined quality and standard," says Rashid.
Having standards offers several benefits such as cost effectiveness, a boost to quality in processing, management and products and services, safety of products, readiness to meet government legislation and conformation to international quality standards for management, environment, health and safety, etc.
Rashid, says, "I am happy that the food sector is highly regulated in this part of the world. But other sectors such as home appliances, household products, toys, medical equipment and others need to be better regulated and standardised for the good and safety of the society as well as the environment. ESMA and GSO are taking steps to address these problems and we hope to raise awareness about them throughout the region."
AWARDS
Recognising excellence
The Shaikh Khalifa Excellence Award provides a plan for companies to follow in the steps of the world's best installations in their areas of specialisation. The award is a comprehensive development system that helps participants to adopt and implement comprehensive quality and excellence principles.
The Shaikh Khalifa Industry Award is the oldest quality award in Abu Dhabi and the only award in the UAE specifically for the manufacturing sector. The award is a continuous process for assessing management's efficiency and their approach to quality. The purpose of the Shaikh Khalifa Industry Award is to improve the development of the industrial sector of Abu Dhabi by promoting the use of the principles of total quality. The award is designed to improve industry in Abu Dhabi by measuring the performance of selected companies, compare their performance to an excellence model and identify the improvements that can be made.
The Dubai Quality Award provides organisations with a 'roadmap' to achieve excellence through the adoption of good practices and sound approaches that are deployed systematically and are continuously measured and reviewed. The Awards recognise organisations that are models of excellence. The Dubai Quality Award is based on the Excellence Model of the European Foundation for Quality Management (EFQM), which has been successfully applied in private and public sector organisations since 1992.
Applicants for the Dubai Quality Award must demonstrate sustained continuous improvement. The journey towards excellence and the improvements along the way are much more valuable for organisations than winning the award.
