KAVON International, Inc. "Speaking Out" Article

A PUBLICATION OF KAVON INTERNATIONAL, INC.

“Speaking Out”

February 2004

John Novak is the President and a Trusted Advisor at KAVON International, Inc., a business consultancy that helps clients create Value in order to attain and sustain a Competitive Advantage in the markets they serve.

John earned his Bachelor of Science (BS) degree in Manufacturing Technology from Bowling Green State University and his MBA from Kent State University. He is also Certified as a Lean/Six Sigma Master Black Belt and Quality Auditor. John also serves as adjunct faculty at Kent State University.

John has spent time working in both the manufacturing and consulting industries.

Certification

Certification Or Registration?

By John Novak

Once your business management system has been independently audited by a Registrar, who has confirmed that it complies with the requirements of ISO 9001:2000 or ISO 14001, with the issuance of a certificate, is your system now considered "Certified" or "Registered"?

A look at the definitions in ISO/IEC Guide 2 and ISO/IEC DIS 17000 reveal slightly different meanings:

Certification: refers to the issuing of written assurance (the certificate) by an independent, external body that has audited an organization's management system and verified that it conforms to the requirements specified in the standard.

Registration: means that the auditing body then records the certification in its client register.

Given these definitions, your business management system has been both "Certified" and "Registered". For practical purposes, the use of either term is acceptable and can be used interchangeably.

KAVON International, Inc. is a business consultancy that helps clients create Value in order to attain and sustain a Competitive Advantage in the markets they serve. If your company is seeking registration or compliance to any of the Quality Management System standards such as ISO 9001, ISO/TS 16949, AS9100, ISO 17025, ISO 14001, or ISO 13485, or wants to establish a continual improvement program using Lean Six Sigma methodologies, give us a call and let one of our Trusted Advisors help you with implementation and training.