CargoCare achieves new ISO accreditation standard

CARGOCARE HAS beaten its competitors to the finishing line following its recent accreditation in terms of the new ISO 9001 (2000) standard.
Deadline for re-accreditation is December 2003.
Heading the accreditation programme at CargoCare is operations manager Sue Wood who believes that customers will benefit immensely from the service-orientation of the new standard.
“The old ISO was designed for the manufacturing industry. It was very prescriptive and not very flexible. It didn’t guarantee management buy-in and client satisfaction was not easily measurable.
“The new standards, on the other hand, are like chalk and cheese,” said Wood. “They can be used for any service industry and not only guarantee management buy-in but call for management commitment and leadership.”
From the client’s point of view, the service provider must be able to demonstrate client satisfaction measurably.
CargoCare managing director Roland Raath believes the new standards fit far more comfortably into the company’s customer-focused approach.
“The implementation was easier for us because a lot of the systems were already in place.” Accreditation, which was performed by Dekra, took three months of preparation, according to Wood.
“We were way ahead of the requirements of the first ISO procedure. We already had the foundation of the system to measure performance, and that has now been automated.”
Raath believes the company’s success has been achieved by sticking to its “on time, as quoted and promised” approach. “But in early 2003 CargoCare customers will be able to dial into our system and measure those promises by way of management reports that will offer total transparency.”