Siemon, a global network infrastructure specialist, today announced that it has achieved certification to the latest revision of the ISO 9001 quality management and ISO 14001 environmental management standards by Lloyd's Register Quality Assurance (LRQA). To achieve this milestone, LRQA conducted a full system audit of the Siemon Company’s Watertown, Connecticut headquarters, as well as the company’s Chertsey, UK; Brno, Czech Republic; Shanghai, China; and Tijuana, Mexico locations.

The ISO 9001 standard defines best practices of a quality management system for the design, manufacturing, installation and services provided by an organization. The ISO 14001 standard specifies the requirements for an environmental management system that an organization can use to continually improve its environmental performance.

Following more than three years of revision work by experts from nearly 95 participating and observing countries, the International Standards Organization released the 2015 revision of each standard last September. With the new requirements there is a strengthened emphasis on leadership and management commitment, including actively engaging and taking accountability for the effectiveness of the management systems. There is also a focus on objectives as drivers for improvement and to measure, monitor and analyze performance. New ISO 14001:2015 requirements also include proactive environmental initiatives, enhanced performance benchmarks and lifecycle thinking. In addition, the two standards now share a more common structure, which is particularly useful for companies like Siemon that choose to operate an integrated management system.

“We have always aligned both our QMS and our EMS with our business strategy, so when the new ISO standards were released, Siemon had a significant advantage with many of the systems requirements already in place. After a rigorous review, we only needed to slightly refine some practices and update documentation,” explains Lou Beres, Director of Continuous Improvement for Siemon. “For example, our system requirements apply to all Siemon employees and are not limited to manufacturing, and we have mature management systems that are based on a ‘plan-do-check-act’ continuous improvement process. We also have systems already in place to understand and align our processes with economic and environmental developments, technology innovations, regulatory developments, organizational culture and changing societal needs.”

The new ISO 9001:2015 and ISO 14001:2105 standards replace previous editions, and companies looking to achieve recertification have three years to comply with the new ISO standards. While many are still in the process of working toward recertification, less than 1% of certified companies have passed recertification and have been recommended for certification to the 2015 revision of the standards by LRQA. Siemon is proud to be one of the few and one of the first to achieve this milestone.

For more information, visit:

www.siemon.com/company