Elco Management Consultants has experienced staff in establishing and managing state-of-the-art laboratories. We provide the in-depth consulting that our clients demand and deserve, and in the most innovative, cost-effective and time-efficient manner. Elco Management Consultants assist organizations to develop and implement a quality management system according to the standard ISO/IEC 17025. The comprehensive implementation program is designed for companies in the early stages of the ISO/IEC 17025 process. We make sure our clients are properly prepared for accreditation by tailoring our program to meet their particular needs.
The implementation program may include: • Gap analysis, in which Elco Management Consultants will inspect the customer’s current QMS, if any, to ISO/IEC 17025 requirements, identified nonconformities and recommends actions to achieve conformity. • ISO/IEC 17025 knowledge training, internal auditor training • Management Representative Selection, assisting in choosing the person with day-to-day responsibility for QMS development and implementation, as well as liaison between management and the accreditation body. • Quality Manual Development, creating a document that describes QMS policy, procedures, requirements, goals and structures. • Procedures Development, covering methods, strategies and principles used to perform QMS activities • Procedures implementation, ensuring conformity to ISO/IEC 17025 • Internal Audit Assistance, to monitor implementation for conformity to ISO/IEC 17025 • Corrective Action Assistance, to eliminate nonconformities found during internal audits • Pre-audit of implementation to prepare for the Compliance Audit • Consulting during the Compliance Audit of the Documentation, Records, Facilities and other support document.
Once ISO/IEC 17025 laboratory accreditation has been certified, the system must be maintained. The Elco Management Consultants program can perform this work in a cost-effective and efficient manner, tailored to fit the client’s needs.
The program may include: (1) Internal Audits, which are a crucial component in checks and balances… for discovering a major non-conformity during an internal audit can prevent registration from being revoked during the subsequent surveillance audit. Elco can conduct internal audits twice a year in a professional, efficient and even- handed manner. (2) Corrective actions, which are performed after surveillance audits to close our non-conformities (3) Elco Management Consultants program frees up client personnel for regular job duties and costs less than committing a client employee to ISO/IEC 17025 upkeep.
International Accreditation Forum’s key objective: “One Standard, One Certificate, Accepted Everywhere”
• International recognition of organization’s commitment to quality, and technical competence • International acceptance of testing and calibration results • Ensures the integrity of quality and standards • Assurance of accuracy, traceability and reproducibility of test reports / data • Greater prospects for international trade • Improved customer satisfaction • More efficient operations • A powerful marketing tool
Conformance is the state of having satisfied the requirements of some specific standard(s) and/or specification(s). Conformance is used with respect to voluntary standards and specifications, whereas compliance is used with respect to mandatory standards and regulations. (Source: ANSI’s “Standards Management: A Handbook for Profit”)
Compliance is the adherence to rules, regulations, standards tests, or other requirements. (Source: ANSI’s “Standards Management: A Handbook for Profit”)
Laboratory accreditation is the formal determination and recognition that a laboratory has the capability to carry out specification tests in accordance with prescribed procedures. (Source: ANSI’s “Standards Management: A Handbook for Profit”)
The International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC) is a worldwide federation of national standards bodies from 114 participating countries. IEC is a non-governmental organization that develops and publishes international standards for all electrotechnologies, including electronics, magnetics and electromagnetics, electroacoustics, multimedia, telecommunications, and energy production and distribution, as well as associated disciplines such as terminology and symbols, electromagnetic compatibility, measurement and performance dependability, safety, and the environment. (Source: IEC web site)
