Member Article

Firms to get ISO helping hand

Teesside businesses hoping to gain the internationally-recognised ISO accreditation can get a helping hand thanks to a new partnership.

The ISO 9001, 14001 and 18001 certificates are the benchmark which large companies look to when they outsource lucrative work.

However, businesses often struggle to complete the paperwork necessary to be considered for the accreditation because they don’t have the resources available to see the process through.

Now Hartlepool-based C & A Pumps and Engineering has joined up with Teesside University to help companies who may struggle to meet strict ISO criteria.

C & A Pumps managing director Alan Roberts said: “The ISO process is massively misunderstood.

“Businesses wrongly think they need to pull together masses of paperwork and that there’s a huge cost associated with it.

“There isn’t but the fact is many of them just don’t have the resources to devote to completing the process and that’s where we step in. Working in conjunction with Teesside University, we complete the assessment for them.”

Teesside University’s Manufacturing Centre approached C & A Pumps about the possibility of forming a partnership after some of the businesses they support asked them what help was available to complete the ISO application process.

The centre’s director, Dr Suhail Aslam, added: “We’ve formalised a rolling agreement with Alan and his team which I think will prove to be incredibly fruitful, particularly for regional businesses that are keen to secure the ISO 9001, 14001 and 18001 industry standards.”

C & A Pumps & Engineering Ltd, which is based at Queens Meadow Business Park in Hartlepool, provides electrical and mechanical installation services for commercial and industrial companies.

It also provides emergency electrical and mechanical maintenance services, and has launched a separate health and safety training consultancy called C & A Safety Solutions which is certified to ECITB (Engineering Construction Industry Training Board) standard.

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Martin Walker .