SHAH ALAM: Sirim QAS International Sdn Bhd aims to cut its turnaround time for product certification by half – to two to three weeks – by the end of 2020.
Its CEO Mohd Azanuddin Salleh said in general, product certification takes an average of one to one-and-a-half month starting from application, provided that all documentations and reports are in place.
“We do thousands and thousands of certifications every year. We want to shorten the turnaround time to 50% or two to three weeks by next year-end, but this is dependent on product,” he told SunBiz.
He pointed out that some product testing takes two to three months as there are clauses requiring the product to be put into a chamber and be tested for, for example, UV ray exposure for 10,000 hours, which cannot be done any faster than that.
“In product certification, testing is part of it. We cannot proceed to the next step up until we get the test report that the product conforms to the required standard. Testing itself is long but we always find ways to shorten our turnaround time (via other means) because that is the number one pain point that the industry is facing,” said Azanuddin.
While the product testing part cannot be accelerated, he said Sirim QAS can improve on its processes by employing technology to cut turnaround time.
“Test report generation can be automated, we can establish a dedicated team to look into certain critical activities in the certification process, along with business internal process re-engineering/restructuring and human resources reorganisation in terms of functions, adopting IT, automation and robotisation in certain testing processes,” explained Azanuddin.
In this regard, Sirim QAS launched the mobile consignment testing services earlier this month to cut turnaround time for consignment of imported electrical and electronics products, specifically for large appliances.
The testing services will be delivered to customer’s doorstep and Sirim-Energy Commission labels will be issued on-site within half a day, from one week previously. This will save the customers’ time and effort compared with the conventional consignment which requires test samples to be sent to the test laboratory in Shah Alam.
Besides this, Sirim QAS is looking into remote witnessing/sampling whereby auditors do not have to travel to specific sites to witness the test or pick up samples.
Azanuddin said it is also planning to launch its online platform by the end of next year where application, payment, printing of receipts, reports, certification, booking of test lots in laboratory and more can be carried out by customers online.
“Some processes are online now but it’s not integrated due to different systems. By the end of next year, we want to have a single platform where everything can be done there. Globally there is no testing, inspection and certification body that does this online but we want to go into it,” he said.
Sirim QAS has 75 types of certification services, which consist of management system certification, product certification and personnel certification, to help organisations achieve business excellence and sustainability.
