Employees from the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) provincial and regional offices in Northern Mindanao underwent a transition training and awareness seminar on “ISO 9001:2015” on January 25 and 26 held in Cagayan de Oro and in Iligan City, respectively.

Participants were instructed to distinguish the differences between the 2008 and the 2015 versions. The changes done on several ISO clauses were meant to help companies and organizations, like DTI, to effectively document important elements and device structures that will improve all internal and external processes in an organization.

The 2015 version is the latest internationally-accepted Quality Management System Requirements dubbed by the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) as “ISO 9001:2015”. This falls under the umbrella of the ISO 9000 family known as a set of best international standards on quality management. These standards are continually being developed by nominated standards experts from 160 nations.

For DTI, these factors will improve the quality assurance and systems in business development, consumer welfare and all other general processes done in the provincial offices in Bukidnon, Camiguin, Lanao del Norte, Misamis Occidental and Misamis Oriental and in the regional office.

Two of the factors that are greatly being considered a few years back, after the release of “ISO 9001:2008”, are how innovations and technological advancements have come a long way and have changed processes positively and more efficiently. However, there were also several risks and setbacks identified and deliberated during the seminar.

A focus on “Mindset”, “Mastery” and “Maturity” are expected from the participants to easily get used to the transitioning measures needed for the ISO Standards Review Process. The transition period is expected to run for about three years before a third-party certification body – such as AJA Registrars – can certify that a local agency or any company successfully meets all ISO requirements.

All offices under DTI 10 have maintained the standardization clauses under the ISO 9001:2008 for six years. The latest re-certification received by DTI 10 was back in December last year which was duly certified by AJA Registrars, Incorporated.