Taking clients through to UKAS – New-Air (Southern) Ltd Case Study

With nearly 40 years of experience, New-Air has become a hugely successful air conditioning and refrigeration company covering a 70 mile radius of Southampton. An illustration of their ever growing popularity and success came when they were approached by a large corporation who asked if they wanted to tender for a job.

There was a stumbling block however as they became quickly aware that UKAS Accredited ISO 9001 Quality Management Certification was almost a staple requirement for companies looking to bid for such large tenders.

Not deterred, New-Air looked to research the possibility of them achieving said certification. Once they had looked into the Quality Management Standard, they soon recognised it as a big opportunity.

A Competitive Edge

Liz Knott, their Quality Management Representative highlighted, “We decided that it would be beneficial to us by not only giving us a competitive edge, but also by improving the processes within our business”.

A key part of UKAS Accredited Certification is that the UKAS Certification service carrying out the audit, must remain entirely independent of any support and consultative service in the initial setup stages of the system, prior to their first audit taking place.

This is where ISO Quality Services step in. We may not offer the route to UKAS Certification that is required by New-Air’s potential clients but we were able to provide them with the consultancy and support required to get them ready for UKAS Accredited Certification and prepared for their independent audits.

(ISO Quality Services Ltd offer ISO Certification, as opposed to UKAS Accredited Certification. Please click here for an explanation)

When asked why they had approached ISO Quality Services, Liz replied, “We looked at various competitors but on approaching ISO QSL their response gave us confidence in their professionalism, which has proven to be the case”.Here at ISO Quality Services we pride ourselves on our quality of service and as part of this we are able to thoroughly explain the UKAS route by utilising the services of experienced and supportive independent lead assessors.

New-Air continue to invest both time and money so as to achieve their ambitious growth strategy

In doing so this enables us to provide expert advice in the implementation of the ISO 9001 Quality Management Standard.  In the case of New-Air, this came in the presence of Richard Harber.

Invaluable Guidance

This was something that was appreciated immensely by Liz and everyone at New-Air as Liz explained, “Richard Harber helped us greatly and made us feel at ease with a somewhat daunting process, albeit that New Air had some of the processes already in place in place”.

An example of which was that as Richard knew the specific auditing criterion, he was able to successfully challenge the independent auditor.  Something that may have proved critical to achieving the certification had Richard not been present.

Liz also admitted that the day of the UKAS assessment was quite stressful however this was able to be tempered by the fact that Richard was able to sit in on the assessment which in her words gave them, “peace of mind in that the experience of the ISO Quality Services assessor greatly helped”.

Looking forward, New-Air will have a new competitive edge which will aid their progression by attracting large clients like the one that initiated this process.

With regards to ISO Quality Services, Liz gave an unmistakeable yes when asked whether New-Air would recommend them.

The team at New-Air were very appreciative of the expertise and guidance that Richard Harber provided.