Adexon explores how third-party certification is essential to protecting your business by reducing risk
With or without third-party certification, there is always some risk that the product arriving on site is not identical to the tested specimen.
When it comes to life-safety products such as fire curtains, this is simply an unacceptable risk.
However, by choosing products with valid third-party certification, you remove that risk from 100% sitting with you to close to 0%.
Remember that in an competitive open market, pressures include:
needing to make a ROI from shareholders and stakeholders
lenders and banks seeking capital repayment
service loan interest(rising)
staff, management and seniors to ‘hit the numbers’ to ensure not only job security but also bonuses
from existing contracts to keep on programme or risk consequences, such as ballooning costs
the need to keep ahead in the market and get your product to market.
Third-party certification protects your business by ensuring that the production of products that you use is reliable and identical to original tested specifications.
You will see how the simple yet thorough process of third-party certification that is governed by the likes of UKAS and monitored by Notified Bodies is invaluable to safety – especially for life-safety products such as fire curtains.
What does third-party certification entail?
See how it works in real-life, day-to-day, and see some of the risks that production is susceptible to in a commercial organisation without the accountability that third-party certification provides.
This process ensures you can buy, specify, and approve products from Manufacturer A with confidence that the ‘widgets’ coming out of production have gone through extensive and exhaustive impartial checks and controls to ensure they are the same as the tested specimen.
Specified materials can change for a variety of reasons
Typical scenarios that could lead to a deviation from the tested specification, design, and/ or processes include:
The components that are normally used suddenly become hard to source
A long lead time and increased costs mean a manufacturer faces the risk of delays and damages(potentially costing millions on high-value projects), a reduced profit manufacturing margin and the loss of goodwill and good reputation.
The original tested design is poorly scaling up for volume manufacture
Manufacturers must either go back through product design and testing, delaying getting the product to market by months or even years. This will have the knock-on effect of delaying ROI, repayments and losing any market advantage, which could endanger future endeavours.
Alternately, modifying the design with an internally deemed ‘equivalent’ design that can be volume-manufactured with relative ease using existing capabilities makes sense from a production perspective- but will still require thorough safety testing. Delays are still inevitable.
Inflation hits profits and there is a new competitor with a better product
Both threaten the profitability and potentially even the viability of the company. If the manufacturer chooses to cut costs and produce a cheaper and faster product to make up the difference in potential profits, can you trust it?
Skipping third-party certification is an unnecessary risk
Without valid third-party certification, you are the only person without a vested interest that is checking. Can you do it thoroughly?
The likelihood is that if you buy, specify, or approve products from Manufacturer B or C, you have no guarantee and little-to-no certainty (unless you are a shareholder) that the ‘widgets’ coming out of production are the same as the tested specimen.
Uncomfortably, the risk sits with you. You don’t need it.
The post How valid third-party certification reduces your risk to close to zero appeared first on Planning, Building & Construction Today.
