ISO Certification

30 companies in the metal industry in Denmark have proven that it is possible for a company to obtain ISO certification by attending the Sherlock e-learning course and the ESMI/enviSMART programmes.

ESMI and enviSMART are Enterprise Europe Network programmes funded by EU and designed to provide services to SMEs in the chemical, surface treatment and metal production/processing sectors. These activities usually have quite a high environmental impact and currently face stiff competition from operators in third countries. The project aims to assist these target SMEs in improving their operational efficiency while minimizing their environmental impact.

Representatives from the companies (typically the QHSE Managers) had access to the Sherlock modules containing the e-learning. The participants could work offline and online. When online the Sherlock modules automatically syncronized with the server and European House of Quality could comment on the sop's and thereby guide the participants individually.

Via the e-learning the companies learned:

• What to write in the procedures (sop's) which are required by the  ISO 9001 standard, the ISO 14001 standard and the OHSAS 18001 standard. For some companies the e-learning also included requirements from EN 1090-1 and EN 3834 standards.
• Why the above was required by the standards
• How to benefit from records made

As the Sherlock modules also included forms representing the records which the standards requires, the companies could start recording and work with incidents, accidents, audits, action plans, improvement opportunities etc. from day 1.

The concept has also been a success in e.g. India at Indo-Dane Textiles:

‘I was never left alone, as If I needed help and guidance to either the technical part of the system, the implementation, the standard regulations regarding my company, or how to go about this and that, I had the consultant to guide me along all the time. Via the internet, she was giving me individual e-learning all the way from the first start until I handed over the hard copy to the Bureau of Indian Standards for a ISO 9001 and ISO 14001 certification.

The e-learning was valuable training

I could learn and get support regarding the above mentioned activities in my own suitable time, and apart from pre prepared documents in all the Sherlock modules, the system gives many advantages as it eliminates the need for manuals, gives complete access to information and also ensures a quick communication with relevant colleges. Further more it provides substantial reduction of time consumption by controlling central processes and also provides superior, logical and rapid decisions taken by the staff.

All feed back was independent, and only concerning my company Bansal says: ‘The e-learning gave me a good flexibility, as I did not have the time to travel to learn the system, but via my e-mail and via Sherlock, and in my own speed, I got tutorial support and learned new skills for my job.’