When working and supplying within the Defence Industry, certain procedures need to be taken into account. Standards need to be met to guarantee customer satisfaction, reliability and efficiency of a company’s products or services.
There are different types of processes that you as a company can go through to create peace of mind for your clients. By having your product line and/or services Accredited to certain standards. Another option is to have your products or processes Certificated. Or go that extra mile and cover the company as a whole; all important factors to take into account when deciding how to position yourself.
Making sure your company is working to the right ISO standards is paramount and needs to be understood and administered properly. But what is the difference? Should your company be accredited or certificated? Why is it so important? We hope that this short guide will answer the confusion.
Accreditation or Certification?
A good start would be to understand the difference between the two. We can all agree these processes are similar but are they both important to have?
It all comes down to who confirms the recognition. Accreditation and Certification are both voluntary processes that provide assurance on particular products, services, processes etc.
Generally speaking, Accreditation is thought of as a higher-level of recognition because the independent (approved) bodies are what are accepted as standard. But both are internationally recognised and have a part to play.
They can come hand in hand as Accreditation is granted for particular actions and can prove a business’s worth. While Certification is granted with written assurance to maintain quality and reassurance of the company as a whole or individual products/ services.
The Importance of Accreditation & Certification
The importance of your company being Accredited and Certificated is key to building your brand in a positive way and creating customer loyalty; which in-turn helps with retention and positive word of mouth.
There are many other benefits of a company complying with standards; including your products and efforts being internationally recognised. This helps to increase productivity within the company but also gives your customers the guarantee that they are working with an audited company. Renowned standards include ISO 27001 (Information Security), ISO 22301 (Business Continuity), ISO 14401 (Environmental), and most popular and also the standards that CP Cases adhere too – ISO 9001 (Quality Management).
Conforming to Military Standards and IP Ratings
In an industry where everything needs to work at critical times without delay, it is important to be able to evaluate performance-based standards before committing to purchase. You need a brand that you can trust that achieve and maintain specific standards every time.
Product engineering and manufacturing need to withstand rigorous testing of Transit Drop, Blowing Rain and Sand, Fungus, Hot and Cold, Sunlight, and Ingress Protection (IP). This helps to guarantee the equipment will perform how it is meant too when used in the field.
Many of our products are accredited to MIL-STD-810 and rated IP making them essential equipment for Defence and military applications. This includes a lot of our flagship products including Amazon Cases, Amazon Racks and ERack.