It was a double first as Asia Pacific (AP) Finished Lubes was certified with the new ISO 9001:2000 quality standard across five countries in October 2003.

ISO 9001:2000 is new for ExxonMobil Lubricants & Specialties (L&S), and replaces the previous 1994 standard. This is also a true regional Certification by one accredited assessor, Lloyds Register of Quality Assurance. It replaces multiple certifications carried out for individual countries by different assessment companies.

“It's much more efficient and cost effective,” explained Regional Technical Services Manager Geoff Gaskill. “AP is the second L&S region to become certified by Lloyds Register, following Europe's lead some years ago.”

The success was not achieved without a lot of hard work. Singapore Country Lab Manager Chua Hui Lian led a team charged with developing and implementing a new Regional Quality Manual.

“Being audited by Lloyds Register was a new experience for the Regional office staff but they rose to the occasion,” commented Hui Lian.

Regional Director Jim Hennessy added: “I am delighted to reach this significant quality milestone. This was a fantastic team effort requiring commitment from many of our staff across the region."

Meanwhile, Thailand achieved ISO 9001:2000 certification on an individual country basis from the Management System Certification Institute (MASCI), as Lloyds Register is not presently accredited by the Thai authorities. The plan is to bring Thailand into the regional system in 2004.

Understand the speak

ISO: International Organisation for Standardisation
This is a network of national standards institutes from 147 countries working in partnership with international organisations, governments, industry, business and consumer representatives.

ISO is the source of ISO 9000 and more than 14,000 International Standards for business, government and society.

ISO 9000
ISO 9000 is a family of standards that includes ISO 9001, ISO 9002 and ISO 9003 and they are among ISO's most widely known standards.

ISO 9000 has become an international reference for quality management requirements in business-to-business dealings.

The ISO 9000 family is primarily concerned with "quality management". Another widely used family of standards, ISO 14000, is primarily concerned with "environmental management".

Quality management
This means what the organisation does to fulfil:

• the customer's quality requirements, and
• applicable regulatory requirements, while aiming to
• enhance customer satisfaction, and
• achieve continual improvement of its performance in pursuit of these objectives.

Environmental management
This means what the organisation does to:

• minimise harmful effects on the environment caused by its activities, and to
• achieve continual improvement of its environmental performance.

Generic
The vast majority of ISO standards are highly specific to a particular product, material, or process.

However, the ISO 9000 and ISO 14000 families are known as “generic” standards, meaning that the same standards can be applied:

• to any organisation, large or small, whatever its product
• including whether its "product" is actually a service
• in any sector of activity, and
• whether it is a business enterprise, a public administration, or a government department.