Kenya Bureau of Standards (KEBS) has reaffirmed its commitment to achieving zero defects by building on sustainability and leveraging available industry data.
The commitment is in-line with this year’s World Quality Day theme of Sustainability: Improving our products, people, and planet.
To achieve zero defects, KEBS has received accreditations for its Metrology and Testing Laboratories on ISO 17025, KEBS CB on ISO 17021 certificates. This is in addition to certifications for ISO 9001:2015 Quality Management Systems (QMS), ISO 22301 Business Continuity Management Systems (BCMS), ISO 27001 Information Security Management Systems (ISMS) and ISO 37001 Anti Bribery Management Systems (ABMS).
The bureau is currently implementing a performance-based system to drive strategy through the balanced score card which has helped to drive a performance culture across its different departments. This is in addition to operating a quality infrastructure that is providing synergies that support standards, metrology and conformity assessment agenda.
Speaking at the second Management representatives and auditors forum at the Sarova Whitesands hotel in Mombasa, KEBS Managing Director, Lt Col (Rtd.) Bernard N. Njiraini said, “Internally we have identified accreditations and certifications being a tried and tested method to ensure that our operations are predictable and sustainable. We have further adopted a risk-based approach to managing the risks that would affect the realization of our mandate through the objectives and goals that we set out in our strategies.”
“We are currently working on ISO 17020 for our inspection and market surveillance functions and ISO 17065 for the product certification process. The meaning of this is to ensure that the organization is run on systems that are institutionalized beyond individuals,” added Njiraini.
Besides building on sustainability, Njiraini emphasized the need for producers and other key quality sector stakeholders to leverage data that currently sits with consumers and in high automated machines.