Winter Haven FL — A client of Oxebridge’s Rapid ISO 9001 Implementation Program has received a major nonconformity against ISO 9001 during an initial registration audit by Smithers Quality Assessments. An initial review by Oxebridge has confirmed that the finding is legitimate and substantiated by the evidence.
Details are forthcoming, but the finding represents the first time since the company was founded in 1999 that an ISO 9001 implementation client did not pass their registration audit on the first attempt. Smithers will likely conduct a re-assessment of the major finding within 90 days, per accreditation rules.
Christopher Paris, founder and VP Operations of Oxebridge, said. “For years we truthfully reported a 100% success rate. And now we will continue to remain honest to our clients and the public and report our first major nonconformity, and adjust our marketing accordingly. We won’t lie to people.”
Most ISO 9001 and AS9100 consultants boast of “100%” success rates, or even “guarantee” their services, backing those claims with contracts and small print terms that deny any responsibility if the client fails an audit. Furthermore, the claims are unverifiable. In contrast, Oxebridge has listed contact information for its clients on its website, and provided, upon request, a more detailed list of references so that its claims could be verified first hand with its clients.
“We have to do some number crunching,” Mr. Paris said, “and come up with a more accurate total number of ISO 9001 clients so we can adjust the 100% claim accordingly.” Oxebridge estimates it has had anywhere from 150 to 200 “pure” ISO 9001 clients since its inception, but many other clients were combination implementations, including ISO 13485 for medical device, AS9100 or its variants for aerospace, and other sector specific standards.
“We also have to look at what went wrong,” Mr. Paris added.
There will be further reporting on this as the full analysis of the major nonconformity comes in.
Christopher Paris is the founder and VP Operations of Oxebridge. He has over 35 years’ experience implementing ISO 9001 and AS9100 systems, and helps establish certification and accreditation bodies with the ISO 17000 series. He is a vocal advocate for the development and use of standards from the point of view of actual users. He is the writer and artist of THE AUDITOR comic strip, and is currently writing the DR. CUBA pulp novel series. Visit www.drcuba.world
