Quality and Business Excellence Forum held

The Fund for Quality Culture and Excellence (FQCE), and Quality & Excellence Magazine organised for the 22^nd time the QUALITY AND BUSINESS EXCELLENCE FORUM 2013 that was dedicated to the World Quality Day and European Quality Week.

This year’s Quality and Business Excellence Forum, that includes the conference entitled Quality will lead us to the world, was held on 12^th and 13^th November, while the National Prize for Business Excellence “Quality Award 2013” was awarded on 14^th November 2013 at the PKS premises.

Vladimir Trajković, President of the Fund for Quality Culture and Excellence (FCQE), was the first one to address the delegates and he wished them a successful conference and announced that, for 19th time, Quality Award would be presented for exceptional results achieved while upgrading and developing quality and business excellence in our country and in the region. Moreover, he explained that the said competition would start on 15th January 2014 so that companies could prepare on time for the forthcoming assessments. The award has four categories:

1. Quality Award for large enterprises (real sector and services): this year’s winner is NIS AD, Novi Sad;
2. Quality Award for small and medium-sized enterprises (real sector and services): this year’s winner is the Meat Hygiene and Technology Institute, Belgrade;
3. Quality Award for public sector: this year’s winner is the Directorate of Measures and Precious Metals, Belgrade;
4. Quality Award for enterprises outside the Republic of Serbia: this year’s winner is BH TELECOM, Sarajevo.

Ljubiša Dimitrijević addressed the delegates on behalf of the Serbian Chamber of Commerce and emphasised how important it was for the economy to learn about new trends in the field of quality. He also reminded the delegates that the Association of Accredited CABs had been established which should contribute to close cooperation with business community in order to prepare for placing of products and services on the EU market.

Jelena Popović MSc, Assistant Minister at the Ministry of Economy (ME), opened the conference when she emphasised how pleased she was to see that companies outside the Republic of Serbia participated in this year’s competition. She also reminded the delegates about the fortcoming EU membership negotiations, and that she was appointed as the chief negotiator for Subgroup 1 (free movement of goods) incorporating 18 ministries that were allocated a task to transpose New Approach Directives into our legislation. Moreover, she pointed out that the ME objective was to upgrade the competence of the Serbian economy.

Jelena Popović MSc, ME

Her address was followed by introductory lectures on the subject of: Lidership with a vision, inspiration and integrity, Miloš Jelić PhD, Importance of business integrity when fighting corruption, Marinko Ukropina, and Accreditation of certification bodies – importance of certification schemes, Natalija Jovičić Zarić MSc.

Natalija Jovičić Zarić MSc, ATS Deputy Director, explained the importance of the role of certification bodies providing certification of products (certification as per technical requirements (regulations, standards or technical specifications) and adopted/recognised certification schemes), management systems (quality management system, environmental management system, food safety management system, occupational health and safety management system and information security management system) and persons (welders, persons performing non-destructive tests, etc.) in the entire conformity assessment system, whereas the role of accredited certification bodies was crucial. Product certification services provided by accredited certification bodies increase the level of trust of consumers and those using the products, while market competitiveness is indirectly increased and new markets become more accessible. Management system certification provided by accredited certification bodies provides trust in companies’ business capacities, while certification of persons ensures that business activities are performed by persons whose competence was confirmed in a regulated, controlled and systematic way.

Natalija Jovičić Zarić MSc, ATS

It was emphasised that a large number of certification schemes had been evaluated by accreditation bodies in line with the defined criteria. In order to attain a uniform approach when assessing schemes it was necessary to produce, and later to amend, the document entitled EA 2/11, Policy, Criteria and Procedure for the Evaluation and Acceptance Conformity Assessment Schemes for Inclusion in the EA MLA. This document is applied in case of all conformity assessment schemes (for testing, inspection and certification) having identified owners that can assume full responsibility for the content and purpose of the scheme and that are, at the same time, authorised to change the scheme. Support from the EA MLA economies is an important prerequisite for a scheme to be accepted. Moreover, conformity assessment process that is defined by a scheme has to be recognised in one of the standards used in case of accreditation of CABs and underpinning technical standards and guidance documents published by EA.

For more information, please visit  http://www.kvalitet.org.rs.

Natalija Jovičić Zarić MSc, Vladimir Trajković, Miloš Jelić PhD, Vladimir Simić,
Ljubiša Dimitrijević, prof. Slavko Arsovski PhD