The process behind certifying a management system is an unparalleled instrument in agitating an entire organization and its employees – positively, of course. This instrument can unleash resources and talent while helping everyone focus on one common goal. It culminates in a kind of exam which an impartial evaluator assesses. Certificates help people taste victory, and represent an accomplishment that everyone can take pride in. And results should be celebrated. Taking the approach of “up with quality and cost-effectiveness, down with controls and bureaucracy”, the Steinbeis Transfer Center EQ ZERT has positioned itself as a certification partner for quality-driven companies and institutes.
One of the key advantages of certification is, when it’s used properly, the drive toward continuous improvement that’s guided by experts. This service, provided by the certification partner, should be used not only to maintain the management system, but to keep advancing it, without interruption – and with the assistance and recommendations of impartial experts. All of this requires the right certification partner.
The Steinbeis certification institute EQ ZERT is accredited by the German Association for Accreditation as a certifying body for management systems and human resources. Underpinned by the multilateral accord of the European Cooperation for Accreditation as well as the International Accreditation Forum, EQ ZERT offers its customers an internationally recognized certification service.
Why are EQ ZERT certificates so well received? This can be attributed to more than just a way of working that’s in line with real-life practices. Every auditor is also highly qualified and raises the bar extremely high in terms of performing quality work for this certifying body. “Even now, we continue to fine-tune our offer. And we’re learning from our mistakes – and building on our strengths. That’s how we can offer our customers the best possible certification service, now and in the future,” explains Jurgen G. Kerner, head of EQ ZERT. EQ ZERT offers certification of quality, environmental and occupational safety management systems as well as the certification of quality and environmental management specialists.
To shape and refine management systems, EQ ZERT also offers various kinds of support. Customers can choose from accelerated or mini-seminars on quality and environmental management, or they can sign up for a quality management “starter package” to help them compile their own quality management documentation. Audit packages are also available for quality, environmental and occupational safety management systems, and EQ ZERT also provides practical guidelines on quality and environmental management.
EQ ZERT practical guidelines are part of Steinbeis- Edition, which publishes selected titles authored by experts in the Steinbeis Transfer Network. With over 25,000 copies sold, EQ ZERT practical guidelines are a Steinbeis-Edition bestseller. In 1999, EQ ZERT published its first six practical guidelines on quality and environmental management as educational minibrochures for the German-speaking market. Due to unceasing high demand, the Steinbeis Center updated the guidelines a number of times, eventually expanding them into a more comprehensive series of publications.
Even today, quality and environmental management are often misunderstood by interested parties and users. The result: unsatisfactory results in designing and launching the right management systems, as well as outright rejection by those responsible for these issues. Much is misunderstood and misinterpreted, and implementation is often laborious, lacking substantive meaning and benefit. This is precisely why EQ ZERT thrashed out its first set of practical guidelines. This compact tool was specifically designed to help people better understand quality and environmental management, and offer them useful information on how to properly put theories into practice.
The practical guidelines focus on each theme as a separate entity. Specific chapters, however, go into greater detail, exploring industry particulars and using examples to illustrate
certain interpretations.