Abu Dhabi - MENA Herald: Abu Dhabi Quality and Conformity Council (QCC), the entity responsible for developing quality infrastructure and raising awareness on quality standards in the emirates of Abu Dhabi, is showcasing a Verification and Inspection System (VIS) as part of its participation in GITEX Technology Week, the leading ICT trade event currently underway at Dubai World Trade Centre, Dubai.
The automation of verification and inspection services in addition to the inspection of controlled products is the first-of-its-kind in the Middle East. At GITEX 2015, the media and public were offered a sneak peek into the functioning of the system that comprises 12 automated services offered by QCC for the verification of legal measurement instruments and pre-packaged containers. In the area of inspection, the system covers controlled products such as children toys, electrical home appliances, cigarettes and tobacco products, as well as vehicle tires.
Mohammed Helal Al Balooshi, Marketing & Communications Acting Director at Abu Dhabi Quality and Conformity Council (QCC), said: “VIS was developed as part of QCC’s key priority to position the emirate of Abu Dhabi as a safe and fair marketplace through the implementation of effective control procedures.
Al Balooshi added: “VIS simplifies the verification process in terms of time and effort taken, while allowing a larger number of products to be covered for the benefit of consumers and dealers. Earlier it took around 15 to 20 minutes of manual work to complete the verification process for just one measuring instrument, which has now been reduced to just less than five minutes for one instrument. Additionally, the system helps build credibility and trust in the marketplace through eliminating the rate of unintentional errors and mistakes committed when manually compiling reports.”
VIS includes a collection of procedures, processes and approved models based on international specifications and standards such as ISO 17020, ISO 9001 and ISO 17065. These procedures, processes and models were subsequently automated so they could be electronically implemented in the field by the inspection team at QCC’s Markets Surveillance Department.
With the introduction of VIS, QCC has abandoned the manual (printed) inspection and verification forms that were prone to losses – and required huge storage space for the massive amounts of data related to the products and legal measurement instruments. The manual method has been replaced by the electronic storing method to ensure that the data is protected for the long term and is easy to recover when needed.
The system is electronically integrated with Department of Economic Development trade license database, enabling the electronic feeding of trade license data from the DED database and collection of metrological fees, while reducing the time needed to conduct both the inspection and verification processes.
The system also integrated with Manaa system that helps VIS to identify products that have been withdrawn from the market place in the emirate of Abu Dhabi from Manaa recalled product database. Previously, an inspector would physically carry a list of the withdrawn products for the search process - whereas now, as soon as the product’s name and the model number are entered, VIS connects with Manaa system, and searches and displays answers on whether the product has been withdrawn or not, in under a minute.
The Abu Dhabi Quality and Conformity Council was established in 2009 to raise the quality of the emirate’s exports and locally traded products, while protecting the interests of consumers and supporting the UAE’s competitive economy. This is achieved through empowering regulators to establish and implement product safety, legal metrology and conformity schemes. QCC also sets guidelines and benchmarks to identify and verify that the products manufactured and traded in Abu Dhabi conform to the highest quality standards.
