MINES Services Limited (MSL), a member of the Farfan & Mendes Group of companies, on Tuesday held a reception to celebrate its recently achieved: International Organisation for Standardisation (ISO) 9001:2015 certification.

The ISO 9001:2015 is based on a number of quality-management principles, including a strong customer focus, the motivation and implication of top management, the process approach and continual improvement of a company.

The certification requirements established by the ISO were acquired Mines services Limited, with the support of ExxonMobil Guyana’s Centre for Local Business Development (CLBD).
The reception was held at the Farfan & Mendes corporate head office at Providence, East Bank Demerara, with the feature address being given by Managing-Director, Andre Mendes.

Mendes explained that the company’s goal to achieve the ISO 9001:2015 certification was initially aimed at being in a position to supply goods and services to the oil-and-gas sector.
However, he said, the process began following an initial supplier audit through Technip FMC.

“While we understood that investing in this process did not guarantee us business from the sector, we know that not investing in an improved quality-management system guaranteed that we would get nothing” the managing-director said.
He noted that the process of working towards certification developed rapidly into a process of continuous improvement for the company and existing customers, rather than a means to become a supplier to the sector.

“For myself, running the company, the process mapping and developed procedures give me much greater peace of mind and trust in the organization, because our employees had a structure that they could conform to, that guaranteed the level of service we wanted to have for our customers,” Mendes stressed.

The managing-director explained that the next step is having all of the Farfan & Mendes Group of companies ISO9001:2015 and ISO45001 certified by the end of 2019.
Meanwhile, Project Director of (CLBD) Patrick Henry explained that there has been a rapid demand from Guyanese Businesses to get ISO certification.

Henry explained that the demand is ahead of schedule and the centre is filled of local businesses, since the CLDB had targeted 10 businesses to get ISO certification for the span of three years; so far over 15 companies are on board before the three-year mark.
He explained that another round for ISO certification will be coming in July 2019, while in March and April a third round of businesses will be joining the ISO9001 process.

“Today, the centre works with nine firms towards the ISO9001 compliance; three of them have undertaken audits and certifications,” the CLBD project manager said.
He added that the centre of local business development was established in 2017 to assist Guyanese businesses to understand the oil-and-gas sector broadly and position themselves windward.

“Since that time, Guyanese businesses have not only learnt about the sector, but have actively engaged firms like ExxonMobil and their prime contractors through the centre” he stressed.

This engagement, Henry said, has led directly to Guyanese businesses being prepared to windward (open), form smart partnerships, invest in new opportunity and rapidly grow in a domestic oil-and-gas sector.

“International certification provides a common alphabet between Guyanese suppliers and international businesses – they can understand what each does, where there is a gap and what improvements need to take place,” Henry stressed.