MMI Logistics, a division of Maritime and Mercantile International (the MMI Group), has announced it has been awarded the latest upgrade in the ISO 9000 series of international standards for quality management.

The process to achieve ISO 9001:2000 was successfully completed at the company's Jebel Ali facility, and the quality standard was awarded by Moody International Certification Ltd., international assessors and management systems specialists, it said.

Wayne Bamford, general manager of Moody International Certification Ltd, who officially presented the certificate, said the ISO 9001:2000 designation was awarded only to those companies demonstrating a commitment to ongoing business improvement and customer satisfaction.

"This is the fourth year that MMI Logistics has been independently certified as meeting the requirements of the ISO 9000 quality standard, and we are pleased for them that they are now among the very few companies in the Middle East to possess the upgrade. Our audit team has identified MMI's commitment to quality and to their customers, and we are glad to approve of them as meeting the significant changes incorporated in the 2000 revision of the ISO 9000 quality standard," he said.

Commenting on the win, manager of MMI Logistics Mike Lee explained that ISO standards were reviewed periodically in light of technological and market developments.

"The 2000 revisions of the ISO 9000 series represent the most thorough overhaul of these standards since they were first published in 1987, and the new version takes into account developments in the field of quality and experience in implementing ISO 9000."

Among the changes made in ISO 9000 are a reduction in the number of standards, explicit requirements for achieving customer satisfaction, continual improvement; a more logical structure and an approach based on managing organisational processes. ISO 9001:2000 focuses primarily on management responsibility, resource management, process management, measurement, analysis and improvement.

The series is based on eight universal quality management principles, which are intended for use by senior management as a framework to guide organisations toward improved performance. The eight principles extend the possibility of going beyond certification to achieving satisfaction not just of customers, but also of others such as employees, shareholders and the community at large.

"MMI is committed to continuous quality improvement and professional management practices," stated Lee. "We believe in the process focus of ISO and support the greater emphasis on measurement of customer satisfaction. This compliance greatly benefits our customers as well as our employees by focusing on issue resolution, ongoing process improvements and employee participation," he elaborated.

"This is yet another example of MMI's commitment to business excellence principles and we continue to set the highest standards in every business we operate in. Our drive covers total business management processes incorporating environment awareness management systems and operational health and safety safeguards," Lee added.

The ISO 9000 is among the most widely known and successful of the standards published by ISO since it began operations in 1947. The standards have become an international reference for quality requirements in business dealings.

MMI Logistics is one of the largest and most sophisticated supply chain management companies in the region, providing solutions to a range of global companies that include Epson, Ricoh, Philips, Fritz and Toys R Us. Located in Jebel Ali, MMI Logistics has an extensive, well-established network across the Middle East, a highly customer-focussed team, and ISO 9001: 2000, ISO14001 and OHSAS 18000 certification across all operations.

MMI Logistics' services include transportation; warehouse and fleet management; inventory replenishment and order processing, and marketing support functions such as bar-coding, re-packaging, merchandising and bi-lingual re-programming.