The cooperative has secured a six-month extended validity of Certification for International Organization for Standardization (ISO) 9001:2015 for Quality Management System after it has successfully undergone a capacity assessment and remote audit on May 19-20, 2020. Moreover, the postponement of the onsite recertification audit for other processes will still be pursued within the next six (6) months as a general requirement of the standard.
Originally, the audit was scheduled in April 2020, however, was deferred due to stricter pandemic restrictions by the national government consequently imposing travel bans and restricted physical gatherings of all sectors across the country. Until recently, a digital option was offered by the certifying body, TÜV Rheinland using prescribed audit procedures during pandemic.
The remote audit was performed through an online video conferencing application which allows document sharing and discussions, application of sampling, interviews and examination of appropriate documents. As for the audit findings, the auditors have noted positive observations for training, budget and tariff, general services and the finance department while two opportunities for improvement under the internal audit and customer relations respectively and zero non-conformity in all areas audited. This goes to show the long-term commitment directed towards improved customer satisfaction through higher quality of service, enhanced efficiency of everyday operations, continual productivity, improvements, optimization of processes and improved standards.
The cooperative, together with the management and board of directors, commit to periodic enhancements to better the operation and to have a more focused program for stakeholders, member-consumer-owners (MCOs), suppliers, regulatory bodies and other partner government and private agencies, all for a stronger and resilient SOCOTECO-I.