What Having ISO or ESD 20:20 Certification Could Bring to Your Company (Demo)

Regulation is important not only in product or quality control but also in the day-to-day management of a company. Similar to inspectors, auditors evaluate how a company runs in order to provide recommendations… and eventually certification. This will acknowledge the efforts they’ve made to reach the highest standards and proclaim to the public that they are world-class. An article on the Components Direct blog says: ISO 9001:2008 specifies requirements for a quality management system where an organization:

• Needs to demonstrate its ability to consistently provide product that meets customer and applicable statutory and regulatory requirements
• Aims to enhance customer satisfaction through the effective application of the system, including processes for continual improvement of the system and the assurance of conformity to customer and applicable statutory and regulatory requirements.

What is ESD? In the late 1970’s, electrostatic discharge, or ESD, became a large problem in the electronics industry. Low level ESD events from people were causing device failures and yielding loses. As the industry learned about this phenomenon, both device design improvements and process changes were made to make the devices more robust and the processes more capable of handling these devices.

The International Organization for Standardization, or ISO for short, is considered the world’s largest auditor and developer for international standards. As an independent non-governmental organization made up of members in various parts of the world, they set high but attainable standards for products, services, and management practices. The ISO audits companies based on their regulations and, if successful, certifies them. Gaining ISO certification means gaining the people’s trust, the government’s, and that of other potential business partners in the industry. It assures them that the company they are interested in working with is more than up to handling the task. Given the importance of regulation for electronics products and their manufacturers, it’s clear that gaining ESD certification is also of great importance. ESD 20:20 certification was made to regulate products made by the electronics industry. After all, unstable and unregulated electronics products could give an unwanted electrostatic discharge to its user (among other dangers). Getting ESD certification with the help of organizations like International Standards Authority, Inc. improves the manufacture of these products and assures the customer that they are up to par with industry standards. (Source: The Importance of ISO and ESD Certification, Components Direct)