S.A.M.E. denies claims

The President of the Samoa Association of Manufactures and Exporters (S.A.M.E.), Tagaloa Eddie Wilson, has denied claims that changing its International Standards Organisation (I.S.O.) Certification provider has cost its members more.

Tagaloa issued the denial during an interview with the Sunday Samoan yesterday. It follows S.A.M.E’s decision to change its provider of I.S.O Certification and training from an Indian company to a New Zealand company.

Tagaloa said that if anything, the change in providers has resulted in a better financial outcome for its members. Initially, Tagaloa said S.A.M.E dealt with a man by the name of Jayesh Bhope who worked for a company in India.

Tagaloa said S.A.M.E pushed for the certification training and accreditation for its members because of the competitive nature of the trading environment.

“For the export market but also the local market if you are I.S.O. certified the consumer is confident that if there is a problem with your supply of products you can trace it right back to and find out where it is,” he said. According to Tagaloa, after reassessing what would be best for S.A.M.E. and its members, the organisation chose not to renew the contract with Mr. Bhope’s company.

It instead chose to work with International Certification Ltd (I.C.L.), based in Auckland. But the decision has angered Mr. Bhope. Last week, he sent a series of emails to a number of business people and government officials in Samoa to express his dissatisfaction.

In the emails,Mr. Bhope said he wasn’t given a valid reason as to why his company was not re-employed by S.A.M.E.

He then went on to detail the price differences between what his company charges compared to the costs from New Zealand. Mr. Bhope concludes that the New Zealand company would end up costing S.A.M.E. and its members “$30,000 more” than what his company charges.

The figures he uses are in unspecified currencies. “It is very sad to note that the I.S.O. Project coordinator (Eddie of Wilex) took the decision to change the I.S.O. Certification Agency without any valid reasons whatsoever,” Mr. Bhope’s email reads.

“There were absolutely no issues of costs etc. from our end. “I am aware of Recertification Costs of the N.Z. company from reliable sources and my personal contacts within the N.Z. certification bodies fraternity.”

Mr. Bhope claims that his company took all the efforts and “toiled day and night” to bring up the Samoan companies from scratch to this developed I.S.O. certified status.

“The I.S.O. program and the effective timelines and methodologies were designed and evolved by us fully using our wide expertise,” Mr. Bhope says.

“And now after achieving this established state, we are being dumped for invalid reasons and the benefits in-turn given to some other company (who in fact are much-much costlier than us!!)

He then goes on to accuse Tagaloa of being driven by personal motives – a claim which the President denies. Tagaloa said the reasons S.A.M.E decided to go with I.C.L. for the registration, re- registration and training of its members was two-fold.

“Why SAME made the decision for the change one was based on the economy,” he said.

“The travel costs plus accommodation for the expert to do the program is 20 per cent of what it would cost to bring Bhope and the team over (from India). “Secondly the training fees, the surveillance fees, the maintenance fees were all cheaper from New Zealand’s I.C.L. than Mr. Bhope’s fees. “I will give you an example the (I.C.L.) training fees are 45 per cent of Bhope’s training fees.

And the third criteria, which is very important to S.A.M.E. is that we needed an element of sustainability.

“S.A.M.E wanted to do the training long term but he absolutely refused, he refused to part with the training so we asked him train S.A.M.E to do the training but he wanted nothing to do with that.”

He said another reason they went with I.C.L was that S.A.M.E wanted to expand the I.S.O program to include other certifications beyond the basic I.S.0. 9001:2008.

“So all that together plus other reasons it makes sense for our members, they go the New Zealand every second day of the week.

“And there is a company there where they can ask questions and they are very comfortable with that.

“Our attitude to this whole project is that we have finished that phase with Bhope (and) we want to move on based on sustainability.”

In addition to his other emails, Mr. Bhope informed members that their I.S.O 9000 was out of date, saying that their I.S.O status was “on hold” until the recertification audits were successfully conducted and completed.

However, Tagaloa states that all S.A.M.E members, by going through training and audition with I.C.L., are all certified. “The short answer is that threat has gone away,” he said.

“All these companies they have been recertified now – I.S.O. – so they have gone through the process that Bhope was going to do and they have been recertified and they have got their certification.”

Tagaloa did say the only lapse “that I must admit from my side was I was supposed to advise him of our selection team’s decision at least two weeks ago.

“I decided against it right away and the reason for that was I did not want to jeopardise the audit process of our recertifying members,” he said.

“Our present auditors required certain documentation from (Mr) Bhope. “If you look at the animosity in the responses, I knew very well if we advised him of this then that was never going to happen, ever. “(But) I have advised him now of that decision.

The last training and certification were done on Friday and I advised him last night (Friday night). “We had a selection committee who made a decision based on the economy the training component.

“At the end of our contract I said I do not want to continue this conversation the decision has been made by S.A.M.E lets leave it and treasure the achievements we have done in the past.

“Leave it at that.” According to the I.S.O. 9000 family addresses various aspects of quality management and contains some of ISO’s best-known standards.

“The standards provide guidance and tools for companies and organizations who want to ensure that their products and services consistently meet customer’s requirements, and that quality is consistently improved,” the website reads. The I.S.O. 9001:2008 sets out the requirements of a quality management system.