Conformity Assessment is a method of evaluating an organization’s ability to comply with a standard. It’s also a method of determining adherence to a documented quality assurance program to produce a product or deliver a service.
The IEEE Conformity Assessment Program (ICAP) administers certification programs that evaluate and confirm a product’s conformance to a set of requirements, as defined by IEEE standards. ICAP may administer testing services, but also partners with test labs all over the world with top-quality systems and expertise in the relevant test areas.
ICAP manages three different types of certification: Product Certification, Personnel Certification and Quality System Certification. With product certification, ICAP certifies and registers a company that manufactures a product or delivers some type of service. With personnel certification ICAP certifies individuals based on their competent performance in a certain area of technology. ICAP also certifies a company’s quality system and associated set of processes and procedures.
Essentially, certification is an industry-standard process that gives an end-user or purchaser a high level of confidence that a device conforms to a standard or specification. Therefore, ICAP certification is a reliable indicator that a company is consistently producing high-quality products and/or its personnel have a specific set of skills that conform to a published standard. And as this certification is a beacon of quality in the industry, the benefits of carrying an ICAP certification and registration mark are extensive. This proves valuable in setting the organization apart from its competition.
Benefits Abound
Consumers, manufacturers, service providers, and businesses not only expect, but demand product reliability, safety, and functionality. IEEE SA conformity assessment and certification programs are available for a wide range of industries, including power and alternative energy, automotive and aerospace, blockchain, medical devices, artificial intelligence technologies, software, sensors, security, and more.
Along with proof of quality, there are more benefits to ICAP certification and registration. First, merely providing a product’s specifications is no indication of its quality or if it will perform to stated claims. An ICAP certification mark ensures the product is of high quality and will live up to a buyer’s expectations.
Like most IEEE standards, ICAP certification is not mandatory. However, pursuing and acquiring certification shows that a company is willing to subject its product to comprehensive and intensive testing to prove its consistency, quality, and dependability.
Hope for the Best, Prepare for the Worst
Success and failure are partners in life and nowhere are they more prevalent than in the research and development, prototyping, assembly, and commissioning phases of product or process development.
For example, imagine purchasing a piece of assemble-it-yourself furniture from a reputable vendor. You get it to your home or office, open the box, retrieve what you believe to be all the necessary parts and instructions, gather the proper tools, and set down to putting it together.
The process goes well and you believe you’re doing a great job. What you don’t know is, prior to shipping, the manufacturer skipped a few steps in the quality process and one or two critical parts are missing. Now, you have a choice: wait for the company to send you the missing part(s), which can take time, or dismantle the unit, repack it, and ship it back to the dealer or manufacturer, which will consume even more time and resources.
Will you purchase another unit made by the same manufacturer? Obviously, the vendor is not at fault, but until your blood pressure returns to normal, you may also look at the vendor as unreliable and take your business elsewhere. Annoying, yes. But it could be worse.
In another case, a regional regulator and a power provider were involved with constructing a nuclear power plant. In the course of purchasing the various components required to assemble nuclear electrical equipment, the power provider purchased components from a wire manufacturer that performed most testing protocols, but, for reasons unknown, decided to omit radiation tests for the purchased equipment.
Once installed in the nuclear power plant, during the plant’s initial test run, the wires’ PVC coating began to melt. Because the regulators chose not to require certification for its nuclear equipment manufacturers and since the plant owners chose a non-certified manufacturer for their parts, they realized the equivalent of almost $500 million (USD) in losses from the substandard equipment alone.
To ensure success, an ICAP conformity assessment program with certification and an associated product registry can give manufacturers verifiable proof of conformance with IEEE standards. A certificate is an indication of technical competence that offers an incredible advantage in an extremely competitive tech market.
ICAP certificates can also remove certain technical barriers during product deployment and implementation. Importantly, certification can help standard developers improve existing standards as well as create new ones as the tech market evolves.
Beneficiaries
As previously stated, an ICAP certificate offers many benefits to diverse industries. Power and energy, telecommunications, food safety, electronic devices, healthcare, and IoT applications are just a handful of industries successfully participating in conformity assessment programs today. Consumers, manufacturers, businesses, and service providers are all beneficiaries of IEEE’s conformity assessment programs.
Consumers get the confidence and assurance that products they purchase meet standards of quality, reliability, and safety. Certification can also exert a positive influence on purchasers’ buying decisions.
For manufacturers, conformity assessment can help them realize a competitive edge via product differentiation while service providers can identify products that comply with industry standards. Again, ICAP certified products ensure proper functionality and provide interoperability across multiple vendors.
Success Means Getting Involved
In any endeavor, success hinges upon those dedicated individuals—IEEE Standards Working Groups, test labs, utilities, telecom operators, manufacturers, and others—getting involved with its progress. This is certainly true when it comes to ICAP. IEEE SA offers a plethora of opportunities for participation in ICAP’s success now and in the future.
One way to get involved is to contact IEEE SA directly. Prime candidates include third-party testing labs seeking accreditation to ensure that their test reports carry the IEEE stamp of approval. Others include vendors, manufacturers, telecom operators and corporations that need to demonstrate conformance, and working groups or alliances.
Starting an ICAP program is straightforward. The first step is to reach out to the ICAP team via the ICAP website or email. Next, inquiring individuals, groups, and companies need to submit a form, which is subject to review by ICAP management. Finally, they will work with ICAP staff to set up policies and expectations for creating a conformity assessment program.
Once a program is approved, features include oversight for testing and certification procedures and development and management of well-defined processes and procedures, tests, test suites, and certification paradigms, maintenance of a certified products registry, and assessment and authorization of test laboratories. Finally, the program provides technical and logistical support services to industry groups executing interoperability demonstrations of specific technologies as they relate to IEEE standards.
If you want to learn more about ICAP, how to get certified, or how to get involved, please visit the IEEE SA ICAP program page.
