Viability of Q1 9th edition system for an NDT company

[sfruge]

First off, great forum!

Second, I wanted to get some clarification regarding how viable a move from ISO 9001 to a Q1 system would be as a service provider. It seems I cannot get around excluding design and development which leads me to believe that this quality system may not be a good fit for our company.

Thoughts are welcome!

 

[Sidney Vianna]

I believe that, instead of aiming for the API Q1 standard, you should focus on API Q2 SPECIFICATION FOR QUALITY MANAGEMENT SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS FOR SERVICE SUPPLY ORGANIZATIONS FOR THE PETROLEUM AND NATURAL GAS INDUSTRIES

 

[Aussie99]

First off, great forum!

Second, I wanted to get some clarification regarding how viable a move from ISO 9001 to a Q1 system would be as a service provider. It seems I cannot get around excluding design and development which leads me to believe that this quality system may not be a good fit for our company.

Thoughts are welcome!

Quick question sfruge.........What sort of "design and/or development" would you be doing as an NDT provider?

I've just left a company which was Q1 9th edition certified. We used contractors to carry out our NDT, and we had an exclusion on "design & development" accepted.
We had fairly lengthy documented procedures relative to the vetting of our choice of contractor, their procedures, and their documentation, but so long as all facets of their service was compliant with our requirements, (which were accepted by the API auditors), then we were able to retain our Q1 certification (with the exclusion). The contractors we used were ISO 9001 compliant only, but they were willing to make changes to their processes to come into line with our requirements.

If you are chasing NDT work within the oil and gas industry then Q1 9th edition may be a good option for you. It will no doubt give you a more robust QMS and it may assist in attracting new clients.
Be aware however, the requirements are far greater than they are for ISO 9001.

Cheers
Aussie

 

[sfruge]

To clarify - I am the quality manager of an NDT company supplying services to the oil and gas industry in southern USA. We are already ISO 9001 certified but the owner is pushing to expand our quality system to an API branded system - either Q1 or Q2 but the issue remains regarding the design and development.

As an NDT company, we base our service on governing standards (API, ASNT, ISO) regarding the methods of NDT we provide. That being said, we honestly have no design and develpment phase in our product realization. Our SOP's and work instructions are pulled right out of governing bodies via our LVL III.

Knowing all that, would it be smart for us to move forward with getting an API certified Q1/Q2 system when it just seems to me that they are made more for manufacturing and service providers. I've been told that NDT was not not assumed when writing Q2 and the evidence supports it given the lack of exclusions for design and development.

Hope this helps.

 

[Aussie99]

"would it be smart for us to move forward with getting an API certified Q1/Q2 system when it just seems to me that they are made more for manufacturing and service providers"

That may depend on what you are trying to achieve sfruge. If you are looking for a more robust and accountable QMS, then a move to Q1 (with an exemption on design and development), could be a step in the right direction.
As noted previously, it may assist in attracting more clients from the oil & gas industry.

Just my thoughts.