Brc/iop, Better Than Iso 9001 2000 ?

The Company I slave for is a US owned Global leader in many packaging systems, with multiple European sites all certified to BRC/IOP, our site Quality Manager got the idea that our Quality and Technical management systems written to comply with 9001 2000 and integrated to meet the BRC/IOP standard were good enough to stand on their own and has won the backing of the Divisional VP to allow our 9001 2000 accreditation to lapse without renewal and just have the BRC/IOP certification. Has anybody else taken this approach ? If so how has it gone down with customers ?

Has anybody else taken this approach? If so how has it gone down with customers?

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I think you're only the second I've heard about. Most UK food customers would probably agree to it. The only problem I see is where a packaging manufacture supplies to different markets for example, if you supplied 50% of your packaging to the shoe industry they wouldn't have heard of the BRC/IOP Packaging Standard and would possibly require you to be ISO 9000 Certified. The only way to be sure is to ask your customers.

How was the descision made with you? Did you ask your customers first?

with multiple European sites all certified to BRC/IOP.

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Don't forget to tell them about the BRC/IOP Register.

http://www.saferpak....d_companies.htm

Regards,
Simon

Our ISO accrediatation does not expire until March 05, You are of course right Simon we must approach our customers, the debate is ongoing internally about how to sell it to them, 90% of our customers are food sector. The suggestion originally came from our plant Quality Manager who put it to his divisional boss who passed the parcel up to the VP who to our suprise agreed to run with it on the grounds of the BRC/IOP system ustilising all the ISO procedures. I am aware that one of the very large Foodservice groups has stopped seeking renewed ISO accrediatation for some of its sites but I suppose as with the large retailers they can do one thing whilst forcing suppliers to do something altogether more difficult.
It will be interesting to see how we fair when our customers begin demanding ISO 22000 !

Our ISO accrediatation does not expire until March 05, You are of course right Simon we must approach our customers, the debate is ongoing internally about how to sell it to them, 90% of our customers are food sector.

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There was a very low take up of ISO 9000 by the food industry, so I can't see you having too many problems there. At the end of the day you're still running all the systems, just without the certificate. If only 10% of your customer base is non-food then I'm guessing this is made up of some of your smaller customers. State your case to them and if one or two intransigent customers won't accept the change, call their bluff, and tell them they can take it or leave it. They can always carry out their own audits…if they can be bothered. If only some of these purchasing managers knew how little an ISO9001:2000 Certificate is actually worth.

Regards,
Simon

A company I know has just been HACCP certified and is looking at BRC-Food. Already the Senior Managememt has decided to drop its ISO 9000 once certified to BRC-Food as they also feel that as a food company, the Food Safety Managament System overides it.

In any case the integrated QMS in the FSM Manual is suffificent to stand on its own.

Charles Chew

A company I know has just been HACCP certified and is looking at BRC-Food. Already the Senior Managememt has decided to drop its ISO 9000 once certified to BRC-Food as they also feel that as a food company, the Food Safety Managament System overides it.

In any case the integrated QMS in the FSM Manual is suffificent to stand on its own.

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I don't think it's a case of which Standard is better; it's really like comparing apples with oranges. The choice should be made on which Standard suits your business and your market best. The Standards are different but there are a lot of ISO 9001 requirements included within the BRC Standards. An ISO 9001 system on its own is not specific enough for a food industry company as it doesn't cover food safety systems such as HACCP.

Regards,
Simon