Premium and expert valve stockist, distributor and solution provider, Heaton Valves Africa (HVA), is proud to have achieved accreditation to the ISO 9001:2008 quality standard back in July 2006. ISO 9001:2008 is the internationally recognised standard for the quality management of businesses and ultimately allows HVA to guarantee the highest levels of inspection, quality control and customer satisfaction.

Retaining its ISO status means constantly reviewing, amending and developing processes as the business changes and grows. HVA Quality Assurance Director, Sipho Zini, explains how they approached this with technology:

“As our business expands and output increases it is easy for internal processes to slip. We recognised that technology could bring real value to our business processes and help us with ISO 9001:2008 as well improving the customer experience. After some research we decided to implement RFID based technology solution, AssetTagz.

AssetTagz uses Windows mobile computers, Radio Frequency ID (RFID) and/or barcode tagging to give full control and visibility of assets that can aid ISO conformance.

As each valve arrives at a warehouse, it is uniquely identified using a barcode or RFID tag. These tagged valves are scanned instantly and identified using handheld computers. Alerts are in-built into the system to ensure all valves undergo an inspection on arrival and dispatch, and all this inspection data captured allows Inspection Certificates and Reports to be immediately available and viewed centrally on the web-based application via any internet enabled computer.

“Using AssetTagz we are able to ensure quality control inspections are performed to the highest standard. Our warehouse efficiency has also dramatically improved through automated stock taking and the elimination of mistakes at receipt and dispatch of product. As well efficiency improvements, since we implemented AssetTagz we have seen a clear reduction in our ISO Non Conformances even though output has increased.” Zini said.