THE Art Williams and Harry Wendt Aeronautical Engineering School located at the Eugene F. Correia International Airport, Ogle, East Coast Demerara, on Monday, became the first local organisation to transfer its ISO 9001 certification to the Global Compliance Service (GCS).

The school was certified by the Trinidad and Tobago Bureau of Standards in July 2006, meaning that it has 15 years of compliance. It is the fifth company to achieve ISO 9001 certification in Guyana.

ISO 9001 is the internationally recognised standard for a quality management system (QMS) that was developed and published by the International Orgnisation for Standardisation (ISO). This certification provides a model for companies of all types and sizes to improve internal systems, build quality management systems and operate effectively at different levels, including the ability to focus on customer requirements and constantly find ways to become resilient and sustainable.

This standard is actually based on seven quality-management principles: having a strong customer focus; involvement of high-level company management; employee engagement; evidence-based decision-making; an outlined process-based approach, relationship management, and ongoing improvement of business operations.

The school’s Accountable Manager Nalini Chanderban, said that although the ISO 9001 certification was in place since 2006, a decision was taken to transfer it to a local certification body to facilitate face-to-face, more sampling, and timely surveillance audits due to the changing dynamics of the COVID-19 pandemic.

“Our certification body previously was overseas, so with the pandemic came challenges and opportunities, so we took the opportunity of transferring to this certification body because not only is it in Guyana, but with surveillance audit, you want to have a bit more face-to-face interaction and the fact that all we do here is critical in terms of our documentation and our records. We prefer to have more face-to-face surveillance audits rather than doing it virtually.”

Chanderban disclosed that the aeronautical school is the only one of its kind that has institutional accreditation in Guyana under the Ministry of Education and is certified under the Guyana Civil Aviation Authority (GCAA).

She noted that the school’s latest move directly correlates with the vision of its founders.
“The founding members of this school, three great sons of Guyana and all patriots, George Loy, Colonel Charles Hutson, and Captain Malcolm Chan-a-Sue, believed in greatness and reaching for the stars. They all paved the way for such an honoured occasion and we are very grateful to receive this certification and recognition from Global Compliance Services in their honour,” said Chanderban.

Art Williams & Harry Wendt Aeronautical Engineering School, a service organisation that focuses on aircraft maintenance engineering is approved as an ATO (Aviation Training Organisation) under the Guyana Civil Aviation Authority.

Chanderban said that following the death of the last founding member, Captain Chan-a-Sue, the team is committed to “keeping the torch burning” and continuing along its path of innovative development for the betterment of the school in keeping with the founding fathers’ visions. Chan-a-Sue died on Monday, several weeks after being involved in a vehicular accident

Global Compliance Service in a press release noted that the ISO 9001:2015 certification transfer is instrumental for both organisations, since it is the first one done by a local organisation.

“This is indeed a prestigious achievement on continuing its transfer of certification for ISO 9001:2015 certification. Companies certified to the ISO 9001:2015 standard have established a QMS, which provides a framework for the delivery of consistent quality products and services as defined within its scope of certification.”

GCS now has 19 organisations certified in Guyana.