The Malta Standards Authority (MSA) is aware that consumers are demanding better quality products and services, and inevitably, it is increasingly aware that a quality management system is nowadays indispensable for organisations.

The MSA has felt the need to organise a training course to explain the quality management system as described in the ISO 9000:2000 series of standards, an improvement on the previous ISO9000 standard.

The training course, at the Radisson Baypoint SAS, was aimed at explaining the new standards and emphasised the additional benefits they offer to organisations, compared to the previous standards.

The training course, "Quality Management System - Transition to ISO 9000:2000" was partly sponsored by the EU. It was addressed by Ivan Foss, a management systems expert.

Mr Foss is a civil engineer by education and was employed for 13 years with Det Norske Veritas, the ship classification and certification agency, before setting up his own business.

He is currently director of Oslo-based Ivar Foss Quality Management which supports organisations which want to use quality as a competitive strategy.

The course focused on providing participants with all the information necessary to implement ISO9001:2000, the requirements of this new standard, the quality system requirements and documentations, and how to upgrade the Quality Management System to ISO 9001:2000.

Participants were also encouraged to join in the discussions and take part in the workshops, an invitation which all 50 of them took up with enthusiasm.

The course was a resounding success all round both for the participants and the organisers and similar events are in the pipeline.

For more information call the Malta Standards Authority on tel. 2124-2420, e-mail: info@msa.org.mt or visit www.msa.org.mt.