April was a busy month for the Integrated Management System (IMS) team as they prepared for the recertification of our four IMS standards; quality, health & safety, food safety and environment.

An external audit took place from 18 April to 20 April, where the purpose was to upgrade our standards to the latest 2015 version. The recertification was completed with no major or minor non conformities, making BMMI the first in the region to successfully complete a recertification audit to the newly revised ISO 9001:2015 (quality management) and ISO:14001:2015 (environmental management) standards. 

“Although companies have three years to comply with the new revision, because of BMMI’s mature, company-wide business and integrated management system, we were able to accelerate the process to meet the requirements of the certification in a short period of time after release of the new revisions of quality & environment management systems towards the end of 2015,” said Vice President of IMS, Administration & Security, Suttish Boodoo. “This certification shows the effectiveness of our IMS and we are pleased to tell our stakeholders, shareholders, principals and customers that BMMI continues to lead the industry in compliance and strive to achieve and deliver the highest quality products and services.

The re-certification audit was conducted by Bureau Veritas, and covered a number of the Group’s divisions and locations, including BMMI’s Sitra Headquarters, BMMI Shops and Nader Trading. The objectives of the audit was to confirm that the management systems conforms with all the requirements of the standard, as well as ensure that BMMI has effectively implemented its planned arrangements. 

“With the re-certification of the 4 ISO standards based on the 2015 revisions, BMMI is once again demonstrating a commitment to high standards of operations across the Group. Having been certified for over four years, our focus is shifting from mere compliance to continuous improvement of standards and performance. Our commitment to these standards has delivered in immense value to the Group over many years,” said CFO & EVP, Support Services Ammar Aqeel AlHassan.

Only a few observations and opportunities for improvement were noted that need to be actioned to improve the management system.

The external auditors commended on the openness, support and collaboration of the BMMI team.

“On behalf of the IMS Team, a heartfelt thank you to all those who directly or indirectly played a role in maintaining our IMS standards,” said Suttish.