SCOTT SAFETY has opened a training, servicing and assembly facility in Abu Dhabi to support its growing customer base in the Middle East. Based in the Industrial City of Adu Dhabi, the facility houses staff assembling products, a service and warranty support department and a regional sales team. It also incorporates a training facility to provide customers, partners and end users with a dedicated resource for demonstrations and product training.
“Scott Safety plays a critical role in the lives of our customers and we take that responsibility very seriously,” said David Jackson, regional sales director, Middle East. “Many of our customers in the Middle East region are operating in high-risk industries – our new offices and facilities in Abu Dhabi will enable us to respond to their needs quickly and efficiently.”
KME has received ISO 9001:2008 certification from TÜV SÜD America Inc. after it assessed the company’s quality system and found it to be in compliance. TÜV’s is accredited as a registrar by ANSI-ASQ National Accreditation Board (ANAB), the organization responsible for qualifying registrars as competent to audit and certify organizations conforming to ISO 9001 or other management system standards.
The International Organization for Standardization (ISO) is a worldwide federation of national standards bodies from 130 countries. Its ISO 9001 standard is a quality-assurance model made up of 20 sets of quality system requirements. This model applies to organizations that design, develop, produce, install and service products. ISO expects organizations to apply this model and to meet these requirements by developing a quality system. KME’s quality policy is “Excellence-Right from the Start” and it has developed a quality- and business-management system manual designed to support this policy at all KME locations.
According to KME CEO John Kovatch III, “We have always had a strict quality-control system, but the additional structure of the ISO 9001 registration has helped us to improve all areas of our company, including sales, purchasing, inventory control, quality assurance, manufacturing, engineering and customer service. I’m pleased to report that our personnel at all locations have embraced the system to assure that our customers receive excellent products and services with an ongoing commitment to continuous improvement.”
Bob Krajcirik, KME’s director of quality assurance, said, “While no policy by itself assures product quality, KME achieved this certification in a relatively short period of time because it already had a commitment to a documented process of continuous improvement. This investment is a natural path given KME’s substantial growth and commitment to excellence for all of our customers around the world.”
ZOLL MEDICAL CORP., a wholly owned U.S. subsidiary of Asahi Kasei, has established Asahi Kasei ZOLL Medical Corporation (AZM) as its Japanese subsidiary. AZM will advance the expansion and development of ZOLL’s critical-care business in Japan, the second-largest medical market in the world. The new Tokyo-based subsidiary is wholly owned by ZOLL. Seiji Sakano, Ph.D, will serve as president of AZM, reporting directly to Richard A. Packer, CEO of ZOLL.
Targeting growth in the field of resuscitation and critical care, Asahi Kasei acquired full ownership of ZOLL in April 2012. As a member company of the Asahi Kasei Group, ZOLL is accelerating the expansion of operations beyond the US and Europe, with a focus on Japan and other major Asian markets.
The ZOLL AED Plus automated external defibrillator has been marketed in Japan since August 2011 through Asahi Kasei subsidiary Admis Inc. To further expand its Japanese business, ZOLL is working to obtain regulatory approval as quickly as possible for products currently sold in the U.S. and Europe, while reinforcing its sales infrastructure in the country.
PIERCE MANUFACTURING has received an order for four aerial tillers from the San Jose, CA, Fire Department. Built on the Arrow XT chassis, these are the department’s first Pierce aerial tillers. All four will be placed into service in spring 2013.
“Because our fire department recently moved from a two-piece truck company to a single-piece truck company configuration, our apparatus have to be able to carry much more equipment,” said Joseph Crivello, battalion chief for the San Jose Fire Department. “That’s a significant positive aspect of these Pierce tiller trucks: they will meet our requirement for a large amount of equipment storage while keeping a shorter overall length. These four new Pierce tiller trucks will have a tremendous impact on our fire and emergency response capabilities.”
