IRIS Certification for Trelleborg Antivibration Solutions

IRIS (International Railway Industry Standard) Certification for Trelleborg Antivibration Solutions
Promoting the performance of rail, our organization and enhanced product quality. 

The International Railway Industry Standard (IRIS) is an internationally recognized management system standard specific to the railway industry. It is based on the ISO 9001 structure but stipulates additional, railway-specific requirements for business management systems. IRIS is an initiative led by the Association of European Railway Industries (UNIFE). 

After months of preparation involving a team of people from all departments, Trelleborg Antivibration Solutions Leicester achieved IRIS certification after a labor-intensive 12-day audit carried out by TÜV Nord at the beginning of October 2019. It took the Q/A team 4-6 weeks post-audit to co-ordinate the minor non-conformities after which the certificate was given in the last working week of December 2019.  

Mark Badge, Quality Manager for the Leicester facility, commented: “We worked with Andreas Heinzmann of CC Rail who was the first president of the IRIS group before forming his own consultancy. He provided expert coaching in terms of the new ISO / TS 22163 standard and helped qualify 5 people from the Leicester team as ‘IRIS Managers’. Andreas emphasized the challenge in terms of integration, culture and benefit over time. 

Initial misconceptions surrounding IRIS requirements have been allayed and we’re now more aware of how IRIS requirements supplement ISO 9001 and align with other sector-specific standards. 

Questions are also raised regarding management system integration across the Business Unit. Experience and knowledge gained during the certification process are now being shared with the team in Velten. Mario Warias and his team are aiming to achieve IRIS certification during the latter part of this year. We envisage ongoing collaboration and development, culminating in multi-site certification within the next three years."

Based on an international standard ISO/TS 22163, coupled with a decade-long experienced certification process, and a demanding assessment methodology, IRIS Certification™ is backed by the most important rail stakeholders.

Werner Zimmermann, Global Rail Director, who was actively involved during every stage of the process and is pictured presenting the certificate to Era Sharma, Quality Systems Co-Ordinator for the Leicester site remarked: “I would like to thank everyone involved and the great team effort that resulted in our successful passing of the IRIS Audit. The achieved level enables Trelleborg’s AVS team in Leicester to meet even better the customer demands and increase customer satisfaction."