Quality and Compliance
MAT's Quality Program is maintained to meet customer's complex quality requirements. In addition to ISO9001:2000 Registration, MAT's Quality Program is designed to meet the requirements of several other industry specifications including ISO17025:2005 and ANSI/NCSL Z540-1-1994.
ISO 9001:2000 Registration
ISO/IEC 17025 Laboratory Accreditations:
Dallas Lab: PJL Accreditation
ISO/IEC 17025 is the main standard used by testing and calibration laboratories. Originally known as ISO/IEC Guide 25, ISO/IEC 17025 was initially issued by the ISO in 1999. There are many commonalities with the ISO 9000 standard, but ISO/IEC 17025 adds in the concept of competence to the equation. And it applies directly to those organizations that produce testing and calibration results.
There are two main sections in ISO/IEC 17025 - Management Requirements and Technical Requirements. Management requirements are primarily related to the operation and effectiveness of the quality management system within the laboratory. Technical requirements address the competence of staff, methodology and test/calibration equipment.
Laboratories use ISO/IEC 17025 to implement a quality system aimed at improving their ability to consistently produce valid results. It is also the basis for accreditation from an Accreditation Body. Since the standard is about competence, accreditation is simply formal recognition of a demonstration of that competence.
A prerequisite for a laboratory to become accredited is to have a documented quality management system. The usual contents of the quality manual follow the outline of the ISO 17025 standard.
McAllen/Reynosa Labs: A2LA Accreditation
Established in 1978 as a non-profit, public service, membership society, A2LA is dedicated to the formal recognition of competent testing and calibration laboratories, inspection bodies, proficiency testing providers and reference material producers.
The American Association for Laboratory Accreditation (A2LA) is a nonprofit, non-governmental, public service, membership society. The mission of A2LA is to provide comprehensive services in laboratory accreditation and laboratory-related training. Laboratory accreditation is based on internationally accepted criteria for competence (ISO/IEC 17025:2005).
Goals: The fundamental goals of A2LA are to:
- Achieve customer satisfaction through meeting the needs of both laboratories and their users for competent testing and calibration;
- Improve the quality of laboratories and the data they produce; and
- Increase acceptance of accredited laboratory data to facilitate trade.
Recognition: A2LA is a signatory to several bilateral and multilateral recognition agreements. These agreements facilitate the acceptance of test and calibration data between A2LA-accredited laboratories and 46 economies around the globe. In addition, A2LA has recognition from over 30 federal, state and local government agencies, companies and associations. These partners recognize the competence, quality of service and cost effectiveness of A2LA.
Sample Certificates of Calibration
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