Jun 21 2009
Microbial Solutions Ltd (MSL) has been awarded the International Organization for Standardization’s ISO 9001 : 2000 accreditation, an international standard for company quality management systems.
The Oxfordshire company has developed award-winning ecologically friendly bacterial treatment technologies to dispose of hazardous metal working fluids and associated oil contaminated materials used in the engineering industries. MSL’s Microcycle™ Technology turns toxic exhausted metal working fluids and oils into grey water that is safe to dispose of in the sewerage system. MSL also offers a diagnostics analytical service for components of used metal working fluids such as mycobacteria and endotoxins.
The ISO 9001 : 2000 standard specifically applies to MSL’s management systems in relation to “the design and provision of bioreactors for waste water treatment and associated laboratory services”. The standard provides a set of requirements that when effectively implemented, as MSL has demonstrated, provide customers and clients with the confidence that the company can consistently provide a quality service. Conforming to ISO 9001 : 2000 means that MSL has established a systematic approach to quality management and is managing its business to ensure that customer needs are clearly understood, agreed and fulfilled.
Prof William Pope, CEO of MSL, said: “We’re very pleased to have achieved this accreditation so quickly since start up. Since setting up commercially right at the end of 2007 we have worked hard on our quality management systems, giving our clients the reassurance that we can deliver the top level of service they expect.”
MSL was assessed and awarded the ISO 9001 : 2000 accreditation by NQA, the leading assessment, verification and certification body. The NQA assessor who worked with MSL said: “Microbial Solutions has successfully documented a quality system to ISO 9001 : 2000 and therefore registration is recommended. Well done to all concerned.”
Achieving ISO accreditation comes hard on the heels of MSL’s successful commercial-scale trial bioreactor with BAE Systems, the global aerospace and defence systems manufacturer, at its facility in Brough, East Yorkshire. This trial was recognised with a BAE Systems Chairman’s Award for Innovation and negotiations are proceeding with BAE for the construction and installation of a permanent 30 tonnes bioreactor.
The Company was also presented with an Engineering Excellence Award by Ford Motor Company in July 2008, which is awarded for making a significant contribution to engineering or organizational excellence within engine and transmission manufacturing. The Award was presented to Microbial Solutions to recognize the contribution made by the company in devising tests to assess the control of mycobacteria, a microbial bacteria that can contaminate metalworking fluids and has been linked to hypersensitivity pneumonitis, a serious respiratory illness affecting workers in the machining industries.
Metal working fluids are vital in any industry that requires precision cutting of metal. They are essentially cooling lubricants, sprayed in the machining process to ensure a clean cut, and which after use contain a number of toxic chemicals and hazardous biological compounds that must be rendered less harmful before used fluids can be disposed of.
Microcycle™ Technology replaces costly and energy intensive disposal processes, such as vacuum evaporation and ultra filtration which also produce toxic oily waste residues, still requiring treatment and disposal.
Microbial Solutions is a spin-out company from the Centre for Ecology and Hydrology, a research centre owned by the Natural Environment Research Council in the Oxford University Science area.