BSI Eurasia opens in Istanbul to help businesses in Turkey succeed

Companies in Turkey gained a boost on Thursday September 20 with the official opening in Istanbul of a new facility for management system registration by the British Standards Institution, the UK-based global quality assurance leader.

Offering local organisations independent registration of their management systems, BSI Eurasia can help them prove they are top-class companies and give them access to world markets.

The company provides local access to multi-disciplinary assessments and industry support for a range of business standards. These include:
* ISO 9000 - the international business management system standard
* BS 7799 - the information security management standard
* ISO 14001 - the environmental management standard
* HACCP - food safety registration
* OHSAS 18001 - the Occupational Health and Safety management standard

Nick Moy, managing director of BSI Global Quality Services, said: "We have opened an operational centre in Turkey because we are committed to helping successful enterprise by providing on-the-spot access to our entire range of services. A BSI certificate is recognised internationally as a passport to world markets and improved efficiency, and almost any organisation can benefit. Whatever the area of business, organisations are seeing real commercial advantages from our services."

The opening of the new office in Turkey is the latest in the BSI group's steady global expansion, which has recently resulted in office openings in Iran, Thailand, India and Brazil.

Hayim Vali, general manager of BSI Eurasia, said: "We are already working with more than 30 clients throughout Turkey, and this new facility will enable us to expand our services to them. Our clients are in the publishing, engineering, chemicals and textile sectors, and include leading global companies like BP Chemicals and Compaq Computer, along with some of Turkey's best-known companies. These include heating equipment manufacturer Turk Demirdokum, the construction enterprises Enka Group and Baytur, and the publisher of the Turkish newspapers Milliyet and Hurriyet."

One of BSI's clients in Turkey, the international contracting company Enka Construction, has reported a boost to its business since gaining registration to ISO 9000 through BSI. Through its head office in Istanbul, Enka is involved in industrial construction, plants and infrastructure and residential housing.

Recognising that the ISO 9000 series of quality standards is widely respected and used by more than a quarter of a million businesses worldwide, Enka worked with BSI to achieve registration earlier this year.

Enka has achieved many benefits through its registration and its business partnership with BSI:
* Customer satisfaction has improved - there has been a 100% customer acceptance of design
and delivery documents, and complaints have been minimal and easily resolved.
* Employee effectiveness has been boosted - new staff are trained faster, and processes in
general are more structured, better co-ordinated and more efficient.
* Quality awareness is higher - staff are now become more aware of quality issues in general.

Hayim Vali, general manager of BSI Eurasia, added: "In addition to the industrial sectors we are active in, we see the emerging financial services market as an important growth area for BSI registration services. We also intend to expand our services to provide CE Marking and Kitemarking, and to work in partnership with clients from neighbouring countries."