First army laboratory recertified under new ISO standards.

The Army Oil Analysis Program (AOAP) Mannheim Laboratory Center (MLC) in Germany is the first AOAP laboratory worldwide to be recertified under new International Organization for Standardization (ISO) guidelines. The laboratory received the new certification, called ISO 9001:2008, after being previously certified under less stringent standards.

"The new standard allows an organization flexibility in the way it chooses to document its quality management system," said Akwasi Edusei, AOAP MLC quality management representative, "and it enables each individual organization to develop the minimum amount of documentation needed in order to demonstrate the effective planning, operation and control of it[s] processes and the implementation and continual improvement of the effectiveness of its QMS [quality management system]."

In order to meet the new standards, the AOAP MLC staff had to study the changes to standards and review and update the laboratory's QMS to reflect the changes needed for the certification.