As the Australian Prime Minister and Treasurer progressively announce the details of the plans to help Australia recover in a post COVID-19 world, two key themes are emerging: resilience and security.

The progressive globalisation of trade has had many benefits but, as the pandemic has demonstrated, global supply chains are not resilient to a range of risks, including the curtailment of air transport and other restrictions that affect the movement of people and supplies. As well as global pandemics, many nations have also demonstrated their willingness to use trade sanctions as leverage to influence foreign and domestic policy agendas.

Governments and organisations are struggling to rapidly develop and deploy effective strategies and tactical responses to address these risks. As the saying goes, any chain is only as strong as its weakest link.

TQCSI is working with many organisations that have rapidly evolved their business continuity and other plans to address both risks and opportunities arising from these challenges.

For many companies, certification is either required by customers for current contract or is a key differentiator when bidding for new opportunities. For most, certification is also a risk mitigation to ensure they are protecting their organisation, staff, customers and the general public from a range of risks ranging from safety and environment to information security.

The global aviation market and, particularly, the civil airlines and their supply chains have been dealing with unprecedented restrictions and downturns in business. For many, this has also posed practical challenges in attaining or maintaining certification to quality, safety and other standards. These range from financial challenges to the inability of staff to travel and physically perform work, including internal and external audits.

Many companies are now increasingly looking to source locally, particularly where they are dependent on overseas suppliers. As one correspondent aptly said “Now is the time to use it or lose it.”

As the only Australian Certification Body accredited to the Aviation, Space & Defence Standards (AS 9100), TQCSI has the largest pool of highly trained aerospace auditors in Australia.  Moreover, as the largest JAS-ANZ accredited certification body in Australia, TQCSI has extensive capability to provide local auditors in multiple other standards, often without the requirement to travel interstate.

We were also the first accredited Certification Body to deliver remote auditing where travel and other restrictions required greater flexibility.

For our clients, this has enabled cost-effective continuity of certification in quality, safety, environmental, information security and other standards throughout the pandemic. Many have commented on the importance of having highly professional, local, responsive and cost-effective suppliers to meet their certification needs. We have also been able to provide supplier audits for companies needing local auditing capacity to augment their own teams, particularly with the ongoing interstate and other travel restrictions.

We stand ready to help Australian businesses build the resilience and security of their supply chains. Why not reach out to us today to find out how we can help your business and provide you with a free, no-obligation quote.