2010年4月10日星期六

HKCTC Report Summary (Testing & Certification)

Report of The Hong Kong Council For Testing and Certification (HKCTC) entitled “Tested in Hong Kong, Certified in Hong Kong” was released on 31 March 2010. The report provided a three-year market-oriented development plan for the testing and certification industry.

HKCTC aims to develop Hong Kong into a testing and certification hub in the region by reinforcing the branding of “Tested in Hong Kong, Certified in Hong Kong”. Four recommendation categories from the report are summarized as follows.

1) Enhancement of the Accreditation System
- Hong Kong accreditation service is of high standard and has good reputation internationally; therefore, the current mode of accreditation in Hong Kong is recommended to be retained.
- The adequate manpower resource was requested in Hong Kong Accreditation Service (HKAS) in which included training to ensure high professional standards and to provide new accreditation service.

2) Enhancement of the Factors of Production
- This category was separated into four areas: manpower, technology, capital and land.

a) Manpoweri) To cooperate with universities, VTC and the industry to organize seminars, workshops and career talks to enable students to understand about the industry

(Hong Kong Society for Quality (HKSQ) recognized that students, studying chemistry and/or biology, do not have knowledge about the industrial requirements on laboratory operations. Since 2005, a certificated course entitled “Quality Management for Laboratory (QM for Lab)” has been organized by HKSQ and BCH Dept., CityU of Hong Kong. Details at http://qualityalchemist.blogspot.com/2010/04/laboratory-workshop-in-hksq.html
Moreover, the related course in CityU entitled “Bachelor of Engineering (Honours) in Total Quality Engineering (BETQE)” has launched for this need. Details at http://qualityalchemist.blogspot.com/2009/11/hksq-membership-drive-to-beng-hon-in.html)
(Recently, HKSQ has been invited by the Hong Kong Qualifications Framework (HKQF) to participate for developing Quality Framework for Testing, Inspecting and Certification Industry. HKQF –
http://www.hkqf.gov.hk/)
ii) To develop voluntary professional recognition on a general or specific front

(The certificate course of “QM for Lab” has been launched since 2005. Then HKSQ has developed the certified professional schemes entitled “Certified Laboratory Quality Specialist (CLabQS)” in 2008. Apart from this certification, Certified Six Sigma Green Belt (HKSQ – SSGB) was established since 2006 and Certified Quality Engineer (HKSQ – CQE) is being developed. Moreover, ASQ certification schemes are also promoted. Details at http://www.hksq.org/cert.htm)
iii) To encourage professors and lecturers to participate as part-time assessor in HKAS

(Some members of HKSQ are HOKLAS technical assessors.)
b) Technologyi) To encourage wider use ITF to the industry
ii) To promote the R&D of testing methodologies and collaborate with institutions on the existing technology infrastructure (such as Science Park, HKPC, the five R&D Centres under ITF and the Hong Kong Jockey Club Institute of Chinese Medicine (HKJCICM))
iii) To increase transfer of technical know-how through HKAS and Gov Lab technical seminars and workshops
iv) To promotion knowledge of international standards by the Product Standards Information Bureau (PSIB)

c) Capitali) To promote wider use of Small Entrepreneur Research Assistance Programme (SERAP) to SMEs in the industry
ii) To step up promotion of HKPC and Science Park facilities available for shared use to testing laboratories

(Hong Kong Science and Technology Park (HKSTP) has 9 laboratories and centres including IC Design and IP Servicing Centre, Probe and Test Development Centre, IC Failure Analysis Laboratory, Material Analysis Laboratory, Solid State Lighting Laboratory, Reliability Laboratory, Photovoltaic Test Laboratory, Biotech Support Laboratory etc. Details at www.lab.hkstp.org )
(Many technical visits to HKSTP were arranged by different organizations including CityU, IIE, HKSQ, HKIE, etc. Details athttp://qualityalchemist.blogspot.com/2010/03/industrial-visit-to-hkstp-laboratories.html
http://qualityalchemist.blogspot.com/2010/01/institute-of-industrial-engineers-hong.html
http://qualityalchemist.blogspot.com/2009/10/cityu-student-visit-hkstp.html
http://www.hksq.org/album.htm
http://www.hkengineer.org.hk/program/home/pink.php?dept=etron )
d) Landi) To monitor closely the impact of Government initiatives to revitalize industrial buildings in the testing and certification industry

(Testing laboratories have special accommodation needs and require purpose-built premises; the Industrial Estates offer a possible solution.)
ii) To keep in view of Government’s plan to increase land supply for the testing and certification industry

(HKCTC discussed whether the land in Lok Ma Chau Loop would assist the development of the industry.)
3) Mature Trades & Selected Trades
a) Five Mature Trades are identified as Textiles, Clothing and Footwear, Toys and Games, Electrical Products, and Medical Testing. Development of testing in these trades is more mature and it will continue to be enhanced through the recommendation of item 1 and 2.
b) After consulting various sectors, the following four Selected Trades are considered to be good opportunities:
i) Chinese Medicine
Proprietary Chinese Medicine (pCm, 中成藥)
Chinese Herbal Medicine (中藥材)
ii) Construction Materials
To promote wider adoption of product certification to the construction industry
iii) FoodTo rise potential demand from Government’s initiatives
iv) Jewellery
To raise Hong Kong’s technical expertise and international standing in the testing to jewellery

4) Emerging Trades- Environmental Protection and Information and Communications Technologies (ICT) are two emerging trades to be considered by HKCTC.

a) Environmental Protection
HKCTC will set up a forum to work together with EPD and industry stakeholders.
b) Information and Communications Technologies (ICT)HKCTC will also set up a working group to provide a forum for different sectors of the trade.

One of the important tasks is the recognition of assessment results from mainland. Since CEPA established a platform for cooperation between the Mainland and Hong Kong, HKCTC recommends the Commerce and Economic Development Bureau to continue pursuing discussions with the Mainland authorities through CEPA to seek their agreement to recognize testing reports of accredited laboratories in Hong Kong.

Finally, HKCTC will follow-up all recommendations; moreover, the “Tested in Hong Kong, Certified in Hong Kong” branding should be the theme of future promotional activities.

(HKCTC organized a consultation forum with relevant stakeholders to collect industrial opinions on 27 Nov 2009. Over 150 participants from about 90 organizations attended. They included representatives from various professional associations such as HKSQ (Page 5, item (d) in the HKCTC report). HKSQ’s views had been shared during the forum and a report was submitted to HKCTC afterward.
The Consultation Forum summary posted at
http://qualityalchemist.blogspot.com/2009/11/hong-kong-council-for-testing-and.html
HKSQ’s suggestions to the testing and certification industry posted at http://www.hksq.org/HKSQ_Suggestion_to_HKCTC_20100112.pdf. )

The following photo was taken in the forum in which I was sharing the opinion on behalf of HKSQ. (Photo comes from HKCTC website)



For more information about HKCTC report:http://www.itc.gov.hk/en/hkctc/related_document.htm

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