2017年1月19日星期四

HKCTC Seminar on Supports to SME from Testing and Certification

The Hong Kong Council for Testing and Certification (HKCTC) and Hong Kong Accreditation Service (HKAS) co-organized a seminar entitled “Supports to SME from Testing and Certification” on 19 Jan 2017.  HKSTP and HKSQ were supporting organizations.  Small and medium enterprises (SMEs) are an important pillar of Hong Kong’s economy.  The Testing and Certification (T&C) industry provides quality assurance and assist our SMEs to comply with different international standards and regulations, thus minimizing the chance of recalls, returns and complaints, which all would ultimately translate to new business opportunities.  Before the seminar, I took a photo with Mr. Dominic Lam for memory.


Then I met Mr. Adam Wong and Ms. Angel Wong, as well as, Ms. Jane Lee (Secretary-General (Testing and Certification), ITC).




In the beginning, all guest speakers took a group photo.


The first speaker was Mr. Dominic Lam (Chief Operations Officer, CMA Testing and Certification Laboratories) and his topic entitled “How Product Testing Service Help You?” He said T&C industry as the 3rd party to provide evidences of conformity from manufacturer/exporter to buyer/consumer/importer.


Then, Mr. Lam stated some recall of product examples included “Toys & Children Produts”, “Textiles, Apparel & Hardgoods”, and “Problematic Food”, etc.


After that he pointed out that Testing could manage risk and protect your brand, drive for quality improvement and satisfy customer need.  However, selecting test items was very important that we needed “Smart Testing”.  How to achieve it?  He recommended the risk-based testing.
The Risk-Based Testing included the four points below:
i)                    Prevalence of the Hazard (e.g. history of NC, trend of detection)
ii)                  Health Risk / Environment Risk (e.g. Exposure level vs Acceptable level)
iii)                Supplier Conformity Guarantee / Rating (e.g. ISO, test reports)
iv)                Country / Territory of Origin


Mr. Adams Wong (Business Manager, HKQAA) and his presentation named “Manage Challenges and Grasp Business Opportunity”.  Firstly, he briefed HKQAA background which established by the Hong Kong Government in 1989.  They provided different ISO certification service and registration service.


Then he shared the current challenges to SME through different reports.  Those challenges to SME included Increasing of Costs (Rent and Labor costs), Managing Human Resources, Business Liquidity and Globalization.  Moreover, the business trend was seasonal and fast fashion indicating that short life cycles of many product and small batch order with short lead time were requested.  On the other hand, it could also create extra effort to grasp business opportunities through high quality and flexibility of SMEs.


Finally, Mr. Adams Wong briefed the ISO Management System Standard as Tools for improving Product and Service Quality.  He selected 3 of 7 quality management principles for elaboration and they were Customer Focus, Process Approach and Evidence-based Decision Making. At the end he briefed HKQAA – Hong Kong Registrations – Start-ups (which was come from MOU with HKSTP) and Eco-friendly Series.  


The third speaker was Dr. Daria Wong (Senior Accreditation Officer, HKAS) and her topic was “How to Select Reliable Testing and Certification Services”.  She briefed the benefits of T&C, value of Accreditation and introduction of HKAS.  


She briefed HKAS set up in 1998 (previously known as HOKLAS since 1985) under Innovation and Technology Commission (ITC) which provided independent and impartial accreditation services. Moreover, HKAS accreditation is recognized worldwide because of MRA/MLA signed in many countries.


Lastly, Dr. Daria Wong showed how many accredited laboratories, CBs and Inspection Bodies in Hong Kong.  There are 261 at December 2016.


Dr. Ellis Wong (General Committee Member, Hong Kong Brand Development Council) was the fourth speaker and he presented the topic “Certificate – a Growth Stimulator of Commerce”. In the beginning, Dr. Wong told us he was agent of the brand EDO biscuit and they was the first one claim their biscuit with DHA through the testing.  He said the Treasure of Business were Goodwill, Trust and Famous Brand.


Then he discussed the business philosophy using Tai Chi (太極) and asked us to think opposite especially on Negative Marketing.  


He also added the business risk and opportunity and shared his experience to us.  For instance, they tested Melamine and claimed their product free of Melamine in newspaper.  Finally, he agreed we needed Smart Testing.  Moreover, you employed testing result not only for defend but also attack.


The fifth speaker was Ms. Chan Ka Lai (Brand Manager, Shing Hing Plastic Manufacturing Ltd.) and her presentation title was “Experience Sharing on Using Testing and Certification Service in Business”. She shared her company’s history and milestone since 1995.  Their expertise is in the design and manufacture of PVC animal figurines with ICTI, ISO 9001 and all product complied EN71 and ASTM standards.


She said their development direction to become Smart Factory, Product & Services through Industry 4.0 (cooperated with HKPC).  Moreover, Testing and Certification is one of their development directions.  


Mr. Colin Lee (Senior Manager (Innovation & Technology Fund), ITC) was the sixth speaker and his topic entitled “Technology Voucher Programme”.  He introduced the criteria and application procedure of Technology Voucher Programme as follows.  (Details at https://tvp.itf.gov.hk )




The last speaker was Ms. Angel Wong (Senior Consultant (Electronics Testing & Reliability), HKPC) and her presentation title named “Lab Test One – A Platform for Shared-Use of Public Testing Facilities to Benefit SMEs in Hong Kong”.  She said Lab Test One initiated in 2013 and aimed to provide One Stop Shop service for local enterprises, R&D companies and SMEs.  


In this platform, there were shared facilities from 17 centres.  


There were many different types of testing for R&D purposes.  Finally, she also pointed out that the Technology Voucher Programme (TVP) would support projects in the form of
-          Technological services and solutions which could improve productivity, or upgrade or transform the business processes of the applicant enterprise; and
-          Testing and Certification.
(Details at www.LabTestOne.org )


Q&A Session:
During the Q&A, many participants’ questions asked about TVP and also startup scheme.
Speaker said the committee meeting was about once per 2 to 3 month and Testing and Certification only for International Standards such as ISO.  Startup scheme under HKQAA would be considered after the TVP review.


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