Kingspan : Williton site among first in the world to receive ISO compliance management system certification

Kingspan's Williton Water & Energy plant based in the UK is one of the first manufacturing plants in the world to be awarded the ISO 37301 certification in recognition of the actions taken and the commitment by its staff to maintain high standards of compliance.

Kingspan Group's compliance system is also certificated to ISO 37301, which is the highest international standard for compliance management recently adopted by the international rule-setting body. It combines ISO standards with international guidelines from a variety of agencies, including the international chamber of commerce, the OECDs best practises and the UN convention against corruption.

ISO 37301 is an organisation-wide compliance management system which enables Kingspan to not only demonstrate it's commitment to comply with relevant laws, including legislative requirements, industry codes and organizational standards but to take a leadership position in driving improvements in standards of good corporate governance, best practices, ethics and community expectations Our approach to product compliance in Williton has resulted in us achieving the certification and further strengthen our position in the marketplace.

Adopting the new compliance management system in addition to Kingspan's existing policies, as well as the appointment of a compliance director and a select team reporting directly to the CEO, shows that Kingspan goes the extra mile to ensure best practice and good ethics.

"We started with the process in autumn 2020. The team at Williton had to have an ISO system to start with and had to demonstrate commitment and the ability to maintain compliance. They had to feel really confident that their structure is able to maintain and demonstrate compliance. There is a real sense of achievement," said Noel McQuaid, Business Unit Director at Kingspan. "It is a privilege to work with such committed people that go the extra mile every day."

The Williton site employs 60 people and has a mix of functions: mainly in manufacturing operations and customer service, as well as some remote functions such as, marketing, R&D and finance. It was important to check if the compliance system was robust with internal, as well as cross divisional processes. Williton is the first manufacturing site within Kingspan to have received ISO 37301 certification, but there are soon others that will follow in the UK, Ireland and the rest of Europe.

"I actually enjoyed watching employees embrace it; be enthusiastic about the high standards they are applying to their everyday work."," said Paul McGowan, Compliance and Certification auditor at Kingspan. "The new ISO certification requires commitment by the business and employees to constantly keep up to date with the various compliance requirements and to demonstrate that they are being applied across the business.

Receiving this certification is considered much more than just a ` box ticking exercise' as it requires an embedded culture and commitment from the shop floor right through to Group level.

"The people felt proud that not only have they achieved an international standard for their work but actually demonstrated that their management systems are open, ethical and compliant," said Paul McGowan.