WEBINAR

ANAB Webinar: CONFORMITY ASSESSMENT – BASIC PRINCIPLES ARE THE KEY

ANAB Webinar – Wednesday, March 29, 2023

Conformity Assessment – Basic Principles are the Key

This Webinar is intended for anyone who wants to understand the effect of the Conformity Assessment Paradigm

A short webinar where you will see there are universal concepts of conformity assessment; what ANAB calls the 4-3-3 Conformity Assessment ParadigmTM. With it you can navigate the entire field of conformity assessment, quickly understand new conformity assessment situations and opportunities, explain conformity assessment activities and solutions, and catch the nuances of ISO/IEC 17000 series standards.

Presenter

KEITH MOWRY

Senior Manager Business Development

ANSI National Accreditation Board

As Senior Manager Business Development Keith Mowry collaborates with clients and schemes in all fields of conformity assessment to create and enhance conformity assessment solutions. He represents the ANSI National Accreditation Board (ANAB) on the ANSI International Conformity Assessment Committee (ANSI ICAC, the US mirror committee to ISO CASCO), including active membership and participation on the ANSI ICAC Subcommittee for ISO CASCO Chair’s Policy and Coordination Committee.

In addition to Business Development responsibilities, Keith also coordinates ANAB participation in standardization activities at the tactical and strategic levels. In particular, he provides expertise and support regarding the ISO/IEC 17000 series standards to ANAB staff, assessors, clients and stakeholders to promote and achieve cost effective, private sector conformity assessment solutions for markets operators and regulators alike.

Prior to joining ANAB, Keith spent over 40 years working for Underwriters Laboratories Inc., and UL LLC (UL.) In his early years he performed testing and certification activities for various types of materials and products. Thereafter, he managed one of UL’s largest testing laboratories with responsibility for testing production samples of certified electrical wire, cord and cable from factories under UL’s Follow-up Service worldwide. Keith spent 4 years working in UL’s government affairs office in Washington DC where he represented UL to federal agencies, accreditation bodies, trade associations, and standards organizations to advocate private sector standards and conformity assessment for government needs.

For over 25 years Keith held the highest-level position in UL dedicated to managing external accreditations and related advocacy activities. He achieved and maintained accreditations covering over 75% of UL’s gross income while advocating to national and international standards development organizations, accreditation bodies, and international accreditation body cooperations.

Keith holds a Bachelor of Science Degree in Chemical Engineering from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, With Distinction in the Curriculum. Keith’s external standards and conformity assessment committee work includes:

Chair American National Standards Institute (ANSI) International Conformity Assessment Committee (ANSI Mirror Committee to ISO CASCO), 1999-2022

ISO CASCO Working Group on Common Elements

ISO CASCO Working Group for ISO/IEC 17000 (First and Second Editions)

ISO CASCO Working Group for ISO/IEC 17020 (First and Second Editions)

ISO CASCO Working Group for ISO/IEC 17065

ISO CASCO Clarification Panel for ISO/IEC 17065

ISO CASCO Clarification Panel for ISO/IEC 17020

ISO Development Manual Conformity Assessment 2, Author Chapters 3 and 9

ANSI/ANAB Accreditation Committee (Product Certification), Member and Vice Chair, 1994-2013, 2014-2022

ANSI Board Committee on Conformity Assessment

International Accreditation Service Technical Advisory Committee

Standards Council of Canada Certification Advisory Committee

International Laboratory Accreditation Cooperation Inspection Committee

International Accreditation Forum Technical Committee Product Certification Working Group

International Federation of Inspection Agencies/TIC Council Accreditation and Standardization Committee

Keith was the recipient of the second ANSI Gerald R Ritterbusch Conformity Assessment Medal, the ANSI Meritorious Service Award, ASTM Committee F15 Award of Appreciation and the US Army Logistics Management College Dedicated Support Medal.

Here’s what’s being said about those who have learned the 4-3-3 Conformity Assessment ParadigmTM:

“I feel like I actually understand conformity assessment.”

“I went from an “acceptable” level of understanding to where I could explain it to someone else with confidence.”

“I was in 17065 training . . . and was piecing it all together much faster thanks to the 4-3-3 method.”

On a lovely spring day two colleagues were sitting on a park bench, enjoying the sunshine and thinking some far off thoughts . . .

“I wish I knew what conformity assessment meant.”

“What?  We both know what that means, we’ve been at this for a long time you and me.”

“No, that’s not it.  I mean, I know what it means.  And I know what you think it means.  The problem is it seems to mean something different depending on who you talk to and their background.”

“Oh, ok I get that.  I’ve seen people talk right past each other because they weren’t actually talking about the same thing.”

“I just wish I didn’t have to spend so much time figuring out someone else’s background just to have a productive conversation.”

“Right.  Even you and I have to be careful when we are looking at a new conformity assessment situation; we see things differently because of our experience with different conformity assessment activities.”

“Now I am working with Legal on a contract, and we both know that is when the meaning of words really matters.”

“And remember how long it took to help that regulator last year?  Conformity assessment looked completely different to her from a regulatory context.”

“If only there were some common concepts that applied to all the different areas of conformity assessment – like a decoder ring or a framework you could fit everything in to.  That would show how all the pieces fit together . . .”