As the Head of Product Certification and Inspection, Ts. Md. Adha Rahmat leads the team at SIRIM QAS International that carries out inspection and certification of clients’ products. This is an especially important role considering that SIRIM QAS is Malaysia’s national conformity assessment body (CAB) and leading testing, inspection and certification (TIC) provider, ensuring that any product manufactured or sold in Malaysia meet stringent safety and operability standards. Having been with SIRIM QAS since 1998, starting out as an inspector and product certification auditor, he has seen the inspection process evolve to become quicker and more efficient.

All this is thanks to digitalisation and automation. According to Ts. Md. Adha, the onus for this at SIRIM QAS comes from its desire to provide clients with faster and more accurate services. In fact, the organisation has embraced digitalisation for more 20 years, starting with the decision to computerise its files and records, and move away from physical forms and documents. This enabled the organisation to save costs and reduce waste, particularly that of paper.

It was only a matter of time before SIRIM QAS started using digitalisation and automation in carrying out inspections. Whereas in the past, inspectors from SIRIM QAS had to be physically present at a client’s factory or warehouse in order to carry out the process, this is no longer the case. Instead, thanks to technology such as video conferencing software, SIRIM QAS inspectors can now carry out their duties remotely.

Perhaps there was no greater vindication of SIRIM QAS’s decision to adopt this technology than the events of 2020 and 2021 during the COVID-19 pandemic. The situation presented the organisation with a unique dilemma. While the Movement Control Order (MCO) in Malaysia meant that more people were working from home, it did not mean that production ceased.

In fact, with more people being forced to stay at home, there was an inevitable increase in demand for goods, in particular the ubiquitous face masks. All these products needed to undergo inspection, which previously would have meant SIRIM QAS inspectors having to visit the factories. And doing so would expose their inspectors and the people at the factory to risk of infection.

Remote inspections made these concerns moot, while allowing SIRIM QAS to carry out its duties as Malaysia’s leading TIC provider. There is little wonder then why Ts. Md. Adha said with such great pride in his voice when recounting those events, “We were ready.”

The pandemic is now all but over, movement restrictions have been lifted, people are returning to their offices and going out, and normalcy has returned. But whereas remote working may now be a thing of the past for many companies, SIRIM QAS is continuing with remote inspections.

After all, as the old saying goes, if it ain’t broke, why fix it? And in the case for remote inspections, not only have they proven to work, they have also brought about immense benefits for clients.

For instance, as Ts. Md. Adha reveals, “Previously with physical inspections, the process of preparing for the physical inspections was a time-consuming one which ate into our clients’ production time. However, this has changed since we started carrying out remote inspections. Additionally, one of our motorcycle helmet manufacturing clients experienced a significant boost and reported a 40 percent increase in productivity after implementing remote sampling."

Increased productivity leads to reduced costs. And this is especially important in the case of overseas clients. To illustrate, SIRIM QAS has been appointed by the Malaysian government to inspect waste paper imported into the country to ensure that they do not contain any scheduled waste.

“In order to carry out a physical inspection, our inspectors would need to travel to the source country. This incurs costs on the client. However, with remote inspections, all we need is just a video conferencing software – the standard one we use is Google Meet – a mobile phone and laptop with cameras, and an internet connection. This saves them time and money,” Ts. Md. Adha explains with a smile.

Ts. Md. Adha further states that the impact of remote work on business operations cannot be overstated. “When conducting inspections overseas, the constraints of physical travel limited our capacity so that we could only one company a week. Through the implementation of remote inspection methods, we have effectively doubled and even tripled our efficiency, enabling us to complete inspections for 2 to 3 companies within the same timeframe. This innovative approach not only optimises our productivity but also eliminates the need for extensive travel, resulting in significant cost savings,” he said.

Given that the concept was very new when introduced, SIRIM QAS experienced some challenges in getting clients on board the remote inspections train. As Ts. Md. Adha explains, these include some reluctance regarding the purchase of equipment needed to carry out the inspections. Another concern that some clients had voiced out was over the fact that, in order to carry out its tasks, SIRIM QAS had to access their CCTV cameras, thus leading to security fears. Fortunately, SIRIM QAS managed to allay such concerns.

Software compatibility was also another challenge which SIRIM QAS had to address, particularly with certain clients overseas. “Whereas we use Google Meet to conduct video conferencing, clients in China are more familiar with WeChat and VooV Meeting. So what we have done is to learn to use those software, in order to make things easier for our clients,” Ts. Md. Adha reveals.

On average, SIRIM QAS carries out more than 12,000 product inspections a year, of which 30 percent are done remotely. However, not all inspections can be carried out remotely, due to no fault of SIRIM QAS or client, but because of limitations to internet coverage, especially in areas in Malaysia outside the major urban areas.

Nevertheless, SIRIM QAS is determined to ramp up its adoption of digitalisation and automation. According to Ts. Md. Adha, “We (SIRIM QAS) are working with our sister companies within the SIRIM family to further our digitalisation efforts. For instance, one of the key initiatives in SIRIM is the Digital Factory which aims to develop Industry 4.0 technologies. So we are working closely with that team to see how we can better utilise their expertise”

“In addition to that, we have also been collaborating with SIRIM Industrial Research (SIRIM IR) to adopt their documents matching system which uses artificial intelligence and machine learning to verify documents. With this we hope to reduce the need for physical verification of documents submitted by clients and reduce the time of approval from three days currently to instantaneous,” he continues.

Moving forward, another technological innovation that SIRIM QAS aims to introduce into the inspection process is to enable clients to monitor, in real-time, the status of their applications or the progress of their products’ tests.

In addition, Ts Md. Adha reveals that SIRIM QAS is also looking to introduce blockchain technology in records keeping, thus adding an additional layer of security to the process and, at the same time, addressing a concern voiced by certain clients, particularly those in Japan and South Korea.

Ts. Md. Adha further explains, “In order to ensure that SIRIM QAS stays on pace, we are also looking to incorporate technologies such as drones and virtual reality (VR) into our inspection process. Not only will this help save manpower costs, it will also enable us to carry out inspections in areas that are either inaccessible or even dangerous for physical inspections.”

“SIRIM has been at the forefront of the conformity assessment ecosystem since 1972, and today it provides its services – through its various subsidiaries such as SIRIM QAS – to more than 20,000 clients in Malaysia and 35 other countries worldwide. Through continuous adoption of digitalisation and innovation, we at SIRIM QAS are helping customers to expedite the process with speed and efficiency while ensuring that only products that meet regulatory requirements enter the Malaysian market,” Ts. Md. Adha concludes.