2.3.2005
Certification by API (American Petroleum Institute) opened the way for VÍTKOVICE STEEL to orders from a completely new area of supplies of plates for oil and gas pipelines. In the first year after the certification the volume of these orders represented 2 % of the total plate sales of VÍTKOVÍCE STEEL and this year the company expects a further growths in these special supplies.
To keep the certificate it is necessary to pass an inspection by API every year. API was established in Washington, D.C. and currently the agency represents some 400 entities which are more or less involved in the oil and natural gas industries. An inspection audit of the quality management system as per ISO 9001 and API spec. Q1 was carried in VÍTKOVICE STEEL just in the recent days and the company successfully passed the audit. The audit included also evaluation of strategic suppliers of services for VÍTKOVICE STEEL, i.e., mainly VÍTKOVICE Výzkum a vývoj, spol.s r.o., and VÍTKOVICE Zkušebny a laboratore, spol.s r.o.
This means that the validity of the API monogram license for VÍTKOVICE STEEL, a. s., was extended, and this license together with the products certifications and certifications of QMS as per ISO 9001 and EMS as per ISO 14001 which the company received in the past will enable to produce high quality plates. This way the company’s management systems are certified by two independent global companies – German RW TÜV and American API, which according to experts is an important reference.
VÍTKOVICE STEEL, a. s., owns approximately fifty product certificates without which the company would not be able to supply its products on the foreign or domestic market. In 2003, the company received a ship-building plates quality certificate from an Italian inspection agency called RINA through which large quantities of ship-building plates flow to shipyards in Croatia.
