Surface mining industry association Aspasa says it is moving rapidly to formalise quality standards for sand and stone that are set benefit both producers and their customers.
Since the establishment of a special technical committee on quality management, the association has made strides in addressing quality issues internally among its members, as well as assisting in the formulation of new national standards that will be used as a measure of quality among users of sand and aggregates. According to Saartjie Duvenhage, chairperson of Aspasa’s technical committee on quality management, a number of large strides have already been made to narrow the gap between customer’s expectations and the actual ability of producers to supply the required materials.Quick guide to quality management
“First and foremost, we have defined quality and what it means to everyone on the entire supply chain, from extraction, to processing and delivery to the customer’s site. In our case we define this as a product that meets a certain measure of excellence which is free from deficiencies and significant variations.“To assist our members to achieve this, we have subsequently introduced our own quick guide to quality management. The 123 of Quality Management for Material Producers guide is designed to act as a guideline to quality management and explains the concept with eight steps for members to successfully implement their own systems.
