Aluminium Bahrain (Alba) has announced that its casthouse has successfully achieved the Automotive Quality Management System - IATF 16949: 2016 Standard, one of the most challenging and demanding standards in the Management System Certification for the automotive sector in the world.

With this endorsement, Alba, one of the world’s leading aluminium smelters, has become the first and only IATF 16949-certified organisation in Bahrain.

Chief marketing officer Khalid Abdul Latif, Director of Casthouse Abdul Rasool Ahmed A. Rasool and Manager Casthouse Operations Hussain Al Malali were presented with the certificate early this month in Dubai.

Commenting on the achievement, CEO Tim Murray said: "The IATF-16949 quality certification is a significant milestone in our 45 years-plus experience. We are proud to have nailed this certification as it will give Alba a paradigm shift and firmly establishes our compliance to the strictest quality assurance system in the world."

"With Line 6 Expansion Project due to start its operations in 2019, this certification gives us a solid edge while offering greater value for our customers in the fast-growing automotive market," stated Murray.

After receiving the certificate, Abdul Latif said: "The IATF-16949 will strengthen our bonds with our clientele and enable our automotive-grade value-added products to further penetrate North America and Europe markets."

"Customer-focus, continuous improvement and process orientation were amongst the key elements that enabled us to achieve this certification, and I thank our teams for their hard work and commitment," he noted.

Alba said IATF 16949 was one of the most widely used international standards in automotive industry and also a precondition to supply for most automotive manufacturers and their direct suppliers across Europe and North America.

This certification brings together standards from across Europe and the US for achieving best practice in designing, developing, manufacturing, installing, or servicing automotive products, it added.-TradeArabia News Service