Century Insurance earns ISO 9002 certification

After six months of intensive preparation, Century Insurance Co., Ltd. recently became one of the few companies in Micronesia to attain ISO 9002 international quality certification.

ISO, which stands for International Organization for Standardization, is an independent standards body based in Geneva, Switzerland with a membership of approximately 130 countries that agree on common standards of high quality.

For Century Insurance, the goal of attaining ISO 9002 certification involved putting in place a quality management system adhering to the rigid requirements of ISO. It included developing a comprehensive quality policy concerned with total customer satisfaction.

“Century really wants to strengthen its systems to achieve excellence in conducting its business and in customer satisfaction,” said Dexter Chua, Managing Partner of CQL Business Systems Consulting of the Philippines, a management consultant who helped Century develop its internal quality system.

“It is fairly rare for a company here in Saipan to go for ISO certification, but the management of Century Insurance would like to enhance the company1s commitment to quality,” said Mr. Chua.

As a requirement for certification, Century Insurance went through an audit conducted by Adrian Broadbent, manager for the NE Asia Region of Lloyd’s Register Quality Assurance Services based in Hong Kong.

The audit included rigid checking of work done by all key operations, people and process performers, spot interviews with key employees, and record verification to determine compliance with the quality standards under the company1s quality policy.

“This audit was a soul-searching process for our entire team of employees, from management down,” said President David M. Sablan. “That’s exactly what we needed in order to provide internationally-certified service to our customers.”

Century Insurance is a subsidiary of Tan Holdings Corporation. Its sister company, L&T, attained ISO 9002 certification two years ago.

Incorporated on Saipan in 1988, Century Insurance is the CNMI’s first full-fledged insurance company, offering the following types of insurance: homeowners, fire and allied lines, workmen1s compensation, personal accident, public liability, automobile, marine cargo, marine hull/protection and indemnity, general accident, bonds, aviation, and engineering.