Association for Quality and Standardization-Serbia was established and registered in 2003, as a non-profit and non-governmental organization . A group of enthusiasts initiatiated this association’s existance. They were governed by their ideas and desire, as well as by the necessity that quality systems become a prerequisite for successful business and competitiveness . Therefore, the wish of these people who understood quality as a business imperative came true with the association’s registration.
Thirteen years of devoted hard work of all members of the organization preceded AKS. Feeling that Rasina Distict’s ground is fertile for the planting the seed of „quality“, intensive work has begun and has spread to other parts of Serbia in agreement and cooperation with the Serbian Association of Employers in 2006. Hence, in each and every town where SAE offices exist, we strive to establishing a new offices of Association.
Since the very beginning, when Association was founded – we have been organizing an academic conference whose slogan is „ Quality system – a conditions for successful business and competitiveness“, traditionally held in the last week of November or during the first week of December in Krusevac. Sixteen conferences have been held in Krusevac so far, with a numerous topics discusses and tackled, interesting as well for those to whom quality was not the area of expertize. All these conferences were held without the mandatory fee and all people engaged in these projects’organization was as volunteer. They were open to all those who wanted to hear how to improve the business and make it compatible with the requirements of global standards, as well as how to be competitive in the market. At these conferences, more than 5000 people were educated without fee. Satisfied visitors had opportunity to listen interesting presentations more than two hundred lecturers, eminent experts in the field of quality management who were dealing with the following topics:
- EU Directives and a number of other intriguing topics interesting to a wide range of listeners
- knowledge management and human resorurces management
- business excellence – FQCE model
- quality system certification – problems
- CE mark (product conformity with European standards)
- HACCP (Food safety management system)
- EMS (Enviromental management system)
- QMS (Quality management system)
In addition to organizing these conferences Association is co-organizer Quality Festival, held every year in the May, in Kragujevac, participating at projects in cooperation with the Centre for quality, the Serbian Union of Employers and many other organizations from the country and abroad.
Besides all that Association intensively works on educating employers and employees in organizations in a Rasina district and in other Serbian regions. The lectures have different topics, from a strictly thematic areas such as business etiquette, employee motivation, measurement customer satisfaction, project management, and to assist in upgrading the existing quality systems and certification of the same by accredited national and international institutions. As favor of this in the Rasina district there are a number of organizations certified according to ISO 9001: 2008, HACCP, OHSAS 18001 and ISO 14000.
Considering that Association is always in the focus of global developments in the field of quality, increasing attention is to the requirements of Standard 18000 – Occupational and Health and Safety Management System and its implementation in workplace environment. The Association, in cooperation with other organizations carried out a series of educational seminars about implementation Healtih and Safety Law in Serbia.
The Association provides a major contribution raising awareness about improving the quality and expanding the culture of quality. The Association activities are monitored in the local media and in the eminent journal “Quality and Excellence”.
The Association works continuously on exchange knowledge, ideas, experience and improvement quality systems. The existence of the Association provides continue improving awareness of the need for implementation and fulfilling the requests of international standards about quality.