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IGMA seeks expanded accreditation for the IGMAC certification program

July 9, 2018 – Earlier this year the Insulating Glass Manufacturers Alliance (IGMA) decided to pursue additional accreditation for the IGMAC certification program and has selected ANSI, the American National Standards Institute as the 3rd party Accreditation Body (AB) that will issue the accreditation. ANSI participates in the IAF MLA (Multilateral Recognition Arrangement) with the SCC (Standards Council of Canada).  ANSI will perform annual assessments of the IGMAC certification process to ensure it meets stringent international requirements (ISO 17065:2012).

In addition to ANSI’s assessments, Administrative Management Systems (AMS) will operate as the Certification Body (CB) for the IGMAC Program.  Using AMS as the CB for the IGMAC Program will add another layer of assurance to the program and will help ensure conformance to accreditation requirements.  AMS is an ANSI-Accredited Certification Body that manages multiple product certification programs, including the Insulating Glass Certification Council (IGCC) Certification Program.

Accreditation is expected to be granted in Q4 of this year.

What does this mean for IGMAC manufacturer participants?
As a manufacturer participant in the IGMAC program you will notice little change to the certification process. IGMA will remain the program administrator and will still coordinate certification activities and conduct product reviews.  One change you will notice once accreditation is gained, is that the IGMAC certificates will bear the AMS and ANSI logos – an indication of the value-added oversight from both organizations.

The requirements placed on participant manufacturers’ product will remain unchanged as a result of this accreditation.  Product testing will still be conducted by participant selected IGMAC-approved testing laboratories to the same IGMAC-recognized test methods and standards. Certified product will still be inspected by IGMAC-approved Inspection Agencies as well.

To realize the benefits of this new arrangement, manufacturer participants will need to re-execute an updated license agreement with IGMA and AMS. The changes to the license agreement will serve to strengthen and improve the language used over the previous version. It is anticipated that the new agreement will be sent out to manufacturer participants in Q3 of this year.