The Post-Tensioning Institute (PTI), a nationally recognized standards development and credentialing organization, was recently accredited by the American National Standards Institute (ANSI) as a national certifying body for its certification program for plants producing unbonded single strand tendons.
"The fulfillment of the ANSI accreditation process is a major undertaking, and PTI has committed considerable resources to ensure its success," explains Marc Khoury, PTI President and Chairman of the Board. "Many organizations develop industry level certifications for manufacturing facilities; but achieving accreditation to this international standard means PTI has put in place processes critical to ensuring quality post-tensioning products are produced across the industry."
ANSI accreditation provides architects, designers, specifiers, contractors, owners and manufacturers with a degree of confidence that the organization certifying products and related manufacturing processes operates with the utmost integrity. In the same way that third-party certification helps to verify a product manufacturer's claims, third-party accreditation can help to identify which certifying organizations are credible.
In 1983, the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) established a set of requirements that a product-certifying body must meet in order to be considered reliable, impartial, and high-quality. Accreditation to these requirements, known as ISO/IEC Guide 65:1983 (and later revised as ISO/IEC Guide 65:1996), proves that a certifying organization is free of any conflicts of interest, such as financial, commercial, or social influences. The international standard, ISO/IEC Guide 65, General requirements for bodies operating product certification systems, forms the cornerstone of ANSI's accreditation process for product/process/services certification programs.
"This milestone will carry PTI and the construction industry it serves well into the future. It allows us as an organization to continue to grow and fulfill our mission of advancing the quality, safety, efficiency, profitability, and use of post-tensioning systems," said Ted Neff, PTI Executive Director.
