Underwriters Laboratories Inc (UL) is an independent, product safety testing and certification organisation that has evaluated products, materials and systems in the interest of public safety since 1894. Each year, the distinctive UL Marks appear on 17 billion products in the US and that quality guarantee is probably familiar to you. But those products do not all originate in the US and UL’s British affiliate has played a key role in opening up this and other global markets for UK companies.

UL helps its clients to gain access to international markets in a smooth and timely manner by offering global market solutions locally with a “one-stop-shop” approach. But don’t just take our word for it. Group Lotus plc is made up of two operating divisions, Lotus Cars and Lotus Engineering. Lotus Cars makes some of the world’s most glamorous sports cars. The cars are such a dazzling shop window for the talents of the company that the other facets of the Lotus Group are sometimes obscured.
“Our Engineering division is one of the most comprehensive and versatile automotive consultancies anywhere,” says Tom Savory, Quality Systems Manager for Group Lotus. “We can take a new car project from the initial concept, through every stage of design, development and testing, and even manufacture the finished product. In fact, nearly every major car maker in the world has commissioned work from us.

“Our link with UL-UK started in the mid-1990s when some of our big automotive customers demanded that quality systems should be put in place right across the supply chain. The US big three – Ford, General Motors and Chrysler – took the lead by writing and endorsing QS 9000. We believed that it was necessary for our future business strategy to go for QS 9000. More than that, however, we wanted to become the first automotive engineering design company in Europe to achieve that standard and so gain the cachet and advantage over our competitors. UL-UK helped us to achieve that aim – they issued Group Lotus with the certificate in January 1998.

“Although UL were quite small at the time in the UK and in Europe generally, we knew of their international reputation. The fact that our customers in the US knew about UL was also an important factor. Working with an internationallyrecognised company was also important for our own global expansion programme. When we opened up an engineering operation in the US we were able to pick up the phone in the UK and ask for an American auditor. “From our initial meeting in 1997, UL-UK understood the Lotus business structure and the requirements that we had from them. They were very customer-focused and realised that the piece of paper on the wall wasn’t our main aim – the target was business improvement. When we have an audit the UL-UK team come in and give us ideas for improvement, not just a tick in a box.

“UL-UK offered us an excellent service right from the start. From day one their auditors were skilled in the areas of our business – we didn’t have to explain how we build an engine or a complete car. In addition, we have dealt with the same team since 1997, which obviously helps in the development of the relationship. They remain completely responsive to what we want from them, they are still customer-focused and they are good value for money. Overall, UL-UK are a very good supplier to us.”
Sun Microsystems is a leading provider of industrial strength ITE hardware, software and services, with global revenues of $12.5bn in 2001-02. The company designs, tests, deploys and manages network computing systems for business and prides itself on offering single-point-of-contact solutions to its customers. It looks for the same service from its suppliers.
The Sun Microsystems operation in Bracknell, UK, has used UL-UK since 1997 to help with the regulations and safety standards that apply to its computers and servers. The Sun machines go into offices, server rooms and telecommunications offices (such as telephone exchanges).

“Although we supply systems to countries around the world, the biggest market for our systems is North America,” says Paul Lovell, a compliance engineer with Sun Microsystems. “UL 60950 is the main safety standard for IT equipment in North America and UL-UK provides conformity assessment of our equipment to that standard so that we can use the UL and C UL marks. UL-UK also helps us obtain international recognition to IEC 60950 and the CB scheme.

“We get UL involved at a very early stage. Although I have years of experience in this area, UL is very good with some of the more obscure requirements of the national electrical code in the US, which is very different from the UK. The UL staff have been trained in the North American requirements by other US-based UL personnel and have that local market knowledge that we wouldn’t necessarily have. To my mind, there is no one else in the UK whose name is universally recognised and who can supply both the North American approvals and the worldwide marks.”

Like Tom Savory at Lotus, Lovell values the relationship he has developed with the staff at UL-UK’s Guildford office. “When the
office first opened in 1997, the work was managed from UL-US. Once the UK engineers had done their work it was sent off to the US or Germany to be checked, but, importantly, it was the UK engineers who came back to us with questions. This gave us great confidence in the process at the start, and this has been enhanced by the continuity of personnel that we deal with. In six years we’ve only dealt with two engineers at UL-UK. They know our equipment and will often remember and point out issues and problems that have been encountered and overcome previously on other pieces of our kit. That saves us time and money!
“UL’s prices remain competitive, plus there is the great convenience of using UL as an ‘agent’ to reach out to all other certification groups. For example, if we require a GS (Geprüfte Sicherheit) mark for Germany, UL can supply that. Similarly, when Argentina introduced a requirement for certification marking in April 2002, UL offered a service to obtain the marks for us. They sorted out a route that was the quickest and simplest for all concerned. It is a great advantage not to have to manage the administration for these extra requirements. It makes my job much simpler and speeds things up. “It has proved useful to Sun offices around the world when they need to get local approvals,” says Lovell.

Jeremy Duszynski is Standards and Approvals Engineer for Atco-Qualcast (Bosch Group) Ltd, a manufacturer of lawnmowers and other garden tools, based in Stowmarket, Suffolk “We had worked with a particular engineer at another UK test house for some time and had built up a close relationship. When the engineer moved to the fledgling UL-UK operation, we moved with him and happily the working relationship has got even better.
“We work with UL-UK to secure approval of our products to European and International standards, and to ensure that we have compliance with the relevant European Directives – the Low Voltage Directive 73/23/EEC, for which UL-UK is a Notified Body, and the Machinery Directive that is applicable to all our electrical and petrol products. We also require EMC testing, and while UL-UK does not do this itself, it will act for us and subcontract this work to another test house. UL-UK also submits our Test Reports to UL-Demko to obtain the CB certificates.

“We have confidence in the engineering knowledge available at UL and in their detailed knowledge of what we as a manufacturing company have to go through. It is reassuring to know that if we need to seek guidance on compliance issues, we can draw on UL-UK’s vast knowledge of the European electrical safety standards.”
UL-UK’s involvement is not restricted to product assessments, adds Duszynski. “When we are developing a new product we will have full-day review meetings at a very early stage. The UL-UK team helps us review our design to the appropriate standards and will indicate whether they believe we pass or fail, or if there are ‘grey areas’ that could result in non-compliance. We want to identify potential problems before any tooling investment, to design them out and so save a lot of time and money. If necessary, we bring the product back for a further review after modifications but before we press the button for tooling.”

An increasingly important area of activity for UL International (UK) is in the medical industry. UL-UK is a Notified Body for active and sterile medical devices under the EU Medical Devices Directive and became the UK’s first Notified Body for the In Vitro Diagnostic (IVD) Directive following its introduction in June 2000. In May 2002, UL issued its certificate of compliance with the European IVD directive to Dade Behring. Dade Behring, headquartered in Deerfield, Illinois, is the world's largest company dedicated solely to clinical diagnostics, with a turnover of $1.2bn in 2001 – 32% of that coming in Europe. Dade Behring has operations in 43 countries and offers a range of products and systems for use in medical laboratories.

The Full Quality Assurance System Approval Certificate issued by UL covered an IVD that aids in the diagnostics and management of prostate cancer. UL assessed Dade Behring’s quality system for the design, manufacture and distribution of IVDs using both UK experts and US auditors.
“It is extremely important to be able to have these precise diagnostic tests available to the European marketplace to contribute to the fight against cancer. We are most pleased that Dade Behring was the first US manufacturer to receive this very important quality system certification from UL,” says Jim Reid-Anderson, president and CEO of Dade Behring. “The process of passing this rigorous certification procedure reflects our commitment to providing the highest quality diagnostics to meet global health care challenges.” The UL customer care philosophy is refreshingly straightforward: to cater for client needs, because they are our responsibility; to provide total customer satisfaction; and, to build up long-term business relationships. These customers think we have succeeded. Why don’t you get in touch – we speak your language.

For more information, contact:
UL International (UK) Ltd
Wonersh House, The Guildway
Old Portsmouth Road
Guildford, Surrey GU3 1LR
Tel: +44 (0)1483 302 130
Fax: +44 (0)1483 302 230
E-mail: info.uk@uk.ul.com
European website: www.ul-europe.com
US website: www.ul.com