Normec QS in conversation with Pipelife

Reliable bio-circular products

Pipelife is one of the largest producers of plastic pipe systems in Europe and co-creator of systems for water and energy distribution. For the ISCC PLUS certification of their bio-circular plastic pipes, they engaged Normec QS. Ruud de Boer is Quality Manager at Pipelife. He maintains contact with Normec QS and talks about the certification process.

Independent certification as proof

As the oldest manufacturer of plastic piping systems in the Netherlands, Pipelife was founded in 1947. Since then, the company has emerged as a leading player in the market. The Pipelife Group is headquartered in Vienna, as a wholly owned subsidiary of Wienerberger. Pipelife employs around 3,750 people worldwide in 24 different countries.

Pipelife makes pipes for indoor and outdoor sewage, gas, drinking water, drainage, electrical, cable protection and industrial applications. The focus is on sustainability and anticipating the changing needs for energy, rainwater and drinking water. The company therefore invests in innovative solutions. For example, they manufacture part of their product range from bio-circular raw materials. Of course, buyers of these want to be sure that the quality is uniform and the system is guaranteed. With ISCC PLUS certification, Pipelife can demonstrate this, says Ruud: "A certified system tested by Normec QS as an independent party provides the proof that convinces our customers."

Local partner with short lines of communication

"We want to provide a product that offers enough guarantees and reliability," Ruud continues. "The challenges are in printing applications, where higher demands are placed on the product. Bio-circular material could be a solution for this. On the back end, the raw materials are identical to traditional raw materials, but they come from natural sources instead of mineral oil. We see opportunities there, but that requires a system of quality control. So we started looking for a partner who could help us with that and certify our products according to ISCC PLUS system. Normec QS was our preferred local partner in this area. We have short lines of communication with each other."

Intermediate step built in

Pipelife did not dive straight into the certification process, but deliberately chose an intermediate step. Ruud: "We wanted to know exactly what our quality system had to meet. Through a workshop with a number of people from our organization, Normec QS trained us in this. As a result, we set up the quality management system and commissioned Normec QS to perform an audit at our company. Partly because of that preparation, we were able to set things up properly, so the turnaround time was short and the audit successful."

Independent proof

That an initial audit is intensive goes without saying. Everything is new, so it takes both parties getting used to and exploring. Ruud expects the annual follow-up audit to be easier: "Now we have some experience in implementing the quality management system. There will be more focus on the practical implementation, how we have done and recorded everything. We liked the cooperation with Normec QS very much. Knowledgeable, not too much fuss and task-oriented work. Thanks to Normec QS we now have independent proof towards our customers in the form of a validated system. We are in talks with parties in the water and gas market to enthuse them about our bio-circular products. The certification is a handle that helps with that."