Canada is already a known leader in supplying identity preserved (IP) crops to the world. Now Canadian companies serving these markets can benefit from the added tool of third party certification to give them an edge in international markets. With the launch of the Canadian Identity Preserved Recognition System (CIPRS), agricultural businesses – from exporters and handlers to growers and primary processors – can have their IP quality management systems certified against the CIPRS Standard.

The Canadian Seed Institute is already a proven service provider of auditing services. With the introduction of CIPRS, CSI will continue to offer auditing services, with competitive pricing, to members who wish to become certified. CSI is pleased to offer this important new service to members.

There are many benefits to becoming CIPRS certified. Participating in the audits that are integral to this system can be a helpful tool for improving many aspects of your business. The Canadian Identity Preserved Recognition System (CIPRS) offers a cost-effective opportunity for your company to make the transition from commodity handler to an integral part of an Identity Preserved system. Participation in the CIPRS program can deliver benefits throughout your organization. CIPRS can be the tool that catapults your company to the next level by improving the following:

Customer Focus

Many companies struggle to truly become customer focused. The CIPRS program places a heavy emphasis on understanding customer needs up front. Certification under CIPRS gives your company the tools to not only ensure you know what your customers want, but also to deliver more value to them.

Efficiency

Implementing a CIPRS quality management program can catalyze efficiency gains across a broad cross-section of your company. By increasing your customer focus while controlling critical points in production, procurement, and record keeping, your operation should see improvements in communications (both internal and external), reduced product rejection, better employee training, improved supplier and customer relations, streamlined administration, and better use of infrastructure.

Consistency

The CIPRS program focuses on process control as the best means to ensure you can deliver the right product every time. The CIPRS Standard provides a framework to allow participants to identify their own critical steps in delivering products to customers. Controlling these critical steps allows companies to supply products more consistently and identify areas that could be improved in the future.

Risk Management

Have you ever considered how much a rejected load could cost you? Whether it is product you were expecting but didn’t get, or that shipment sent to a customer that they didn’t want, the costs of not meeting a customer’s needs are high. Rejections don’t just add costs for product, shipping, and administration, they add strain to supplier and customer relations, jeopardize your reputation, and can even put you into regulatory non-compliance. A quality management system like CIPRS can be an excellent tool to help manage risk in your operation by knowing exactly what your customer needs and being able to document all of the critical steps in providing that product.

Due Diligence

A lot of business was once done on the basis of a handshake. A handshake still means something, but when it comes to getting the full value out of your products, documents speak volumes (and sometimes fill them). Certification under the CIPRS program can help ensure your company keeps all the right records to demonstrate your products are what you say they are. When your customer needs more than your word, a complete set of records is critical to ensuring delivery of the right product.