February 28, 2018, Frederick, MD – A2LA (American Association for Laboratory Accreditation) is proud to announce that 2018 marks its 40th year as an association assessing and accrediting conformity assessment bodies (CABs). Originally known as AALA, but changed to A2LA in 1987, A2LA was established in July 1978, following overwhelming demand in the market for a multi-discipline, private sector accreditation system in the United States. Since its creation, A2LA has established itself as the largest multi-discipline accreditation organization in the United States and one of the largest in the world. A2LA’s brand is known worldwide for quality and customer service in the conformity assessment arena.
Efforts to coordinate accreditation began in earnest in 1970. Laboratories were being forced into assessment by more and more accreditation systems – some claimed they were accredited or assessed by over 100 organizations per year. It was very difficult to design a management system in a laboratory that met these different requirements, some of which were conflicting.
“Although I have only been serving as A2LA CEO for a little over a year, I have been aware of A2LA and involved with them as an executive manager of A2LA-accredited laboratories for close to 20 years. As we reflect on the past 40 years of business, I can confidently say the continued success of our business is due to our exceptional staff and assessors,” said Lonnie Spires, A2LA President and CEO.
A2LA will celebrate its 40th anniversary with events throughout the year, corresponding with various industry tradeshows and conferences. Visit www.A2LA.org/events for more details on events sponsored or organized by A2LA.
About A2LA
A2LA is a non-profit, non-governmental, third-party accreditation body, offering internationally-recognized accreditation services and training to testing and calibration laboratories, inspection bodies, proficiency testing providers, reference material producers and product certifiers.
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