JournalBooks Achieves QCA Accreditation

The Quality Certification Alliance (QCA), Chicago, the promotional product industry's only independent, not-for-profit organization dedicated to helping companies provide safe products, has awarded QCA accreditation to Charlotte, North Carolina-based JournalBooks/Timeplanner Calendars.

QCA-accredited companies have endorsed a self-certification, completed a rigorous self-assessment, and then submitted their headquarters and their supply base to multiple third-party audits. The QCA board uses a scorecard representing the performance of the applicant and its supply chain on the third-party audits as the foundation for granting accreditation.

"Quality, safety and compliance have always been part of JournalBooks/Timeplanner Calendars' fabric and core culture," said Tim O'Boyle, general manager for JournalBooks. "Earning QCA accreditation gives our distributor customers confidence when choosing our merchandise because we have the processes in place to deliver the compliant product their end-buyer clients demand."

JournalBooks/Timeplanner Calendars joins the ranks of 15 companies that have previously met the rigorous qualifications to achieve QCA Accreditation: Avaline, Barton Nelson Inc.; BDA Inc.; Broder Bros.; Bullet; Dard Products Inc.; Fanda Enterprises Inc. dba PromoFactory; Garyline; Gemline; Gordon Sinclair; Leed's; Logomark; MMI; Prime Line; and Sweda Company LLC.

"With JournalBooks/Timeplanner Calendars achieving QCA accreditation and four additional suppliers in the final auditing phase, there will soon be more than 20 companies that have successfully completed the QCA certification program, with an additional 10 firms in the pipeline working toward accreditation," said Brent Stone, QCA executive director - operations. "This is significant because more and more categories of promotional products are becoming available through QCA-accredited companies. Each quarter brings us closer to being able to deliver a comprehensive offering of compliant product to meet the ever-increasing requests from end-buyers."

Mitch Mounger, CEO of Bellevue, Washington-based Sunrise Identity, said customers are increasingly asking for products that are manufactured by socially responsible and legally compliant suppliers.

"QCA is leading the movement in the promotional products industry to address this need, and we are pleased to see more product categories becoming available through QCA-certified suppliers," he said. "As part of the QCA Distributor Advocacy Council, we look forward to seeing even more suppliers adopt transparent and ethically responsible practices."