Today I was asked: “What is the exida Scheme?”  If one person had this question, it is likely that others may be interested as well.  Therefore, I decided to take a moment and explain the exida structure.  Any Certification Body operates each product certification per a “scheme,” which references standards, notes or describes procedures, and any additional requirements of the standard. 

We at exida have our own Functional Safety Certification scheme to document our procedures which are audited by the American National Standards Institute (ANSI).  We also reference the IEC 61508 standard and document any interpretations of the standard.  Lastly, we take any controversial issues/interpretations before the exida Advisory Board to offer their insight on the issue.  The opinions of our Advisory Board are also documented in our scheme as requirements.  This board consists of end user/owner-operator company engineers from all over the world.  They have provided us with a number of requirements that go above and beyond IEC 61508. It is an essential part of our business to keep an open conversation with our board members as they provide us with the insight necessary to be sure that we are doing all that we can to ensure that our world is a safer place.  Our advisors and exida feel that this line of open communication makes the exida program far more valuable to manufacturers than any of our competitors.