Adventure Park Insider—Dyer, Ind., Nov. 25, 2024—Experiential Systems, Inc. (ESI), a builder and service provider in the challenge course and aerial adventure industry, is the first and only North American challenge course company to achieve the internationally recognized ISO 9001 certification for its national headquarters and operations, located in Dyer, Ind.
“This certification not only validates the level of quality we have been striving to provide our customers for years, but also demonstrates our commitment towards customer satisfaction, appropriate standards adherence, continual improvement, and regulatory compliance where applicable,” said Experiential Systems CEO Keith Jacobs.
The ISO 9001 certification is granted to companies that can demonstrate their ability to meet a variety of industry standards alongside the statutory and regulatory requirements related to a product or service. In ESI’s case, the certification demonstrates that the company meets multiple standards relating to challenge course construction (ACCT, AEE, ASTM, ACA, CWA, PRCA, etc.) as well as any state or municipal building codes that apply to a construction project.
In other words, instead of complying with a single standard such as with an ACCT certification, the ISO 9001 rating certifies that ESI’s products and procedures meet or exceed many different standards, including various industry certifications plus local and state regulations depending on the jurisdiction of the project.
Additionally, to maintain this high level of certification and compliance, ESI will be audited annually both internally by a certified ISO 9001 auditor and externally by ISO’s certifying body SCB. The ISO 9001 audit process verifies that every department, job, and thus employee follows a set of repeatable procedures and processes and can consistently demonstrate following them. As quality and process improvement is a cornerstone of the ISO 9001 certification, if the company being audited does not have a process or procedure for a new product or service, the expectation is that one will be developed and the staff involved will be trained to implement it.
“We are beyond pleased to earn this internationally recognized certification, which speaks to our core values of honesty, integrity, reliability, industry leadership and delivering the highest quality work to achieve the best possible solutions for all our clients,” said Experiential Systems COO Melanie Wills.
ESI began implementing the ISO 9001 standard to its company’s operations starting in 2011. In 2015, the ISO 9001 standard was updated to include services and not just manufactured products, and ESI set a goal to be certified for both course and product manufacturing as well as for services like challenge course inspections, staff training, and personnel certifications. After a thorough review of the processes and procedures by an auditor and a separate unbiased certification committee, ESI achieved ISO 9001 certification on Oct. 1, 2024.
ESI’s key products and services include the design and installation of ropes courses, zip lines, climbing walls, aerial parks, playgrounds, obstacle courses and other artificial adventure-based structures and related services.
