ISO 9001:2015 - Quality management systems

What is ISO 9001?

ISO 9001-2015 is the world's largest management system certification, and implementing it in your firm will help you develop an effective system. ISO 9001-2015 assures that an organization's management systems are effective and satisfy the requirements of the ISO 9001-2015 standards, which is the most recent version of the QMS. The ISO 9001:2015 standard specifies the requirements for a quality management system and is the only one in the family that can be certified to (although this is not a requirement). Any organisation, large or small, regardless of its field of activity, can use it. There are over one million firms and organisations certified to ISO 9001 in over 170 countries.

Part of the family

The ISO 9000 family of standards includes ISO 9001. Some of these documents are meant to be certified, while others are meant to provide guidance. Apart from ISO 9001, the most widely referred to of them is ISO 9000, which defines the essential principles and vocabulary of quality management standards.

ISO 9000 also describes the 7 quality management principles:

CUSTOMER FOCUS

This is true for both internal and external clients. Customer satisfaction is the core goal of quality management, which aims to meet customers' needs while also exceeding their expectations. The goal of customer focus is to provide value to the customer.

LEADERSHIP

Effective leadership brings a sense of purpose and direction to the group. Strong leadership ensures that all actions inside the organisation are aligned with plans, policies, and processes in order to fulfil the organization's goals.

ENGAGEMENT OF PEOPLE

Involving people entails assuring their competence, empowerment, and participation. People's effective participation provides the organisation with the tools it needs to fulfil its goals.

PROCESS APPROACH

For many years, this has been a requirement of quality management standards. Day-to-day processes become predictable and repeatable when you know your inputs, actions, and expected outputs. Process management ensures that resources are used efficiently and identifies areas for improvement.

IMPROVEMENT

Improvement does not require admitting a flaw or error, but rather a desire to do better and continue to do better for the benefit of all parties involved.

EVIDENCE

How many of us have ever bought something on the spur of the moment? Do we truly believe that businesses don't make the same error every now and then? They certainly do! However, by using evidence-based decision making, decisions can be made based on known requirements and expected outcomes, as well as the organization's direction and purpose, as well as the involvement of customers and employees, and with the goal of continuous improvement in mind.

RELATIONSHIP MANAGEMENT

This holds true for all of the company's relationships. Knowing your competition as well as you know your clients might be beneficial. Building networks, engaging the general public, and reaching your target audience are all necessary for a lucrative business to succeed.

Benefits of ISO 9001 Quality Management

  1. Increased efficiency – Implement processes and procedures which are based on a quality focus.
  2. Increased revenue – win more contracts and tenders, whilst streamlining your processes and identifying opportunities for cost savings.
  3. Greater employee morale – by ensuring that all employees are working to one agenda you can reduce errors and increase productivity.
  4. International recognition – recognised in approximately 188 countries, ISO 9001 can help you to access international trade.
  5. Factual approach to decision making – ensure the business decisions you make are beneficial long term by basing them on facts.
  6. Better supplier relationships – business has credibility through the reputation of ISO 9001, providing suppliers with greater confidence in what you do.
  7. Improved record keeping – as with any management system, ISO 9001 ensures you document your processes from start to finish. Helping you to handle customer complaints and improve process efficiency.
  8. Improved customer satisfaction – ensure you have a feedback system in place which will help you to understand your customers’ needs, identify areas for improvement and reduce wasted resources.
  9. Continuous improvement – using non-conformity reporting and trend analysis, you can spot areas for improvement and stay ahead of the competition.

GET THE MOST FROM YOUR MANAGEMENT SYSTEMS

  • Begin with "Why." Make sure your motivations for creating a QMS are in line with your strategic goals, or else it will be difficult to maintain.
  • Make sure that everyone is involved. They don't have to all be decision-makers, but make sure you communicate in a way that everyone understands. The key to success is engagement.
  • Ensure that your quality goals are SMART (Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Realistic, and Timebound).
  • Because ISO 9001:2015 does not provide a specific method of risk assessment, come up with a plan that works for you and is applicable to your company.
  • The production of a quality manual is not required by ISO 9001:2015. You should, however, think about where you'll keep your quality documents, rules, and processes. They can be in any media, whether digital or printed.
  • Use access permissions to protect electronic documents from unintentional modification or destruction, and make sure you have backup copies.
  • Write your quality policy in such a way that you are comfortable with it being seen by anyone. In formal tendering procedures, a copy is likely to be required.
  • It is not necessary to write all of the process documentation. To bring them to life, you can use photographs, films, models, and prototypes. Making them relevant and accessible to all of your employees will increase employee engagement and compliance with established procedures.
  • Make sure you're monitoring and measuring the proper things by reviewing your monitoring and measuring operations on a regular basis. These actions should provide you with valuable business intelligence that you can utilise to improve your operations.
  • There is no alternative for senior management commitment. The highest level of leadership promotes, supports, and engages with an effective QMS.