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Resources - ISO 9001
ISO9001:2000 is an International Standard for quality management that defines the minimum requirements that your system must meet. ISO9001:2000 is defining the level that your system must reach. It can be considered like a high jump bar, to meet the standard your system must achieve the required height to clear the bar. ISO9001 is designed for ensuring customer satisfaction. It is the most widely recognised quality management system standard worldwide.
If you are successful in meeting the requirements, then you can obtain registration to the standard. Registration is when an independent company reviews the performance of your system, and if it meets the required standard, gives you a certificate to prove it. This certificate can then be used to prove to customers that your system meets the requirements of the standard.
What is a Management System?
A management system is best considered as everything that you need to help you achieve your business objectives: processes, resources, structure and information; that's pretty well every aspect of your business. The decision to implement a formal management system, using the frameworks available in International Standards, is therefore at the heart of business strategy.
Traditionally, many people thought that a quality management system was the documentation contained within a quality manual or other supporting literature within an organisation. However, this is only a small part of what a system is.
The word "quality" can be defined as customer satisfaction, so a quality management system is a system for ensuring that customers are satisfied with the products and services supplied. However, very few organisations can afford to think only about satisfying customers, most have to ensure that they make profits so that they can pay employees, shareholders, suppliers, and invest in the future. So, to be effective, any management system must not only ensure customer satisfaction, it must also help the company achieve its other objectives, such as making profit.
Why implement an ISO 9001 Management System?
There are two main reasons why organisations implement formal systems: The first is that many customers demand that their suppliers are registered to a standard such as ISO9001. If the supplier is not registered then they will not get onto the shortlist to tender for new business. The reason why customers think this way is that registration is a kind of guarantee of quality. Traditionally, companies with registered systems have performed better than those without. This does not mean that all companies without registration are bad, and vice versa of course!
The second reason is that implementing a formal system means that the organisation needs to examine every aspect of what it does, and try and improve things. This usually leads to better performance. Most companies that implement systems report that it does lead to better performance in the long run.
What are the requirements of ISO 9001?
ISO9001:2000 is founded on eight key principles. These principles can be used to lead the organisation to improved performance and enhanced customer satisfaction. The eight principles are shown below:
- Customer focus
- Leadership
- Involvement of people
- Process approach
- System approach to management
- Continual improvement
- Factual approach
- Mutually beneficial supplier relationships
Dr W Edwards Deming developed a four stage cycle, Plan, Do, Check, Act, that defines the actions necessary to ensure good quality, and ongoing continuous improvement.
This cycle has been used as a key principle of quality management over the years, and ISO9001:2000 has used this framework as a building block.
The standard contains requirements for all areas of the business, and these are contained in five sections. Each section contains specific requirements for that area of the business. In very broad terms, the standard requires that an organisation defines its goals, and then gets everyone involved in trying to reach those goals. The goals must include satisfying customers and always trying to improve performance. The five sections of the standard are shown below:
- Quality Management System
- Management Responsibility
- Resource Management
- Product Realisation
- Measurement, Analysis and Improvement
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