ISO 9001 is one of the most widely recognized quality management standard in the world. It belongs to the ISO 9000 family of quality management system standards and helps organizations meet the expectations and needs of their customers, along with other benefits.
An ISO 9001 management system will help you to continuously manage and control quality in all processes. As the world’s foremost quality management standard, as well as the gold standard, it describes how to achieve consistent and effective performance and service.
Used by more than a million organizations around the world and revised in 2015, ISO 9001 helps them run more efficiently and profitably. It is a powerful tool that helps you manage your business effectively, increase operational resilience, and plan for the long term. ISO 9001 is ideal for companies of any size and sector.
Many organizations are pushed to obtain the quality certificate according to ISO 9001. Many times it may be due to the demands of new clients or the need to improve to satisfy current clients. Implementing a Quality Management System in an organization to obtain a quality certificate requires the commitment of the organization’s management. Companies can use external consultants or they can train one of their workers through a course.
To obtain the ISO 9001 quality certificate, the organization must:
#Plan the System: One have to identify and analyze all the processes developed by the company.
#Train in quality: The company must find competent people for implementation and development. The necessary skills can be acquired through a course.
#Document the entire process: it is the support in which all the processes are located and allows to guarantee efficiency and prevent them from repeating themselves.
#Implement the processes: all the tasks required by the ISO 9001 Quality Management System are carried out through this.
#Certification audit: when it has been verified that the Quality Management System works correctly, for this reason we request an external audit to be able to obtain the ISO 9001 quality certificate.
However, quality management necessitates periodic evaluations of the entire organization to ensure proper operation, customer satisfaction, and excellence achievement. This is not the end of the process. If the company forgets everything after receiving the ISO 9001 quality certificate, nothing will be accomplished other than wasting time, and in the long run, customer complaints will be received.
The steps that an organization must follow to obtain the quality certificate are:
1. Start: the first stage is to know the need to implement the Quality Management System in the organization. The fundamental reasons are the demands of new customers or the detection of improvement needs to satisfy customers with what the company already has.
2. Choosing the consultant: it is a recommended process for the company, since this way it will be guided by people who know perfectly the implementation methodology to obtain the quality certificate.
3. Plan the system: the implementation process and the Quality Management System must be planned.
4. Quality training: the Quality Management System belongs to the company, and therefore, within the organization there must be competent people for the implementation and development of the ISO 9001 standard. Competence must be achieved through training of the development of the project.
5. Carry out the processes: during the documents of the previous stage, the processes have been defined, at that moment they must be started and the tasks required by the ISO 9001 standard must be carried out to obtain the quality certificate.
6. Internal audit: it turns out to be a fundamental requirement of the ISO 9001 standard. During it, compliance with all the requirements contained in the reference standard and in the Quality Management System is checked.
An ISO auditor’s job is to give independent and fair assessments of the financial and operational activities of the company. It is the responsibility of internal auditors to ensure that manufacturing companies’ production systems and business procedures adhere to relevant ISO standards.
7. Certification audit: when it has been verified that the Quality Management System works correctly and has been well implemented, the certifying entity can be requested to issue the quality certificate.
Advantages of obtaining a quality certificate:
For organizations it is necessary to be competitive today and the ISO 9001 quality certificate is one of the essential requirements that you must have to strengthen your organization and increase business relationships, it is a key pillar to sustain durability in the time of the organization, especially in the socioeconomic moments that we are living.
Internally, the ISO 9001 quality certificate offers the organization an efficient tool to analyze and determine the key points that must be improved, reviewing the proper implementation of its Quality Management System in a complete and documented manner.
The advantages are:
Improve the key points of the company. Strengthen the organization. Implement a Quality Management System effectively, allowing the reduction of incidents, increased productivity and customer commitment.
Externally, the ISO 9001 quality certificate places the business in very high positions within the market and with competitive advantages that allow it to offer different products or services that meet all customer requirements and satisfy their needs.
The external advantages are: Market positioning. Competitive advantages over other competing companies. Greater effectiveness of the products or services offered by the organization.
