ISO 9001 Overview

The benefits of ISO 9001 certification
If implemented in a practical manner ISO 9001 can benefit any type of business, including public sector and non profit making organisations, as the framework or requirements set out under ISO 9001 will place appropriate emphasis on aspects such as customer satisfaction, continuous improvement etc.

Adopting ISO 9001 has helped businesses of all shapes and sizes to improve how they do things by promoting more efficient working practices or processes which can lead to less waste and therefore potential cost savings.

The implementation of ISO 9001 should certainly not result in unnecessary overheads. It may well be necessary to put in place some additional systems or processes however these should only be what is required to properly manage any business or organisation in the most effective way.

Implementing a management system under ISO 9001 has often enabled managers to see more clearly how their company actually operates as all the processes by which the company operates become more clearly defined. This can often be quite illuminating.

One of the more immediately obvious benefits of gaining ISO 9001 is of course its importance in the public sector or large contract tendering process where having achieved the standard is more and more a basic pre-qualification.

The main benefits of ISO 9001 can therefore be summarised as:

• Allowing better visibility of how a business or organisation operates
• Encouraging a sense of individual ownership across a workforce
• Increasingly a pre-qualification for public sector tendering
• Enables easier identification of any areas of weakness
• Promotes continuous improvement
  

" running a formal quality and environmental management system helped us win a large contract that recently went out to formal tender” MBM OMEGA LTD

Preparing for ISO 9001 certification
Depending on the size and nature of the organisation implementing ISO 9001 can take anything from five months to the best part of a year, however a good rule of thumb is that with commitment and a reasonable starting base most smaller SMEs should be able to reach readiness for certification in about SIX months.

It is important at the outset to first identify the key business or organisational objectives as well as the basic service or product requirements, rather than focus on any existing internal processes or procedures as this approach may result in documenting something that provides little benefit to the business or its customers.

The initial step is to draft the Quality Manual which should describe the whole organisation (within scope) and importantly show how the new management system operates in an integrated fashion. This would then be followed by a period of progressive implementation of whatever systems, procedures, records etc. need to be put in place. In essence it is necessary to comply with the Quality Manual, and this should then bring about compliance with the ISO 9001 standard itself.

ISO 9001 specifically requires only a limited number of generic documented procedures; any others being down to whatever is considered necessary to run the operation in the most effective way.

It is essential that everyone is involved from the start of an ISO 9001 implementation as it will not work effectively if it is seen as just the responsibility of say the Quality Manager, as is sometimes the case.

It will be necessary to commence internal audits once the new systems or processes are in place. These are necessary to not only ensure that the new systems are working as expected, but also to ensure compliance with the ISO 9001 standard.

" assessor was very impressed with the procedures and level of documentation. He was positively glowing about the risk register..” Network (London)

Attaining ISO 9001 certification
Once the new systems are settled and a round of internal audits and management reviews have been conducted an application for assessment can be made with an appropriate Certification Body who should ideally be UKAS accredited.

The assessment process involves two stages, or visits, with Stage 1 intended to ensure that all of the required systems and processes are in place, and the assessor may make any recommendations at this point. Stage 2 would normally follow after about four weeks and involves the in-depth auditing of the management system against the ISO 9001 standard.

All being well the assessor will there and then tell you that he/she is recommending you for certification (registration) and the certificate will arrive shortly thereafter.

Maintaining ISO 9001
Surveillance visits are carried out annually by the Certification Body, although the first return visit may be after nine months, however in the meantime it is important that the management system becomes embedded into normal day to day operations.

The management system should not remain static, and via the objectives setting and management review processes, there should be clear evidence of continuing improvements being made to the systems.

If you want practical help in achieving ISO 9001, or just some information or advice, then do email or call.

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Brian Mead, Business Improvement Services
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