Will an ISO 9001 quality management system make
a difference to my organisation?

International acceptance:
There are numerous reasons why the ISO 9001 quality management principles are implemented in more than 170 countries world wide and why clients often require an organization to be certified as meeting the ISO 9001 requirements.

It is not a one size fits all solution
ISO 9001 does not prescribe how specific tasks must be performed (affording each organization the opportunity to establish their own ideal operating conditions) but states principles and criteria that must be addressed in order to provide a consistent service or product. ISO 9001 consist of five main clauses with several sub clauses.
The main clauses are:

• ISO 9001 - Quality management system
• ISO 9001 - Management responsibility
• ISO 9001 - Resource management
• ISO 9001 - Product realization
• ISO 9001 - Measurement, analysis and improvement

The above clauses, with their requirements, are not based on wish list/ theoretical applications, but reflect sound business principles that are often already addressed to a degree in any successful organization.

ISO 9001 summarized into a single requirement:
The organization shall determine what it needs to do to satisfy it’s customers, establish a system to accomplish its objectives and measure, review and continually improve its performance.

If the 250 or so requirements of ISO 9001 were summarized into five requirements, they would be:

• Determine the needs and expectations of customers and other interested parties.
• Establish policies, objectives and a work environment necessary to motivate the organisation to satisfy these needs.
• Design, resource and manage a system of interconnected processes necessary to implement the policy and attain the objectives.
• Measure and analyse the adequacy, efficiency and effectiveness of each process in fulfilling its purpose and objectives.
• Pursue the continual improvement of the system from an objective evaluation of its performance.

   

  David Hoyle
  ISO 9000 Quality Management Systems Handbook

With continual management involvement, a cornerstone of the ISO 9001 requirements you will get to a stage in your business where you need answers to the following questions:

• Are we doing it right?
• Can we keep on doing it right?
  
• Are we doing it in the best way?
  
• Is it the right thing to do?

EQS will assist you to address all of these ISO 9001 requirements and to get meaningful answers to the above questions.