Monday, August 30, 2010

Implementing ISO 9001 Standards

Implementing ISO 9001 standards

If you have your own business and now you are looking for ISO 9001 certification for quality standards for business to make your business products more reliable to the customers. To be in the market for any business, it needs quality and for quality any business needs to follow quality standards, so ISO 9001 Standards developed many quality standards as per different -different business areas.

ISO 9001 Standards is a generic quality standard and can be applied to any organization but before applying it, a process starts with pre-assessment audits and passes through on-going maintenance. The process of implementing ISO 9001 includes identifying, collecting and organizing the information required for certification.

For implementing ISO 9001 standards, any organization needs to hire a consultant because detailed knowledge of ISO standards is essential before successfully applying it. A consultant will analyze your organization structure, your products and their standards and will make a complete plan as per ISO standards for your organization.To hire a consultant is easiest way because they have complete knowledge of ISO standards and they perform various activities like provides class room training to your business employee about ISO 9000 standards

An ISO consultant performs the various activities and explains the course objectives :

• understand the purpose of ISO 9000: 2005, ISO 9001: 2008, ISO 9004: 2000, ISO 19011: 2002 etc. standards and their interrelationship

• describe the purpose of Quality Management Systems and 8 Quality Management Principles

• Interpret the ISO 9001: 2008 in the context of audit

•Plan and conduct an audit in accordance with guidelines as per ISO 19011: 2002, gather objective evidence via various methods and determine conformity to the requirements of Quality Management Systems

• Develop understanding of Roles & Responsibilities of Lead Auditors

Hiring a Consultant is a better and easiest way to implement ISO in your organization

How To Meet Quality Standards With ISO 9001 Standards

In today’s hectic business environment, it is vital that we are all on the same page, right? But how do we know if we meet those standards? Business owners and executives can avoid the uncertainty, and that’s where ISO 9001 certification comes in.

Standardizing Quality Systems

The ISO, or International Organization for Standardization, was established in 1947 to develop international standards for
everything from electronics to management systems. Having over 13,000 standards currently in place, ISO has created the auditing and certification process known as ISO 9001. This began the drive toward quality standards.

Improving Customer Satisfaction

Companies choose to implement ISO 9001 and get certified because many customers and industries require it. By keeping customers happy, they can increase sales and profitability for their business. And if an area of the company’s program appears to be too bureaucratic and non-value-adding, then it might also be an area for continuous improvement efforts.

Enhancing Company Performance

Both customers and industries alike use ISO certification as a way to evaluate and audit their suppliers and products. Through an independent verification process, customers can gain assurance of their suppliers’ products. And as a supplier becomes certified, the testing requirement is waved, which saves the company both
time and money.

Developing Best Practices

Employed as a “Best Practices” model, ISO 9001 utilizes the philosophy of the “Plan-Do-Check-Act” continuous improvement cycle to achieve requirements. This process approach centers around eight quality management principles used by management as a guide toward improving performance and identifying the main elements
needed in a good quality system:

1. Customer Focus
2. Leadership
3. Involvement of People
4. Process Approach
5. Systems Approach to Management
6. Continuous improvement
7. Factual Approach to Decision-Making
8. Mutually Beneficial Supplier Relationship

Building Stable Processes

ISO 9001 policies, procedures and forms can provide employers, managers and employees with a systematic and consistent approach to implementing policies, plans, procedures and work routines. Instead of building their own policies and procedures from scratch, some companies prefer to hire professional writers that have already prepared a set of written policies and procedures to help on the way to certification.

Auditing a Company System

In the certification process, an independent registrar will perform an on-site audit of a company’s operations to verify that it complies with the ISO standard. If the business complies, then that company will be registered as ISO 9001 compliant.

Meeting Company and Customer Needs

On the way to certification, a business can meet its ISO needs by:

= Using well-defined processes and procedures to build stable processes
= Training in the audit and certification process
= Continuously improving with ISO 9001 standards

Noticing the Difference

With complete procedures manuals for ISO 9001 Quality Management System, required HR procedures, and an ISO training class, a template like an ISO 9001 Quality Manager Procedures Manual Series can help a business on its way to ISO 9001 certification.
Sometimes the effort can be very great, but companies typically notice a remarkable difference in efficiency and effectiveness after the first year.