Since we’ve been selling standards since 1982, we’ve seen the business of standards-based quality schemes (like 6 Sigma, TQM, etc.) really take off . And the certification for ISO 9000 has been the most successful of all of these programs. ISO states that ISO 9001:2008 is implemented by over a million organizations in 176 countries. But for the new-comer to the standard, there are any number of questions that always come up.
The first issue that new customers have is understanding why they need to purchase ISO 9001 when they are going for ISO 9000 certification.
This is because ISO 9000 really refers to a family of standards. The ISO 9000:2005 is an overview document, covering “Quality management systems — Fundamentals and vocabulary.” The document number is ISO 9000, the 2005 refers to the year that it was published.
An organization actually certifies to the ISO 9001 standard. It is called out as ISO 9001:2008, even though it was corrected and reprinted in 2009. This document, “Quality management systems — Requirements,” provides for the adoption of a process approach when developing, implementing and improving the effectiveness of a quality management system, to enhance customer satisfaction by meeting customer requirements. It specifies requirements for a quality management system that can be used for internal application by organizations, or for certification, or for contractual purposes. This means that when an organization is certified to “ISO 9000,” it is actually judged against the requirements of ISO 9001.
There are additional offspring of ISO 9001 for various industries. So, you may prefer to be certified to AS 9100, “Quality Management Systems – Requirements for Aviation, Space and Defense Organizations,” ISO/TS 16949, “Quality management systems — Particular requirements for the application of ISO 9001:2008 for automotive production and relevant service part organizations,” or ISO 13485, “Medical devices – Quality management systems – Requirements for regulatory purposes.”
If you’d like to take a look at the documents that make up the ISO 9000 family, take a look at our ISO 9000 Compendium page. It offers a listing of the ISO 9000 standards family as of the date of the last published ISO compilation of the documents.
As always, the standards mentioned are available for sale at our Document Center Inc. website, www.document-center.com. Or contact us by phone (650-591-7600), fax (650-591-7617) or email (info@document-center.com). We’re open from 8 am to 5 pm California time to assist you with all your standards requirements.
Every organization would like to improve the way it operates, whether tha means increasing market share,
driving down costs, Managing risk more effectively or improving customer satisfaction. A quality management
system gives you the framework you need to monitor and improve performance in any
area you choose. ISO 9001 is by far the world’s most established quality framework,
currently being used byover million organizations, and sets
the standard not only for quality management systems, but management systems in general.
It helps ajl to all organizations to succeed through improved customer satisfaction, staff motivation and
continual improvment.
When a company has been satisfactorily assessed to
ISO 9001, they will be able to display the Certification Body’s logo on their
correspondence. Sales and Marketing Benefits:
The logos will increase the stature of the Company in the Market
place and help to enlarge the customer base.
It will satisfy the larger businesses that the company operates
to a controlled system which will result in fewer customer audits
needing to be carried out to confirm the on-going commitment to getting it right the first time.
It will reduce one of the hurdles to entering an approved supplier list run by
a potential customer.
ISO 9001 is an international standard and it will open international doors not just those locally.
The Quality manual is a separate document and
can be used as a sales and marketing tool, it will both describe
the company commitment to standards and customer requirements as well as promoting the company to
new customers.