How Can You Get the Most from Your ISO ISO 9001 Certification?
ISO 9001 - Among the most common misunderstandings about the ISO 9001 certification is that it is generally an exercise in compiling documents to show an auditor to be able to obtain the certification. According to those who have worked with ISO for lots of years, the ISO standard before concentrated less on the results and needed too many documentation. Lots of business owners and managers considered this just a basic overhead expense to the business with no measurable advantage.
ISO 9001 - The good news is that the focus on the revised ISO standard is more on the improvement of business processes and not on compiling documentation for the auditor. This new approach has had a major impact on the outcome achieved by certified businesses as seen by clients, shareholders, top management and workers. This new "Process Approach" is a practical technique to align improvement efforts throughout the company with actual customer and business requirements.
Our consultants have helped a lot of businesses achieve ISO 9001 certification ever since 2000 and have implemented three basic guidelines to get great results from the investment. They are the following:
For businesses that implement ISO for the initial time, it is a mistake to make it too complicated. This results in procedures nobody looks at, records nobody needs, training that does not impact the job. You see those who implement the system would rather be "safe than sorry" since they really don't know what the auditor will look for. This will result in an increase in the present ISO certification expense while the value of the company has not increased.
On the whole, effort must be made to limit the documents and concentrate more on the implementation of those specially needed by both the company and the standard.
The next rule to implement is to focus on improving the company's procedures in order to improve performance for both the customers and the business. Make sure that you implement everything to support the company's operations and the requirements of the customers. Companies can tailor their QMS to specifically meet their requirements and still comply with the certification's intention because the ISO standard utilize general language.
You should first find out if a specific requirement you are working with is helping your company.
If you implement something, make certain that your reason is not just so that you can show an auditor. You must apply rules one and two if while talking about an ISO requirement you say that you have implemented something to show the auditor. While you certainly have to develop a system that meets the ISO requirements, every requirement is flexible to be implemented in a way to suit your company - and to add measurable value to it. Be certain to review your ISO procedures and documents with an eye on keeping it simple and adding business value. The auditor would certainly be pleased if you do so.