ISO 9001

  • / ISO 9001

ISO 9001 Quality Management System

A summary of ISO 9001 in informal language

  • A quality plan is an official declaration by the management team, tightly linked to the company’s marketing strategy and requirements of the customer.
  • The quality guidelines are understood and adhered to at every level and across all staff members. Each employee strives to achieve specific goals.
  • The company takes decisions regarding the quality system on the basis of records of data.
  • The quality system is periodically reviewed and analyzed for compliance and effectiveness.
  • The records reveal how and where the raw materials and other products were processed, allowing the production of products and issues to be traced back to their origin.
  • The company determines the requirements of customers.
  • The company has designed processes for informing customers of details about the product, inquiries and orders, contracts feedback, complaints, and other issues.
  • When creating new products, the business plan the phases of development and the proper testing at every phase. The company tests and records whether the product is in compliance with specifications for design, regulatory requirements as well as the requirements of the user.
  • The company regularly evaluates its performance via internal audits, meetings and other activities. The business evaluates whether the quality system is functioning and what improvements could be achieved. The procedure is documented for Internal audits.
  • The company is responsible for issues that have occurred in the past and also potential issues. It records these actions and the decisions that resulted from them, and evaluates their efficacy.
  • The company has established procedures for managing possible and actual nonconformances (problems with suppliers, customers or internal issues).
  • The company (1) ensures that nobody uses a defective item, (2) determines what to do with a defective item, (3) determines the primary cause of issues and (4) keep documents to use as a way to increase the system.

Qualification

ISO is not a certification agency for companies. Numerous countries have established accreditation bodies that authorize certification bodies that review organizations that apply for ISO 9001 compliance certification. While it is often referred to as ISO 9000:2000, the actual norm to which an organization’s quality management is accredited will be ISO 9001. Both accreditation bodies as well as organizations that offer certification charge charges for its services. The accreditation bodies all have agreements of mutual respect with one the other to warrant that the certificates issued by any or the accredited credential Bodies (CB) have been recognized throughout the world.
The company being assessed is by a thorough analysis of its functions, sites as well as its products, services and procedures. A list of any issues (“action demands” (also known as “non-compliance”) is first communicated to the management. If there aren’t any significant issues on the list or after it has received an good improvements plan by management indicating how any issues can be solved the certification body issues the ISO 9001 certificate. The certificate is restricted to a particular area (e.g. the production of golf ball) and identifies the places that are covered.

An ISO certificate isn’t an award that is only valid for a specific time and should be renewed on a regular basis as recommended by the body that certifies it typically every three years. There aren’t any grades of competence in ISO 9001: either a business has been recognized as ISO certified (meaning that it has committed to the methodology and model of quality management as described by the Standard) or it’s not. In this regard, ISO certification contrasts with the quality systems based on measurements, such as that of the Capability Maturity Model.