All You Need to Know About the Quality Management System ISO 9001

Compliance and regulations are always a challenge for organizations, especially when it comes to EHS (environment, health, and safety). Organizations want to meet their regulatory obligations, but finding the right resources to help them is often challenging. 

Moreover, regulatory compliance is directly proportional to positive brand perception—people trust products with globally-accepted regulatory certifications.

So, how do you know your product is the best of its kind? To begin with, how can you convince consumers or clients that your organization is trustworthy and performs well enough to fulfill their needs and demands? 

That’s where the Quality management system, ISO 9001, comes into the picture.

If you are confused about what ISO 9001 is, this blog will guide you with the need for a quality management system ISO 9001 and how it helps businesses stay compliant with the law.

The Role of Quality Management System ISO 9001

A quality management system is like a company’s map–it guides where your org is going. What are your organization’s goals? What are the resources available to get there? How can you make adjustments and pivot if needed as a problem is encountered?

Quality Management Systems (QMS) describe what a business does regarding quality so that employees and external stakeholders can see how it conducts itself from top to bottom. The most popular example of a QMS is ISO 9001.

International Organization for Standardization or ISO published the first edition of ISO 9001 in 1987 to create a global language for quality assurance. 

Over the years, this standard has been adopted as an international benchmark for internal quality management systems.

But what is the need for ISO 9001 certification? “How to be among the best organizations?” is a big question.

ISO 9001 is a standard that provides guidelines for identifying, analyzing, and meeting customers’ requirements. It focuses on the processes of a quality management system rather than the product and services.

The ISO 9001:2015 certification is the latest version and focuses on the below aspects:

  • Leadership engagement- Focuses on assembling the skills and teamwork talents to improve your company’s operations.
  • Risk assessment- Tackles organizational risks and opportunities in an organized manner.
  • Easy-to-understand and straightforward guidelines- A common structure and terms for organizations that use multiple management systems for EHS.

Let’s understand how having a QMS helps your business stay compliant.

How Does the Quality Management System ISO 9001 Benefit Your Business?

ISO 9001 enables an organization to understand its products and processes. Here’s how you can make a difference in your business by having a quality management system ISO 9001:

Assists in increasing profits

ISO 9001 accreditation is a potent weapon in any business’s arsenal that aims to win more tenders and contracts while increasing efficiency. It helps make customers/stakeholders satisfied, improve brand loyalty, and enhance customer retention rate.

Maintains authenticity in the market

Why would customers choose you over similar companies? The Quality Management system ISO 9001 helps you stand out from the crowd and gives customers a reason to go with your company, among other potential options.

Reduce errors and help deliver best quality consistently

The ISO 9001 helps you set processes to achieve the best possible quality every time. It helps eliminate errors, and results align with customers’ expectations. You improve techniques and procedures to create the best product possible, lowering costs and reducing waste.

Improves vendor relationships

When the right processes are in place and the proper standards are adhered to, it offers a degree of reassurance to vendors. ISO 9001 certified ensures the company values safety, quality, cost-efficiency, sustainability, and ethical principles.

How to Get ISO Certified?

With so many benefits of this ISO version, it is natural to wonder how to get certified. Let’s begin with the terms involved in the ISO certification process:

OrganizationResponsibilities
ISO (International Organization for Standardization)Sets standards used worldwide.
IAF (International Accreditation Forum)Provides accreditation to certification bodies.
CB (Certification Body)IAF accredits certification bodies, conducts audits, and issues certificates to qualifying companies that have met requirements.
CompanyOrganization that offers products and services and wants to be ISO certified.

Steps involved in getting ISO 9001 certification are as follows:

1. Select the ISO certification type

To standardize processes, multiple ISO certifications such as ISO 14001, ISO 45001, are available. If you’re in the manufacturing industry, select ISO 9001 for quality management.

2. Select an ISO Certification Body

When choosing a certification body, make sure they are credible and recognizable. One way to verify that legitimacy is by confirming their approval by IAF.

3. Connect with the Certification Body 

The process involves a formal agreement between the company and the certification body. The contract defines the rights and obligations of each party, such as liability issues, confidentiality guidelines, and access to records.

4. Audit and document review process

Here, your existing documentation will be reviewed. The goal is to ensure that every product or process is correct and consistent.

5. Work on the review comments and create an action plan

Once the review is done, you will have to go through the gaps specified by the auditor and create an action plan to eliminate those from your system.

6. Initial Certification Audit

The ISO auditor will audit the changes and create an audit report. The company needs to check and correct those conformities.

Once these conformities are addressed, the auditor delivers a final audit report to the certification body.

7. ISO Certification final stage

If everything is in order, the CB will review the final audit report and grant you ISO certification.

Are You Tensed about the Auditing Process?

If you are redying the documents for your audit process, Pulse is here to save your manual efforts. Pulse is an AI-based audit and inspection tool that helps you customize checklists, schedule inspections, create reports within minutes and manage your team without being at your site.So take your first step and book a demo today or call us at 1800-266-9988 in case of any queries.