How Can You Get the Most from Your ISO ISO 9001 Certification?
ISO certification - One of the most popular misunderstandings of the ISO 9001 certification is that its generally an implementation of putting documents together to show the auditor to be able to obtain the certification. Those of us who have worked with ISO for a number of years remember earlier versions of the ISO standard which needed excessive documents with not much focus on real outcome. This is why a lot of managers and business owners believe that this was not helpful to their company and that this was simply a part of the operating expense.
ISO certification - However, revisions were just made to the ISO standard. This time, the focus is more on the improvement of business processes instead of putting together documentation for an auditor. The result is that achievements of certified companies these days have a great impact and lots of shareholders, workers, clients and even the top management see this. Efforts to improve both the customer and business needs of a company have been made in this new "Process Approach".
Through working with dozens of companies each year in achieving ISO 9001 certification ever since the year 2000, our consultants have developed three basic rules for implementing ISO in order to achieve meaningful, measurable outcome from the investment:
For companies that implement ISO for the first time, it is a mistake to make it too complicated. This mistake can result in unnecessary procedures, records and job training. You see people who implement the system would rather be "safe than sorry" since they really do not know what the auditor would look for. This would lead to an increase in the current ISO certification expense while the value of the business has not increased.
Basically, effort should be made to limit the documentation and concentrate more on the implementation of those specifically required by both the business and the standard.
The second guideline is to improve performance for both the company and the customer and this can be achieved by improving the company's procedures. Thus, you should implement everything to support the requirements of the customers and according to the company's operations. Companies can still comply with the certification's intention because they could utilize the general language of the ISO standard to tailor their QMS to particularly meet their requirements.
You must first find out if a particular requirement you are working with is helping your business.
The third rule is based on an understanding that the worst reason to implement anything is just to show it to an auditor. You must apply rules one and two if during a discussion about an ISO requirement you say that you have implemented something to show an auditor. While you certainly need to develop a system which 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. You must focus on adding value to your company and simplifying your ISO procedures and documentation. If you do so, your auditor will certainly be pleased.