ISO 9001:2008 Registered Quality Management Systems

Good customer service requires adherence to a set of best practice standards to ensure that every client, in every interaction, receives the kind of quality care you’ve built your business around. The ISO (International Organization for Standardization) guidelines encompass the requirements of a quality management system, and provide tools to consistently meet stakeholder needs. ISO 9001:2008 Registered Quality Management Systems are currently the only quality management systems that can be certified. This, alone, demonstrates to your customers that your business is dedicated to a higher level of quality and customer care.

The ISO 9001:2008 standards provide best practice guidelines for training, systems management and a focus on continued, overall improvement. Quality management systems certification programs identify the steps required for companies to operate at maximum efficiency. The end-user is ensured reliable, consistent results, and easy, intuitive mapping to the source of any issues that may arise. The opportunity to continually improve is the primary goal of ISO quality management systems certification, because continuous improvement guarantees that the client stays on the crest of industry change and their program can be constantly optimized for best performance.

Whether large or small, no matter what the industry, ISO quality management systems will benefit any business. As a matter of fact, ISO quality management systems guidelines are used by over one million companies in over 170 countries, worldwide.

Key Features of ISO 9001:2008 Registered Quality Management Systems

The eight fundamentals of quality management systems certification is, at heart, just basic good business. Is your company focused on goal orientation, systems management and constant improvement now and for the future? If so, your organization is already well on its way to meeting the guidelines for certification.

Standards include:

Ensuring products and services meet customer and legal regulations and requirements
Increased productivity and efficiency of workflow and workforce
Enhanced morale and job satisfaction for staff
Improved, overall systemic performance
Reduction in overall errors and accidents
Development of methods for measuring progress, utilizing milestones and benchmarks for success
Improving processes, to lessen the impact of individual people
Focus on prevention of errors instead of correction
Maintain relevancy to clients and customers by demonstrating the importance of working with companies who have achieved ISO standards certification

Audits

In any system, it’s vital to check in periodically to ensure that everything is working at its best. One of cornerstones of ISO 9001:2008 Registered Quality Management Systems is the audit process. Independent certification bodies can be hired for this, or businesses may invite their clients to audit the system, themselves.

Certification

Although ISO does not, itself, certify organizations, there are many outside accredited certification bodies (CB) that exist. These certification bodies operate under the quality standard of ISO/IEC 17021. Upon completion of the certification process, an ISO compliance certificate is issued. While, technically, certification is for ISO 9001:2008 standards, the process and endorsement is sometimes referred to as ISO 9000.

To receive certification, an organization is audited across a spectrum of performance, including its sites, functions, processes, products and services. A list of problems (also referred to as “nonconformities”, “observations” or “opportunities for improvement”) is presented to a company’s administration by an auditor. The organization then provides a plan for corrective action (how the problems will be resolved). Once this has been completed, or if there are no issues to be corrected, the certification body will issue a certificate.

To maintain certification, a company must undergo an audit at intervals recommended by the certification body. The standard interval is every three years.