ISO 9001
Here are answers to some of the frequently asked questions when dealing with ISO standards and ISO 9001.
What is ISO?
International Standards Organisation (ISO) is a worldwide federation of national standards bodies that develop standards.
Well known ISO Standards:
- ISO 9001:2015 Quality Management System.
- SO 14001: 2015 Environmental Management System.
- ISO 45001 :2018 Safety and Health Management System.
What is ISO 9001?
ISO 9001 is a quality management standard that present guidelines intended to increase business efficiency and customer satisfaction. The goal of ISO9001 is to embed a quality management system within an organisation increasing productivity, reducing unnecessary costs, and ensuring quality products and processes.
Some benefits of implementing ISO 9001:
- Improve product and service effectivity and efficiency.
- Cost reductions.
- Improve morale, communications and job satisfaction.
- Improve customer perception and higher customer satisfaction levels.
- Improved consistency of product and service performance.
- Competitive advantage and increased marketing and sales opportunities.
What is product conformity?
Product conformity is a term used to convey that a product meets specified conformance requirements. The conformance requirements for building products are often specified in standards or customer specifications. In some cases, it is a requirement that the manufacturer needs to sign to declare that your products comply with specified requirements.
What is a Quality Management System(QMS)?
QMS is a collection of business processes and procedures which aims to ensure that the quality of products or services meets or exceeds customer expectations
What is the value of business processes – ISO 9001?
The application of a process approach in a quality management system enables:
- understanding and consistency in meeting requirements
- the consideration of processes in terms of added value
- achieving effective process performance, and
- improvement of processes based on evaluation of data and information.
What is a supply chain?
A supply chain encompasses everything from the delivery of source materials from the supplier to the manufacturer all the way through to its eventual delivery to the end user. (The supply chain processes would typically form part of your core business process or core value chain processes).
Different types of processes:
- Management processes: i.e. policies, management reviews, and strategies.
- Customer orientated processes: i.e. manufacturing processes in direct contact with the customers product and service.
- Supporting processes: i.e. human resources, IT, calibration and maintenance.
Different types of audits:
- 3rd Party audits for ISO certification.
- Internal and external audits (Compliance audits).
- Performance audits.
- Operational audits.