ISO 9001: Quality Management System
What is ISO 9001?
ISO 9001 is a Quality Management System and the most popular ISO Standard globally. 9001 outlines the standard requirements an organisation needs to adhere by to have high quality products and services. Overall, it focuses on the consumer satisfaction and continual development.
Why is it Important?
ISO 9001 gives businesses a ready-made, streamlined framework for quality management and control. Even for small and medium enterprises, developing processes in-house may take years, with much effort spent in trial and error. By using ISO 9001, companies can grasp and implement proven quality management standards relatively rapidly – they don’t need to re-invent the wheel, and can hit the ground running. The efficiency can also rub off on other areas of the business. A mastery of quality management processes builds transferable in-house knowledge and fosters a “systems” culture that can help businesses improve their operations in areas quite apart from quality management.
How Does it Work?
When you have decided to go for ISO 9001, you will meet with a consultant who will guide you through the process to ensure that you can achieve certification. We have vetted and carefully selected our consultants to ensure that they can provide you with the expert knowledge and information you need to be successful.
ISO 9001 is broken down into 10 sections, the first three are purely introductory
How will it benefit my business?
- Protect Your Products/Services
- Happier Customers
- Improved Company Reputation
- Attract More Business
- Improve Productivity
- Demonstrate Compliance with Legislation
- Become a Stand Out Competitor
- Improved Relationships with Stakeholders and Staff
- Improved Time Management Across the Board
- Potentially Reduce Public Liability Costs
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The History of ISO 9001
Quality Management Systems initially started as 3 separate models relating to the different specialities of the organisations that would use them. Modern Day QMS’s typically focus on quality control throughout the entire process. ISO 9001 is now the most commonly implemented certification across the world.
1979
The First Quality Management System
The British Standards Institution published the UK’s first management systems quality standard – BS5750.
1987
First Edition of ISO 9000
The first version of ISO 9000 had 3 models for different businesses to use depending on their practices.
1996
Focus on Prevention
The Standard was revised to encourage quality control through prevention of issues as opposed to earlier versions which would only carry out checks of the final products.
2000
9001: The First Version
The three model system was discarded and instead focused on more input from higher management and monitoring and optimising company procedures.
2008
Minimal Changes
Small changes were made in 2008 to improve the consistency with environmental management system ISO 14001
2015
Current Version
ISO Specialists coined this latest development as “the beginning of a new era in the development of quality management systems.”
ISO 9001:2000 was reviewed to enable it to integrate with other ISO Certifications and focuses on producing reliable, high quality products and services for customers.
