What Path Will You Take To Achieving ISO 9001 Certification?

Your first steps on the path to achieving ISO 9001 certification is to have buy-in from Top Management; this is important to ensure long term success of achieving certification for your business or
organisation.

With the right preparation and a good understanding of what is required for ISO 9001 certification, most organisations can expect to achieve certification within 3 to 6 months
depending on their size and complexity.

At this stage it would be beneficial to have someone who has experience of implementing Quality Management Systems and who knows what is needed to achieve ISO 9001
certification.

You do need to plan. How your business does it is up to you!

You Need To Plan. How Your Business Does Is Up To You!

I have seen large variations of planning techniques and there is no right or wrong way on how you should plan the implementation project but having a planning process will help keep you on track and stay in control.

Generally, you will need to conduct a fact finding activity to identify any gaps in your organisations and if there are any potential weaknesses and areas for improvement in your current system. From this you often decide on a project plan to detail all your activities, highlight who will be responsible and plan key timelines needed for the implementation of an ISO management system.

Booking your stage 1 pre-certification audit and adding it to your project plan gives you a target date to work towards providing motivation for staff and encourages team work to achieve ISO certification. When selecting an appropriate certification body take into account your needs and budget. That’s not to say the cheapest is always best as there are a lot of factors you need to consider:

Are they accredited? e.g. United Kingdom Accreditation Service (UKAS)
UK based or one with an international reputation
Proven track record, industry expert or localised certification body
Do you go on reputation or recommendation?
Continuity of service, is it important to you?

Dig Into The Ground Work

Once you have done your groundwork and the ISO management system has been started and is up and running you will be ready for your Stage 1 audit which essentially is a desktop exercise to ensure you are ready for Stage 2 Certification

At the Stage 1 audit, the 3rd Party auditor from a certification body will check that your management system meets the requirements of the ISO 9001 Standard and match what you say you are actually doing and highlight any areas of deficiency and potential improvement of the system.

On completion of Stage 1 you will be given a date for the Stage 2 Certification Audit either on the day or on receipt of your report.

When the report is received and once any required changes or improvements have been made, your organisation will then be ready for your Stage 2 Certification Assessment.

Generally, the same 3rd Party auditor will conduct the Stage 2 Certification audit and check that you are working to the requirements of your Quality Management System and meeting the requirements of ISO 9001 Standard.

During the audit process your organisation should have a clear idea of your objectives and what benefits it will gain by achieving ISO 9001 Certification. You have to be prepared to incorporate the Quality Management System into every area of the business.

All staff must be aware of what is expected of them and where their areas of responsibility lie, in order to achieve ISO 9001 Certification.

A Documented Quality Management System is required, together with the policies and procedures required by ISO 9001.

Defining your Quality Management System will require input from all of the departments in the organisation.

You will need to communicate to all of your staff, the importance of keeping records and using the correct documentation. Controlling the use of documents to ensure the latest version is being used is an important part of ISO 9001. You will need a robust system to ensure that old versions are removed and new versions distributed to the various internal departments, together with a system for version control.

To maintain compliance with the requirements of your ISO 9001 system determine from the standard what documentation and records you need.

Inevitably, processes can go wrong and you will need to have a defined process for fixing the problem and identifying where it went wrong, before making changes to prevent it from happening again.

You should keep a record of any actions you have taken to rectify a problem. Where possible you should identify potential problem areas and set up a system to prevent or minimise their effect before it happens.

Staff should be suitably trained to ensure they are capable of carrying out their job function. You must keep records of past experience, education and training to identify their capabilities.

Future training requirements can then be implemented together with any new skills that may be needed as the business evolves.

Using this information you will be able to identify any gaps in experience if you install new equipment or add new products.

Have a programme to conduct the internal auditing of your own system and where possible those who carry this audit are independent of within function of your organisation.

The internal auditors will check that the procedures in the business are being followed and will identify any areas of concern to be rectified. You must have a procedure for how audits are to be planned, conducted and recorded.

Contact DTC Consulting Ltd to discover what the benefits are for implementing an ISO and achieving ISO 9001 Certification.

To remain ahead of the game and your competitors we all need checks and balances in place. Otherwise, your business or organisation would find it difficult to maintain consistency and quality across your industry and across the globe. The International Organisation for Standardisation (ISO) provides direction in standards which help to keep a level playing field which can be applied to any size and any type of business or organisation.

ISO certification supports a management system, e.g. a manufacturing process, service, or documentation procedure has all the requirements to meet the standard and quality assurance for your customers. Certificates are provided by an independent, non-governmental certification body, who are accredited by a national accreditation; e.g. The United Kingdom Accreditation Service (UKAS) is the sole national accreditation body recognised by the British government to assess the competence of organisations that provide certification, testing, inspection and calibration services

ISO certifications exist in many areas of industry, from any sector and ISO Standards are in place to ensure consistency.

Why Do I Care?

If an organisation advertises as being certified to “ISO 9001″ this means that the organisation has met the requirements of the standard under ISO 9001.

This is where ISO 9001 requires organisation’s define and follow a quality management system can be supported by Compliant Ltd, which that is both appropriate and effective while also requiring them to identify areas for improvement and take action toward those improvements.

As a result, it’s typically understood that an organisation who have ISO 9001 certification is an organisation with products and services that meet quality standards.

ISO Certification Explained

ISO is appropriate for any business, any size, form any sector or industry.

By conforming to ISO standards, you are demonstrating your commitment to follow processes which align with your business. It will allow you to speak a common language to other businesses or organisations who use ISO standards as they too can identify with the structured approach used.

Designed to be a powerful business improvement tool, having an ISO management certification can help you to:

Continually improve, streamline operations and reduce costs
Win more business and compete in tenders
Satisfy more customers
Be more resilient and build a sustainable business
Show you have strong corporate governance
ISO standards is a high-level structure which provides a common theme across most of the standards and across those businesses or organisation which use ISO standards. You will know the standards that need to be met, and the tools which are required in place to ensure conformance in quality, consistency, and safety.

ISO certification standards also help keep your products and services relevant to legislation and ensures you have the right regulations for your business activity. When the standards change, your business moves along with them.

Although ISO state there is no requirement to achieve certification you could still benefit from using ISO standards. However, if you want to demonstrate conformance to a standard certification can certainly help. Certification can open doors to public sector contracts and attract other clients as well an increasing additional supplier capability.

Is ISO Certification Right For You?

If you want to evaluate and improve the way you do business, ISO 9001 certification is the answer. The Standard has always been popular with large organisations but the latest version (published in 2015) makes ISO 9001 certification an equally good option for businesses of any size and in any sector.

Getting started with Compliant

An environmental management system is designed to support organisations in identifying, managing, overseeing, and controlling their environmental performance holistically.

We successfully deliver ISO 14001 as well as ISO 9001, ISO 13485, ISO 22301, ISO 27001 and ISO 45001. We can also help businesses to access funding for their certifications.

Compliant will go the extra step in an initial teams meeting to fully understand your business, its requirements, the structure of the management system required, and the organisational context. We will then submit all your information to one of our preferred certification body partners.

If you would like a FREE quotation just fill in our quote calculator here!