ISO 9001 Certification

ISO 9001:2000 is the International standard for Quality Management. Organisations complying with this standard can establish a Quality Management System (QMS) and get certified for it.  This standard is primarily meant for organizations who want to maintain quality in all their processes and improve their customer satisfaction. Certification also helps in improving the marketing mileage of companies. ISO 9001 is a generic standard which can be applied by any kind of organization.

As per the latest ISO survey, total number of certificates issued world-wide was 8,97,866. The total number of certificates issued in India was just 40,967.

By implementing a Quality Management System (QMS) and getting certified for ISO 9001:2000, an organization has the following benefits:

• ISO 9001 is a benchmark for quality and helps organizations to implement quality at the process level.

• Certification assures customers of getting quality products/services.

• It helps organizations to streamline their operations and improve their effectiveness and efficiency.

• It helps in reducing defects and thereby leads to greater customer satisfaction.    

• It is a business improvement tool, which helps organizations to continually improve all aspects of their business.

• Getting certified is definitely an achievement and provides a competitive advantage in the market.

The following are the stages involved in the certification process:

• Gap Analysis : A system study is carried out to understand the organizations working and to compare against the requirements of the ISO 9001:2000 standard.

• Documentation : The quality policy & objectives are derived, quality manual and process documentation is prepared along with other work instructions and formats for records.

• Training : Staff members, especially dept heads/supervisors are trained on the quality management system so that they can implement the same effectively.

• Implementation : The processes of the QMS needs to be complied with and records maintained. Process improvements also need to be planned.

• Auditors training : Employees selected by the management will be trained to conduct internal audits.

• Internal audit : An internal audit is carried out by the consultants and the internal auditors to check the effectiveness of the QMS. Deficiencies and improvement areas are identified.

• Management review : The top management of the organization formally review the working of the system and determine improvement areas.

• Certification audit : Auditor(s) from the registrar carry out an audit to evaluate the QMS and decide on certification.

For those interested to learn more about ISO 9001 through our distance learning courses, click here.

If you are an organisation interested in obtaining ISO 9001 certification, click here to contact us