ISO-9001

The ISO 9001 standards give organizations an opportunity to increase value to their activities and to improve their performance continually, by focusing on their major processes. The standards place great emphasis on making quality management systems closer to the processes of organizations and on continual improvement.

The management of an organization should be able to view the adoption of the quality management system standards as a profitable business investment, not just as a required certification issue.

Assessment: AQMCS's Assessment services are the core product for ISO 9001. The assessments can be against any scope of registration, provided they are within AQMCS scope of Accreditation.

Customer: Customers for this standard can be any organization in any sector, large or small, public or private. As the standard is completely generic in its structure and requirements, it is completely flexible.

Customer Benefits: The ISO 9001 series of standards have been developed to enable organizations to have process based management systems. This should enable them to understand their customers' requirements and improve customer satisfaction, through the review and improvement of their internal activities.

The benefits of using the standards include:

• The connection of quality management systems to organizational processes
• The encouragement of a natural progression towards improved organizational performance, via:
• Use of the Quality Management Principles
• Adoption of a 'process approach'
• Emphasis of the role of top management
• Requirements for the establishment of measurable objectives at relevant functions and levels
• Being orientated toward 'continual improvement' and 'customer satisfaction', including the monitoring of information on 'customer satisfaction' as a measure of system performance
• Measurement of the quality management system, processes and product
• Consideration of statutory and regulatory requirements
• Attention to resource availability

Why do I need ISO 9001 (Quality Management Systems)?

• All organizations have some form of management system or they would not be in business for long.
• ISO 9001 provides a framework through which organizations can establish a system of controls to manage the threat and risks to their businesses.
• ISO 9001 systems force you to look at the way in which you operate by using the process approach, which should be introduced throughout the organization from top management to worker.

What will the costs to me be? Will I get my investment back?

• There will be initial implementation costs, which will depend upon the level of systems you already have in place.
• Certification / registration costs will depend on the size and complexity of the organization.
• If the organization works to the spirit of the standard, then there is a good chance that the return on the investment will be met.

The ISO 9001 standards give organizations an opportunity to increase value to their activities and to improve their performance continually, by focusing on their major processes. The standards place great emphasis on making quality management systems closer to the processes of organizations and on continual improvement. As a result, they direct users to the achievement of business results, including the satisfaction of customers and other interested parties.