ISO 9001 - 2000 -- Implement Your Quality Management System With Minimum Headaches

If you have been unlucky enough to have been saddled with the onerous task of achieving ISO 9001:2000 compliance for your company, this article may prove to be your big break. At the very least it will put you on a minimum fuss path to ISO 9001 certification. It may very well also rescue your career, because--as you already know--as a great deal is riding on your success.

ISO, of course, stands for the International Organization of Standardization, a worldwide organization responsible for the development of many different kinds of standards. ISO 9001:2000 is the most recent version of their Quality Management System Standard. It consists of a collection of documentation that describes how a company should implement their quality management system.

To achieve certification, a company must produce both a Quality Manual and a Quality Procedures Manual. This is no light undertaking. These manuals must be audited by a registrar for compliancy, and renewed at the end of each 3 year period. The larger and more complex your company, the more difficult the process will be.

So why would a company chose to conform to an ISO 9001 profile? Rarely is it because it seems like a good idea. Many companies are filled with bright people who can develop their own quality management system. The primary motivating force is market pressure. Your quality management system may well be up to scratch, but who is to say?

A potential customer surveying the marketplace, and presented with two or more competing companies he might choose to do business with, needs to feel good about his final choice. If the decision comes down to who has the best quality management system in place, common sense suggests he go with the company that has gone through the ISO 9001 certification process.

In the long run, an organization that implements an ISO 9001 system is likely to discover the company runs better, with improved performance and higher profitability. But for a company just getting started, such considerations are often seen as "ideals" that get short shrift as managers race to make the company profitable in the shortest amount of time. It therefore takes commitment and foresight, as well as an acute understanding of market vision in order to get to the ISO 9001 finish line.

If your company already has a decent quality management system in place, your main task will be to redesign the system so that it addresses all the sticking points of the ISO 9001 documentation. If your company is large, this may prove to be some not insignificant undertaking.

You might be tempted to hire ISO 9001 consultants. This will be expensive, and may not in fact lead to the desired result, which is a streamlined version of the Quality Manual and Quality Procedures Manual that you must submit for certification.

The reason for this is that consultants never fully appreciate the scope and depth of your company, and cannot be expected to share the urgency of your plight to get it right the first time. For this reason, choosing the right in-house person to head the job may be the best option for your company. Perhaps, even, that person is you. If so, you definitely have your work cut out for you, particularly if you work for a company of any real size.

The benefit, and it is a big one, of having been tasked with preparation for ISO 9001 certification is that your personal value to the company is going to be cemented--no, it will be cast in iron--by a successful conclusion to certification.

The trick then, is to find a way to achieve the desired result WITHOUT saddling yourself with all the headaches this job can provide. If you have already peeked at the ISO 9001:2000 documentation you can be forgiven for thinking that you may have bit off more than you can chew. Going from zero to sixty on this task can seem like a formidable proposition.

But it need not. If it seems like you are destined to begin dreaming that you personally will be taking the ISO 9001 certification test, night after restless night, instead of your quality management system, take heart. Because there is a way to get a jump start on the process, and avoid so much of the hassle that you have taken on.

To find out how to leverage the ISO 9001 proficiency of an already successfully certified company, and dramatically cut your expected ISO 9001 development costs by slashing the time it takes to achieve certification, get across to my Squidoo lens on Isom's Quality Handbook For ISO 9001 Certification. This may prove to be the best decision you have made this year!

ISO 9001 Software

Companies that need quality management systems realize that products like ISO 9001 software are important tools to insure their product safety, consistency and profitability. Using ISO 9001 software can help guarantee that any company can monitor productivity, customer satisfaction and product quality with reports that contain solid information. This information is now vital to management in order for maximum efficiency in any industry. This is why ISO 9001 software is vital to any sized company. Continuous improvement means continuous profitability. Here are just a few reasons why:

o Companies increase sales because of better performance, quality, and delivery. This propels you ahead of your competition.

o ISO 9001 software helps retain employees and attract more highly qualified employees because they are assured of a controlled and consistent work environment.

o The experience of a more professional workplace boosts employee morale.

o Reduced operating costs dramatically increase your company's productivity, leading to higher profitability.

o Customer satisfaction and higher profitability expand your market share and demand for your consistently higher product quality.

o When you're compliant or certified to the appropriate standard, the businesses that work with you know that quality objectives, continuous improvement, and customer satisfaction are your goals. Many companies require that their suppliers are ISO 9001 compliant; therefore, once you're certified, your opportunities increase.

ISO 9001 software has be utilized and has developed experience of helping manufacturing, service, and distribution organizations to be more efficient and more profitable through continuous improvement programs. We help you to implement the time-tested methods of continuous improvement to measure performance, analyze data, and apply the appropriate process changes. This includes using ISO 9001 software.

ISO 9001 software also offers a suite of modules to enable you to manage the document management and ISO 9001 Compliance Management process. These modules enable complete transparent system measurement with targeted action items ensuring all persons are notified of tasks and carry them out in a prompt and efficient manner.

ISO 9001 software provides training in there software and also bring extensive experience in implementing the ISO 9001 software in various environments.

Training Options There are also three other ways ISO delivers training to help companies comply with industry standards:

1. Full training program help for administrators of our ISO 9001 software program at your location this training includes full orientation to our document management, corrective action calibration records , training records and numerous other features of our software 2. General users training to assist users in the company in utilizing the ISO 9001 software system in there day to day environment for document management and responding to action items. 3. Upgrade training program help for companies who experience personnel turnover to bring the new person up to speed on the ISO 9001 software system. 4. Overview seminars providing orientation sessions for those new employees or those new to the software

The ISO 9001 software comes from extensive experience introducing effective and affordable quality management systems to a wide variety of industries and service organizations. Numerous companies who have worked with us reap the benefits of increased profitability, enhanced customer relations, elevated employee morale, and increased sales. Clients enjoy our flexibility in organizing the process around their needs and their schedules. We have a proven track record of success and customer satisfaction.

Learn More at: www.interaxgrp.com

Becky King is a well respected software reviewer who lives in California with her family and two dogs.

Is ISO 9001 2000 Right For My Business?

 

Firstly you should decide your own reasoning behind considering ISO 9001 2000 registration for your business.

Is the number of registrations in your market sector increasing?

Are your competitors seeking registration?

Are your customers asking about registration?

Are registrations increasing in your industry?

Are your customers asking you to become registered?

Have your group HQ asked you to gain registration?

Do you want to reap the financial benefits of registration?

Have the number of customer or consumer complaints increased?

Preventable errors reoccur again and again?

It is not possible to state exactly what benefits your organization will gain by having a formal quality system, primarily because each organisation is different. However, I think it is fair to say that most organisations will benefit from having a formalised Quality Management system where:

Work proceeds in an orderly and predictable way.

The same old preventable errors stop occurring.

Customer and consumer complaints fall dramatically.

Your Management System improves.

Internal communication within your organisation improves.

Returned product from customers reduces week on week.

The quality of your product and or service improves.

The level of customer and employee satisfaction improves.

Your organisation produces quality data to improve your business.

By now you should have a reasonable idea of whether or not ISO 9001 2000 registration is right for your organisation and whether or not you will gain financially from adopting the ISO 9001 2000 standard as a method of running your business effectively and efficiently.

If you are now seriously considering seeking registration to the ISO 9001 2000 standard you must begin to understand what the standard requires of an organization. There are many books and resources available which discuss implementing the ISO 9001 2000 Quality Management Standard into an organisation including the articles on this web site.

You may like to begin your ISO 9001 2000 education by reading the various articles on this web site. You will find they cover a broad spectrum of businesses, There is also an excellent Q&A sectionthat will answer the majority of commonly asked questions about ISO 9001 2000 registration and related topics.

Alternatively you could take an ISO 9001 2000 Quality Management training course, there are many available and they cater for beginners right through to ISO 9001 2000 experts.

To determine the amount of input required by your organisation to comply with the requirements of the ISO 9001 2000 standard will require that you assess your existing management system. You could to fetch in a consultant at this stage, a consultant will be able to identify exactly what your organisation needs to do in order to achieve the requirements of the ISO 9001 2000 Quality Management Standard.

Many organisations opt to carry out a gap analysis audit using a member of staff. However, the initial gap analysis audit is arguably the most important stage in the ISO 9001 2000 registration process. If the initial gap analysis is incorrect then both financial and human resources will be wasted. For this reason alone it is well worth seeking professional help from a consultant to carry out the gap analysis for you.

Many organisations who opt to jump straight into the Gap Analysis process themselves can often waste time, money and resources by not fully understanding the intent of the ISO 9001 2000 standard. Whereas seeking professional advice from a consultant will set your organisation on the right path with clear instructions on who, what, where, why, when and how things should be done.

If on the other hand your organization already has a very good understanding of the ISO 9001 2000 Quality Management Standard and has:

A documented Quality policy.

Been setting and using documented Quality objectives.

Customer and consumer complaints fall dramatically.

Documented Top management reviews of your Quality Management System.

A documented top level Quality Management System Manual.

Documented effective and efficient process procedures and or work instructions.

Documented employee skills and training records which are regularly reviewed.

Documented and compliant Quality Management System Audits.

Formal Customer complaint process with effective corrective and preventive action methods.

If you are doing all the above then you may be well on your way toward gaining ISO 9001 2000 registration. However, if your Quality Management System is incomplete or immature it will require much more effort to become compliant. You can continue to adjust your system, audit for compliance, train employees etc. until you reach a position where you feel you have done as much as you are able to do yourself.

If however, you have reached this stage and are concerned if you have missed something important you can hire a consultant to carry out a [Pre-Assessment]. A pre-assessment is a gap-analysis survey carried out by a professional who compares what processes your organisation has in place compared to those required by the ISO 9001 2000 Quality Management Standard.

The consultant will report any deficiencies in your organisations processes, it is then up to you to decide if you want to tackle these deficiencies by yourself or to engage the professional services of the consultant.

Driso provide ISO 9001 2000 consultancy, auditing, software, and training Services. They also supply Easy ISO 9001 2000® software for initially setting up an ISO 9001 2000 compliant Quality Management System or improving upon an existing one.

To contact Driso Consultancy Services visit the web site below and see what they can do for you and your business. Contact: http://www.driso.co.uk for more details.