Many business organizations, especially multinational companies, require their vendors, suppliers and contractors to be ISO9001 certified. This has become a mandatory supply chain requirement for doing business with these business organizations. The objective of this demand is to provide confidence to the buyer and consumers that these ISO9001 certified organizations have well defined productions and service processes to deliver products and services to expectations and requirements.
To get certified to this standard your organization will have to establish a documented system with information on how work are done and records on evidence of the quality of the product/services. Your organization will need to demonstrate that it complies with the below ISO9001:2015 clauses:
4.0 Context of the Organization
5.0 Leadership
6.0 Planning
7.0 Support
8.0 Operation
9.0 Performance Evaluation
10.0 Improvement
Clauses 1.0, 2.0 and 3.0 of ISO9001:2015 are not certifiable clauses.
There are two ISO9001 versions in use until 15 September 2018. The ISO9001:2008 (old) and the ISO9001:2015 (new). The last four numbers at the end of the ISO certification number is the year/version of the ISO specification.
Organizations that were certified to ISO9001:2008 have until 15 September 2018 to upgrade their QMS to comply with ISO9001:2015.
Organization that are seeking new certification are advised to go for ISO9001:2015.
The key benefits of having your organization certified are:
- business processes are documented for business continuity and improvement
- business scope, objectives and targets are defined and tracked for improvements
- product quality are tested and recorded for trace back
As an ISO9001 certified organization you gain credibility as an organization that is serious about Quality Assurance and is focused at providing quality products and services to your customers.
We recommend the following 5 steps you could take towards getting your organization ISO9001 certified,
- Do some background reading and research into the benefits of ISO9001 for your type of business.
- Discuss with your management and staff about getting your organization certified and informing them the benefits of ISO9001 certification.
- Decide if you need to engage a consultant or you can do-it-yourself. Speak to a couple of ISO9001 QMS consultants to obtain information on what type of support can they provide to getting your organization certified.
- Contact your local certification bodies to obtain further information on the steps you will required to get your organization prepared and through the initial certification audits and the cost of certification.
- Plan to succeed in getting your organization certified. Appoint a working team and plan milestones to establish the required processes and documentations for the ISO9001 certification.
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