Tuesday, February 1, 2011

ISO 9000 Standards Certification and Registration

The International Standards Organization is responsible for two major sets of requirements that relate to an overall quality management system to be used by businesses. The ISO 9000 family of standards is the primary set of requirements for most businesses.

Quality management by definition address that the organization does certain things to “fulfill the customer’s quality requirements and applicable regulatory requirements while aiming to enhance customer satisfaction, and achieve continual improvement of its performance in pursuit of these objectives”.
ISO 14000 address the environmental management to minimize harmful effects to the environment. Again, it is a quality management system designed to “achieve continual improvement of its environmental performance.

ISO certification 9000 is the most common. So, let’s take a look at what ISO certification entails and what it means. To become certified, a quality management system must be in place that meets the requirements of the ISO standard. This begins with the business recognizes the requirements and developing a quality system to meet their needs at the same time they meet the requirements.

ISO 9000 certification and ISO 9000 registration are two different entities, though they are often used interchangeably. To achieve ISO certification 9001 , an independent registrar is hired to audit the quality system for thoroughness and compliance to all the standards. When this is accomplished, the business is offered a certificate stating that the quality system conforms to standards within the particular standard.

ISO registration means that the certification has been recorded in its client register. Because most companies have been certified and in turn registered, the terms are offed interchanged in general use. While the term “certification” is the most widely used, “registration” used in North America. Both are completely acceptable, because the business has fulfilled the requirements set forth by ISO.

ISO 9000 Document Management Software System

Today’s manufacturing companies that seek ISO 9001 compliance-(regardless of their motivation to do so) probably don’t find it that difficult to create intelligent documentation. After all, a few days with a good consultant or a quality manager can take care of document creation. The problem lies in the gap between what employees are doing and what employees are supposed to be doing (in terms of adhering to documentation) and the gap between the manner in which processes are being implemented and the manner in which they should be implemented ( in accordance with documentation). In other words, the problem lies in the way processes are strategized and applied and in the way employees commit to standards when compared against existing documentation. How can a company overcome these issues? The answers may be simpler than you think.

Automation is the Answer for ISO Control
If your underlying processes are poorly strategized then an automated document management software system won’t be of much use. However, once the processes have been effectively planned (and applied) a document management software system can speed process-to-process management by leaps and bounds. Companies that automate not only to comply with ISO standards but to generate more revenue by performing less administrative labor save weeks and even years worth of time just by automating their processes and documentation control with a document management software system.

Making Amends
The right document management software system and ISO document control would also allow companies to find deviations and nonconformance events faster and move those events to resolution phases in a small fraction of the time they were originally routed—if they were routed at all. Some ISO 9000 document management software systems may even be combined with a CAPA QMS solution. This is especially valuable when determining the root cause of major to minor deviations.

A Document Management Software System and Employee Training
ISO standards do not require any type of automation but ISO standards lend themselves to automation in a way that’s quite remarkable. Take for instance the following document management requirements from the official ISO 9001 International Standard.

ISO 9001 Section 4.2.3
ISO standards make it clear that ISO 9001 “approved” companies must define (i.e., document) how they will approve documentation, how they will identify documentation changes, how they will update/reapprove revised documentation, how external documentation will be managed and how assurance will be provided that documentation will be available when it is required. 1 And that’s only a shadow of things to come! A document management software system designed for strict compliance can automate the approval of documentation, the identification of document changes, updates and reapproval notifications, external documentation management and high-level document security. Some solutions also integrate training and online exams as well.

How Much Could You Save?
Chances are high that automation will save you thousands, tens of thousands or even hundreds of thousands of dollars annually depending on the size of your company. Just foregoing a typical document routing process (a manual process) can save many employees fruitless trips back and forth from one office to another. Who wouldn’t want to avoid those time consuming searches through 3-ring binders and lost documentation due to employee absence or neglect?

Conclusion
Regulation and control are the future for manufacturing. Gone are the days of free experimentation and a blind eye toward material waste. Today is the day of premeditated design, quality assurance and web-based automation. If your company plans to be, or already is, compliant with ISO 9001 standards why not consider automating those ISO 9001 controls with a document management software system.

Why Is ISO 9001 Standards Important?

Industrialization has completely gone under a drastic change with the growling levels of development. With the advancement in technology, there is huge competition between major players. Thus, to stand up with such high competition and developments, all sectors must produce apt services and products according to the needs of the consumers.

This could be just that the quality management system intends continual development in the company beginning from the purchasing department, design, marketing, production, and various other departments in order to provide the best of services and products, which is harmless to both the consumers as well as the environment.

To maintain the quality standards, one needs to get International Organization for Standards (ISO) that symbolizes the quality management standard at international standards. For every company, which deals in facilitating any type of services and goods, it is very important to get certified from ISO 9001:2008.

ISO 9000 is a group of standards for the quality management system and is managed or administered by the certification and accreditation bodies. Few of the requirements in the ISO 9001, one of the standards from the group or family of ISO 9000 include:

A set of methods, which covers all the main and essential processes in the industry
Monitoring each and every process to make sure that it is effective
Maintaining adequate records
Checking all outputs for any kind of defects with corrective and appropriate action where required
Regularly reviewing individual procedures and quality system as well for its effectiveness
Last but not the least, facilitating continual improvement

An organization or company, which has been autonomously certified and audited to be in conformity with the ISO 9001:2008, might publicly state that it is certified with International Organization for Standards 9001:2008 or ISO 9001:2008 registered. Nevertheless, certification with ISO 9001:2008 standards does not ensure conformity and thus the quality of end services and products, to a certain extent certifies that reliable and dependable business procedures are being applied.

Besides, to get the ISO 9001:2008 certifications, one is required to accomplish various obligations of quality control. Few of the vital clauses that must be put up to avail the ISO 9001:2008 include knowledge, range, expressions, identifications, resource management, conscientiousness, analysis, product recognition and measurement. To avail the international standards for organization 9001 certificates, one can easily get them from several certificate providers.

The providers provide the certificate once they have carefully analyzed the production and various other production departments that include quality control standards. In addition, ISO 9001:2008 is offered only when the parent company is pleased and convinced with the output. Hence, for those individuals or businesses that are looking forward to seek ISO 9001:2008 certificates, they must make sure that they fulfill all the required industrial norms.

The practice of ISO 9001:2008 for successful operation and improved customer contentment shows the way to retention of the services and goods for a longer period. With the application of ISO 9001:2008, one can also experience decreased audits and improved marketing. ISO 9001:2008 assists in endorsing international deals, revenue that directs to worker enthusiasm and self-esteem inoculation of types.

For more information on ISO 9001 Standards, kindly visit http://www.iso9001store.com

Quality Product By ISO 9001 Certification

The International Organization for Standardization (abbreviated to ISO) conducts standards for institutes which are organized in more than 159 countries across the globe. The ISO has its head office in Geneva, Switzerland. In simple terms ISO certification is given to an organization in order to indicate that the organization has good standards and it is working well with its employees and its customers. The International Organization for Standardization is not a Government organization. It acts as a bridge in between the private and the public sector and brings out good standards for many organizations across a variety of industries.

There are many standards that are released by the ISO. One of the standards is the ISO 9001 certification. The reason why an organization may require the ISO 9001 certification is to ensure that the company has a very good quality management system in place and can then confirm this to their customers. Also, if an organization has ISO 9001 certification it can ensure to its suppliers that it is following a good standard regarding it’s quality management system. The main two reasons for going for the ISO 9001 certification are to show how effective a company’s production is as well as helping to give good recognition for other new markets concerning their company standards.

The main aspects of ISO 9001 certification are maintaining good quality of products and also to maintain low cost and high efficiency for the production process. The primary thing that is checked with ISO 9001 certification is to confirm that the quality goals that are set out in the company’s quality management system are met. It is also important that once a company gets its ISO 9001 certification they should be seeking to improve all the time. There should be an increase in productivity as well. The goals of ISO 9001 certification are to increase the efficiency, increase the revenue, establish proper decision making, achieve good supplier relationships and prepare documentation work about the company plans, a regular improvement process should be in place and on the whole a complete customer satisfaction system should be implemented.

The ISO 9001:2008 certifications have a few revised benefits and let us see a few of them in detail. The goals of the ISO 9001 are the same for all year where as a few enhancements will be added for every year. Likewise the ISO 9001:2008 certification’s benefits include cost reduction in the production of goods, greater customer satisfaction, improved product efficiency and improved productivity, reduction in the scrap and waste products. The aim is to prepare a quality product which passes the goals of the quality management system. The ISO 9001 certification itself should result in the reduction of customer claims, a proper delivery to the customer on time, providing great reliability, safety and quality to the products. So on the whole the ISO 9001 certification has many good policies for the organization and they are also ensuring that the quality of the product should be good, efficient and cost effective, with an increase in the productivity.

Kindly visit http://www.iso9001store.com for more information.