What does it mean to be ISO 9001 certified?

ISO 9001 is a Quality Management System (QMS) published by the International Organization for Standardization (ISO).

The certification shows that certain processes are present in a company, which ensures that certified companies consistently provide high-quality products and services.

ISO 9001 involves the whole business, meaning that there are requirements for consistency and high quality in everything from the establishment, implementation, maintenance, and continuous improvements of the company’s quality management system. Therefore, the certificate shows that a company has a solid foundation for strict quality assessment and continuous improvements internally in the organization.

At the time of writing, more than one million companies in over 170 countries are ISO 9001 certified.

Ten sections

The ISO 9001 certification itself is divided into ten sections. In the following, we will briefly explain every section.

Sections 1, 2, and 3: Introduction, references, and definitions

The first three sections are primarily introductory to the requirements. These sections introduce the certification and explain the definitions used in the rest of the document.

Section 4: Context of the organization

This section explains the organization in its current context. This is an explanation of internal and external issues that the organization is facing and other issues that can impact strategic direction.

The section also includes a list of interested parties and stakeholders of the company.

Section 5: Leadership

The fifth section defines and explains the roles of the decision-makers in designing and implementing the quality management system. It includes a list of relevant persons within the company and describes their roles and responsibilities when implementing the quality management system.

Section 6: Planning

Then, the sixth section outlines the risks and opportunities for implementing the quality management system. It also presents improvement objectives and how they will be achieved with the quality management system.

Section 7: Support

This section essentially explains how management will allocate the required resources to design and implement the new quality management system. It includes everything from human resources, buildings, infrastructure, work environments, monitoring, and tracking resources.

Section 8: Operation

In the eighth section, there will be information about how everything related to the deployment of products and services within your organization will be outlined. This section includes requirements for planning, product design, review, and any additional service-related operations.

Section 9: Performance evaluation

In this section, everything necessary for analyzing the performance of the quality management system will be explained. Here, process parameters, customer satisfaction quantification and assessment, internal performance audits, and ongoing quality management system reviews are defined.

Section 10: Improvement

Lastly, the final section details how the quality management system will improve continually. This includes assessing processes and acting, whenever necessary, to constantly improve the organization’s internal processes and the quality management system itself.

The focus on consistently delivering high-quality products and services while continually improving fits well with our goal of being a visionary and value-adder to our partners. If you want to read more about how we operate here at PSC, you can click here. We have also written about our process and production capabilities, which are, of course, ISO 9001 certified.

There are many advantages to ISO 9001 certification.

First of all, the certificate is known worldwide, meaning that it speaks to a common vocabulary amongst your existing and potential customers. Having an ISO 9001 certification indicates to everyone that your company consistently delivers high-quality products and services while continually improving your processes.

Second, the fact that it also serves as a process optimization tool can lead to increased effectiveness and productivity in your organization. Depending on your industry, the ISO 9001 certification can, therefore, also mean improvements in aspects of your organization other than competitiveness.

To get ISO 9001 certified, your organization must implement a quality management system according to the most recent ISO 9001 standard and then have it audited by an accredited auditor. These auditors come from independent bodies authorized to audit for ISO 9001 certifications. The International Organization for Standardization is solely responsible for developing and publishing the ISO standards.

An ISO 9001 auditor is an individual who has the authority to accept ISO 9001 applications after checking whether the organization in question has successfully implemented the quality management system according to the ISO 9001 standard.

Once the application has been accepted, the ISO 9001 certification lasts for three years. It will then have to be accepted by an auditor once again if the organization wishes to keep its certificate.

We hope this article has shown you that an ISO 9001 certificate benefits your organization both internally and externally.

Not only does an ISO 9001 certificate indicate consistent and high-quality products and services for your customers, but the quality management system also ensures increased productivity.