What does it mean for a company/organisation to have an ISO 9001 certification?

ISO 9001 defines international standards for the quality management system. The standard defines quality management principles focusing on continuous improvements, customer-first approach, leadership optimisation, and fine-tuning internal processes.

Components of ISO 9001 certification

ISO: (International Standardisation Organisation) an international standards body Based in Geneva, Switzerland. It is a buildup of different representations of proprieties, industrial and commercial standards. In short, ISO is responsible for defining and implementing standards. It doesn’t certify but oversees the third-parties responsible for certifications.

9001: It identifies the standard, and it’s one of the common ISO standards defining quality management system criteria. ISO 9001 belongs to the broader family of ISO 9000 that refers to quality management. In other words, these standards are designed to help organisations run more efficiently and to be successful in meeting their customer’s needs. More than a million companies and organisations in more than 170 countries in the world have become ISO 9001 certified. 

Certification: ISO 9001 standard is the only one among the 9000 family of standards that requires certification.

Here is what ISO 9001 standards entail:

  • ISO 9001 standard is an intentional standard governing quality management systems.
  • ISO 9001 is a part of the ISO 9000 family, and there can be 9001 certifications and no ISO 9000 certification.
  • No individual can get ISO 9001 certification, and it is only for companies and organisations.
  • However, an individual can become ISO 9001 certified lead-auditor to audit other companies.
  • It doesn’t matter the size of the organisation seeking to be ISO 9001 certified. Whether one person or 100,000 people, it will get certified when all quality management systems are met.
  • ISO 9001 applies to any industry, and it is a general management quality standard.
  • ISO 9001 focuses on processes in contrast with product-based. It does not define product quality; instead, it focuses on processes, although the two intertwine if the process is fair, the product should be right.

Being ISO 9001 certified implies an organisation has successfully implemented a quality management system and follows requirements stipulated in ISO 9001 standard. Part of this certification ensures that areas that need improvement are pointed out and acted upon. Any ISO 9001 certified company or organisation provides services and goods that strictly meet the quality management standards.

Quality management system

It is a set of principles and guidelines that govern standard operating procedures organisations and companies use to measure quality from various perspectives. You can think of QMS as a collection of policies and defined procedures that guide customers in delivering products and services. It is similar to business process management, only that it focuses on quality control. ISO 9000 family standards can be tailored-made to meet the company’s goals and needs; thereby, it generally defines guidelines for a company to design and implement QMS successfully.

You can break down QMS into stages or core elements: Plan, Do, Check and Act.

Why is ISO 9001 crucial to have? A company benefits from a wide range of aspects if it is ISO 9001 certified. The following are the significant benefits a company or organisation gets.

  • Increased profits and market share
  • Efficient resource management
  • Recurring anomalies and problems are eliminated once and for good.
  • Improved brand image and credibility
  • Reduction of manual work with integration and automation
  • Efficiency and effectiveness due to data-backed and evidence-based decision-making processes

Get your world leading ISO 9001 certification from Atlas Certification.