Before you start on the adventure of implementing a quality management system, it is important to understand what quality is about and the subject of ISO 9001.

Why are we certified in quality? What is a quality management system? What are the benefits of having a QMS? What are the most common myths surrounding a QMS? These are the questions that we are going to answer today for quality management.

What is ISO 9001?

Iso is the International Organization for Stardardization. They are responsible for creating international standards for the manufacture of products and services, trade and communication in all business areas.

One of the standards is ISO 9001, which is defined as an international standard for Quality Management Systems. To be an accepted international standard, it previously had to have the approval of a majority of countries, indicating that it is a widely used standard in the countries of the world.

ISO 900 Standard Family

Iso 9001 belongs to the ISO 9000 family of standards. All are focused on quality management, although from different approaches:

  • ISO 9000: Exposes the fundamentals and concepts surrounding a quality management system.
  • ISO 9001: It is the minimum that a company must meet to have a certified quality management system.
  • ISO 9004: Goes one step beyond ISO 9001. It shows the “shoulds”, to achieve sustained success through compliance with a series of recommendations (it is not a certifiable standard).
  • ISO 19011: Explains how to do audits to verify the quality management system.

What is a Quality Management System?

The ISO 9000 standard gives us the answer:

A quality management system is the set of elements of an organization related to quality, interrelated or interacting to establish policies, objectives and processes to achieve these objectives – ISO 9000:2015

In other words, a quality management system is the set of policies, processes, procedures, documents and records that integrated through a series of requirements established in a standard, allow to have a successful quality management system.

Importance of ISO 9001 for the Company

Why is it important to have a quality management system? What are the benefits? There are several points, let’s see:

  • As an international standard, it is increasingly common for an organization to negotiate with another if it has a certified QMS.
  • Inject an extra dose of trust between the company and customers. Customers now know that the organization meets the requirements to have a quality management system.
  • ISO 9001 represents a starting point for other industry-specific standards. For example, the medical device sector with ISO 13485.
  • An effective quality management system allows to obtain greater productivity, increased confidence of the stakeholders of the company, more integrated and harmonious operation of the company’s processes, better customer service in the products and / or services that are delivered and a more optimal approach towards continuous improvement,  which results in important benefits for your organization.

Benefits of ISO 9001: Why Establish, Implement and Maintain a QMS

There are many benefits to having an efficient quality management system certified with ISO 9001. We find direct and indirect benefits, and some lead us to others. These are the main ones:

  • Increases customer satisfaction: The customer focus is one of the principles of a QMS, therefore if or if a solid quality management system should increase customer satisfaction, which leads to having increased profits, greater sales and improvement of the image of the company.
  • Improvement in credibility and image: Yes, we mentioned it before as a result of increased customer satisfaction. But this benefit is also generated because many private and state organizations require, as a requirement for negotiations, to be certified in ISO 9001. This is equivalent to having an advantage in marketing.
  • Continuous improvement: The implementation and maintenance of a QMS works based on the deming cycle. Continuous improvement is therefore a result of an effective quality management system.
  • Staff commitment: Getting employees to commit to quality in their processes is to create belonging to the organization in each one, which results in happy, committed and more productive staff.
  • Integrated processes: Another of the principles of the QMS is process orientation. A process-oriented QMS will control the performance of each process and its impact on quality, resulting in cost reductions and greater efficiency.
  • Evidence-based decisions: This is another principle. What happens when we make subjective decisions, based on the belief, instinct, or humor we had that day? Nothing good for sure. Making decisions based on facts and data (evidence) allows you to increase efficiency and obtain savings in costs and expenses.

Of course, having more or less benefits will depend on how robust your quality management system is.