ISO 9001 is the international standard that specifies the requirements for Quality Management Systems (QMS) and is published by ISO (the International Organization for Standardization). The current revision of the standard was updated in 2015 and is commonly referred to as ISO 9001:2015.
ISO 9001:2015 is an internationally recognized standard for creating, implementing and maintaining a Quality Management System which can be adopted by any kind of organization, regardless of size or industry.
ISO 9001:2015 is the most implemented management system standard in the world with over 915 000 certifications on over 1.2 million sites worldwide. And it is still growing! (official data from ISO survey 2020).
In a nutshell, ISO 9001:2015 follows the PDCA cycle to ensure consistency and quality of products and services:
Plan: Establish the policies, objectives, requirements, procedures and processes necessary to achieve the strategic directives you desire for your business or organization.
Do: Realize your plan. Implement the policies, processes and procedures you developed in support of your strategic directives.
Check: Monitor and measure the processes, products and services according to the plan, policies, objectives and requirements.
Act: Use the results from monitoring and measuring to identify failures, gaps or opportunities for improvement to enhance business performance.
There are several advantages by implementing a certified ISO 9001 system. These include:
International recognition and comparability:
Being the most implemented management system in the world makes ISO 9001:2015 extremely recognizable on a global scale, and makes any ISO 9001 certified business comparable with other certified businesses anywhere in the world.
Achieving ISO 9001:2015 certification is easier than you think.
By using a professional consultant, any time and effort lost and unnecessary costs incurred by implementing the system yourself can be minimized as expert guidance based on knowledge and experience ensures you do it right the first time.