Benefits of ISO 9000 Certification
Posted: Tuesday, March 02, 2010
by Marc Anderes
Maloya Inc.
ISO is the International Organization for Standards and produces international standards. A network of standards institutes forms the ISO, of which there currently are 163 countries represented by these institutes. Since the ISO is the world's largest developer of standards, it would be beneficial to follow these standards.
What is ISO 9000? ISO 9000 is a group of standards from ISO for quality management systems (QMS). This standard began as a standard specifically for manufacturing but has been used in other businesses. If a business wants to sell a product or do business internationally, being ISO 9000 certified will mean that it adheres to a high level of quality standards that are understood the world over and will attract more clients.
ISO 9000 Principles ISO 9000 is based on eight fundamental principles. The first is based on customer satisfaction. Being able to better utilize the resources available at a company improves efficiency and therefore customer satisfaction. Leadership importance makes up the second principle. Leadership is important because it brings together people and processes to streamline the whole production cycle. The third principle involves people in the organization. Everyone in the organization needs to feel they own their position and are able to freely talk about any issues they may be having. Communicating with those performing the work can lead to process improvements.
The fourth principle is process approach. The cycles of manufacturing a product have to be made into a consistent process. Better process efficiency leads to increased speed and more cost effectiveness. The fifth principle builds upon the fourth, taking the processes and building them into one large system. All processes that have a common goal should act as one. This will build consistency and better efficiency in production. Principle six is improvement continuation. Improvements will take time. Goals should be set in order to achieve Continual Process Improvement. The seventh principle is to focus on facts when making decisions. Information needs to be analyzed and decisions made from what is found. The final principle is to have a mutually advantageous relationship with suppliers. This aids in ordering speed and cost containment. Taking these principles step by step will help an organization streamline its processes.
Benefits of ISO 9000 ISO 9000 adherence will guide a company to improve their quality management systems. Adhering to the standard will help gain business for the company using it since it is so well-known for quality. Customers will know that they are the focus of a business if it is ISO 9000 certified. Some clients may not even do business with a company that is not ISO 9000 certified. An increase in sales can oftentimes be attributed to being ISO 9000 compliant. Having better access to markets on an international level is another attraction of the standard's adoption. Processes are all documented, which lends to improved efficiency. {From increased improvements comes buy-in from employees, who become more involved in the processes and overall quality of the systems and improved communication occurs|Employees begin to take ownership of their roles in the company due to the improvements from ISO 9000 adoption, thus becoming more involved in the processes and communications .
Bio:
Marc Anderes is the Vice President of Operations of Maloya Laser which specializes in Metal Manufacturing and Laser Cutting with advanced laser technologies, servicing aerospace, scientific,transportation, medicaland machinery needs.
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