The International Standards Organization is responsible for two major sets of requirements that relate to an overall quality management system to be used by businesses. The ISO 9000 family of standards is the primary set of requirements for most businesses.
Quality management by definition address that the organization does certain things to “fulfill the customer’s quality requirements and applicable regulatory requirements while aiming to enhance customer satisfaction, and achieve continual improvement of its performance in pursuit of these objectives”.
ISO 14000 address the environmental management to minimize harmful effects to the environment. Again, it is a quality management system designed to “achieve continual improvement of its environmental performance.
ISO certification 9000 is the most common. So, let’s take a look at what ISO certification entails and what it means. To become certified, a quality management system must be in place that meets the requirements of the ISO standard. This begins with the business recognizes the requirements and developing a quality system to meet their needs at the same time they meet the requirements.
ISO 9000 certification and ISO 9000 registration are two different entities, though they are often used interchangeably. To achieve ISO certification 9001 , an independent registrar is hired to audit the quality system for thoroughness and compliance to all the standards. When this is accomplished, the business is offered a certificate stating that the quality system conforms to standards within the particular standard.
ISO registration means that the certification has been recorded in its client register. Because most companies have been certified and in turn registered, the terms are offed interchanged in general use. While the term “certification” is the most widely used, “registration” used in North America. Both are completely acceptable, because the business has fulfilled the requirements set forth by ISO.
Posted in ISO 9000 Standard by .
Oct 11
29
Risk Management In ISO 9000 Standard
In each human endeavour there is an element of risk; personal, project or financial, or a combination of them all. The job of the responsible individual is to identify the risk and act accordingly. We all do these ‘risky’ things, almost daily, aware that we are taking a risk. Rather than staying away from the risk we become adept at identifying it and having a strategy for dealing with it if the risk materialises. This is what risk management is about, and is an ability that is important in virtually every endeavour.
The popular misconception that risk management is difficult or complicated stems from the bureaucratic methodology of some system-oriented organisations and managers. It is neither complicated or bureaucratic, and need not be. Risk management is basically a simple proposition with a complexity dictated by the nature of the situation to which it applies – usually a project, and the parties involved. In its basic form risk management involves:
1. Identifying risk – Looking for anything that threatens the successful completion of the project against the original requirement. Risks can be environmental, organisational, technical, legal, economic or commercial.
2. Counteracting risk – Taking action to remove or reduce the probability of a risk being realised. The response depends on the nature or seriousness of the risk.
3. Acting when the risk event occurs – Invoking whatever contingency measures were devised for the risk that has materialised.
And for this to happen needs:
4. Monitoring at all stages – This typically means documenting a risk assessment in a profile that identifies the risk, the probability of its occurrence, and the impact if it does materialise. Factors that score paramount are those that require the greatest attention and monitoring. A good risk manager will devise contingency plans that reduce either the probability or the impact of these occurrences, and so remove them from the scene.
Working within a formal structured management system similar to that defined by ISO 9000 requires the application of risk assessment practices to satisfy the requirements of the Standard. Auditors of such systems may not find specific references to risk management in these areas even though the identification of potential failure (8.5.3) is wholly concerned with a topic that is nothing less than risk management.
Well managed risk taking is an essential feature of any forward thinking enterprise, since risk is an element of any progression or advancement. It is the adoption of effective risk management in conjunction with the continuing need to drive forward from a comfortable position that leads to progress and advancement. Doing what we always do purely because the risks appear to be negligible or are well known is to be ‘risk averse’, and for progressive organisations cannot be acceptable. Neither is it acceptable to pursue new ideas without an understanding of their potential benefit, proper planning, a clear idea of the threats to these benefits being achieved , and a strategy for dealing with them should they materialise. We need to manage in a manner that is neither predictable or reckless. Risk assessment is an essential tool to support this strategy.
Posted in ISO 9000 Standard by .
Evolution And Future Challenges Of ISO 14001 Standards
There has been a clear shift in the profile of users of EMS since the 1990s. Typically, the early adopters of the ISO 14001 Standard were in the heavy industry and manufacturing sectors – companies that had large-scale environmental impacts and experience of using ISO 14001 Standards in management.
However, as environmental issues have increased in importance, organizations in the service and support sectors have adopted EMS as well. The spectrum of EMS users has broadened to areas including zoos, farming, schools and universities, military services, media, ships and airlines.
ISO 14001 certification now reaches cruise ship companies, marine transportation services, container carriers and leading ship classification societies.
Almost all airlines and airports can be expected to be certified within the next ten years. Recreation, holidays, browsing in shopping malls. More and more small- and medium-sized enterprises are discovering the benefits of certification. The myth that ISO 14001 is difficult to implement for small business is de-bunked by the fact that more than 200 German chimney sweeps are certified.
The number of EMS users will continue to grow, particularly as ISO 14001 penetrates more effectively into supply chains.
The real challenge in the future, however, will be how well the ISO 14001 participants deal with the most compelling environmental threats – climate change, resource use, biodiversity loss and legal compliance.
For ISO 14001 to maintain its international currency as a force for environmental protection, it will need to demonstrate that it is able to support action on these areas and remain an effective tool for sustainable consumption and production.
Posted in ISO 14001 Standard by .
International standardization began in the electrotechnical field when the International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC) was established in 1906. The International Federation of the National Standardizing Associations (ISA) was then set up in 1926 to create standards in the field of mechanical engineering.
ISO’s evolution continued with another turning point a decade later. In 1993, with the creation of ISO/TC 207 to develop the ISO14000 Environmental Management standards, ISO took its most notable step into the public policy arena, extending its influence beyond industry and their customers, and into issues of general public interest.
Six decades after its creation, ISO has grown into the world’s largest and most widely recognized standards development organization. ISO’s influence is exercised not solely through its size and popularity, but also because of the status of its outputs as the world’s “trade-legal” standards as recognized by the World Trade Organization (WTO). Once nationalized, these international standards can become market requirements (even for companies without foreign operations), for instance, as part of government procurement criteria, as has happened in the case of the ISO 9000 and ISO 14000 series standards.
There is, therefore, little doubt that any new ISO standards in the social or environmental field can and will have a sizable influence on businesses, governments, and civil society around the world.
Currently, a total of 148 countries participate in the ISO confederation, either as a member body (97 countries, with active participation and voting rights), as a correspondent member (36 countries, without voting rights but full information access), or as a subscriber member (15 countries, with reduced membership fee and limited access to the information).
Posted in ISO 9000 Standard by .
Oct 11
29
Review In ISO 9000 Standards
If you have your own business and now you are looking for ISO 9000 certification for quality standards for business to make your business products more reliable to the customers. To be in the market for any business, it needs quality and for quality any business needs to follow quality standards, so ISO 9000 Standards developed many quality standards as per different -different business areas.
ISO 9000 Standards is a generic quality standard and can be applied to any organization but before applying it, a process starts with pre-assessment audits and passes through on-going maintenance. The process of implementing ISO 9001 includes identifying, collecting and organizing the information required for certification.
For implementing ISO 9000 standards, any organization needs to hire a consultant because detailed knowledge of ISO standards is essential before successfully applying it. A consultant will analyze your organization structure, your products and their standards and will make a complete plan as per ISO standards for your organization.To hire a consultant is easiest way because they have complete knowledge of ISO 9000 standards and they perform various activities like provides class room training to your business employee about ISO 9000 standards
An ISO consultant performs the various activities and explains the course objectives :
• understand the purpose of ISO 9000: 2005, ISO 9001: 2008, ISO 9004: 2000, ISO 19011: 2002 etc. standards and their interrelationship
• describe the purpose of Quality Management Systems and 8 Quality Management Principles
• Interpret the ISO 9001: 2008 in the context of audit
•Plan and conduct an audit in accordance with guidelines as per ISO 19011: 2002, gather objective evidence via various methods and determine conformity to the requirements of Quality Management Systems
• Develop understanding of Roles & Responsibilities of Lead Auditors
Hiring a Consultant is a better and easiest way to implement ISO 9000 in your organization.
Posted in ISO 9000 Standard by .
Jul 11
23
FAQs On ISO 9001 Standards
This list of Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) has been prepared by ISO/TC 176/SC 2 to support the publication
of ISO 9001:2008 and the revision of ISO 9004. Input has been obtained from experts and users of the ISO 9000
standards, expressed during seminars and presentations around the world.
The list will be reviewed and updated on a regular basis to maintain its accuracy, and to include new questions where appropriate. It is intended that this list will also provide a good source of information for new users of the standards.
Read more on ISO 9001 Standard at http://www.iso-9001-store.com
Posted in ISO 9000 Standard by .
During World WarII, there were quality problems in many British industries such as munitions, where bombs were exploding in factories during assembly. The adopted solution was to require factories to document their manufacturing procedures and to prove by record-keeping that the procedures were being followed. The name of the standard was BS 5750, and it was known as a management standard because it specified not what to manufacture, but how the manufacturing process was to be managed. According to Seddon, “In 1987, the British Government persuaded the International Organization for Standardization to adopt BS 5750 as an international standard. BS 5750 became ISO 9000.”
ISO 9001: 2008 only introduces clarifications to the existing requirements of ISO 9001: 2000 based on eight years of experience of implementing the standard worldwide with about one million certificates issued in 170 countries to date. It also introduces changes intended to improve consistency with ISO14001: 2004.. In fact, the ISO technical committee (TC176) who develops the ISO 9000 series of standards is deliberately planning the next release as an amendment rather than a formal revision. The difference is that an “amendment” is focused on making changes for clarification purposes only and for better alignment with ISO 14001, the standard for environmental management. With the 2008 release, the committee is purposely intending not to introduce substantive changes that will affect the QMS processes and documentation of currently certified organizations. Thus, the new ISO 9001:2008 standard should have limited impact on companies already certified. Some of the requirements in ISO 9001 (which is one of the standards in the ISO 9000 family) include:-
- a set of procedures that cover all key processes in the business;
- monitoring processes to ensure they are effective;
- keeping adequate records;
- checking output for defects, with appropriate and corrective action where necessary;
- regularly reviewing individual processes and the quality system itself for effectiveness; and
- facilitating continual improvement
ADVANTAGES OF ISO 9000 CERTIFICATION:
It is widely acknowledged that proper quality management improves business, often having a positive effect on investment, market share, sales growth, sales margins, competitive advantage, and avoidance of litigation. The quality principles in ISO 9001: are also sound, according to Wade, and Barnes, who says “ISO 9000 guidelines provide a comprehensive model for quality management systems that can make any company competitive.” Barnes also cites a survey by Lloyd’s Register Quality Assurance which indicated that ISO 9001 increased net profit, and another by Deloitte-Touche which reported that the costs of registration were recovered in as less as three months. According to the Providence Business News, implementing ISO often gives the following advantages:
- Create a more efficient, effective operation
- Increase customer satisfaction and retention
- Reduce audits
- Enhance marketing
- Improve employee motivation, awareness, and morale
- Promote international trade
- Increases profit
- Reduce waste and increases productivity
In today’s service-sector driven economy, more and more companies are using ISO 9000 as a business tool. Through the use of properly stated quality objectives, customer satisfaction surveys and a well-defined continual improvement program companies are using ISO 9000 processes to increase their efficiency and profitability.
Read more on ISO 9000 Standards at http://www.iso-consults.com
Posted in ISO 9000 Standard by .
In today’s hectic business environment, it is vital that we are all on the same page, right? But how do we know if we meet those standards? Business owners and executives can avoid the uncertainty, and that’s where ISO 9001 certification comes in.
Standardizing Quality Systems
The ISO, or International Organization for Standardization, was established in 1947 to develop international standards for
everything from electronics to management systems. Having over 13,000 standards currently in place, ISO has created the auditing and certification process known as ISO 9001. This began the drive toward quality standards.
Improving Customer Satisfaction
Companies choose to implement ISO 9001 and get certified because many customers and industries require it. By keeping customers happy, they can increase sales and profitability for their business. And if an area of the company’s program appears to be too bureaucratic and non-value-adding, then it might also be an area for continuous improvement efforts.
Enhancing Company Performance
Both customers and industries alike use ISO certification as a way to evaluate and audit their suppliers and products. Through an independent verification process, customers can gain assurance of their suppliers’ products. And as a supplier becomes certified, the testing requirement is waved, which saves the company both
time and money.
Developing Best Practices
Employed as a “Best Practices” model, ISO 9001 utilizes the philosophy of the “Plan-Do-Check-Act” continuous improvement cycle to achieve requirements. This process approach centers around eight quality management principles used by management as a guide toward improving performance and identifying the main elements
needed in a good quality system:
1. Customer Focus
2. Leadership
3. Involvement of People
4. Process Approach
5. Systems Approach to Management
6. Continuous improvement
7. Factual Approach to Decision-Making
8. Mutually Beneficial Supplier Relationship
Building Stable Processes
ISO 9001 policies, procedures and forms can provide employers, managers and employees with a systematic and consistent approach to implementing policies, plans, procedures and work routines. Instead of building their own policies and procedures from scratch, some companies prefer to hire professional writers that have already prepared a set of written policies and procedures to help on the way to certification.
Auditing a Company System
In the certification process, an independent registrar will perform an on-site audit of a company’s operations to verify that it complies with the ISO standard. If the business complies, then that company will be registered as ISO 9001 compliant.
Meeting Company and Customer Needs
On the way to certification, a business can meet its ISO needs by:
= Using well-defined processes and procedures to build stable processes
= Training in the audit and certification process
= Continuously improving with ISO 9001 standards
Noticing the Difference
With complete procedures manuals for ISO 9001 Quality Management System, required HR procedures, and an ISO training class, a template like an ISO 9001 Quality Manager Procedures Manual Series can help a business on its way to ISO 9001 certification.
Sometimes the effort can be very great, but companies typically notice a remarkable difference in efficiency and effectiveness after the first year.
Read more at http://www.iso9001store.com
Posted in ISO 9000 Standard by .
Corrective and Preventive actions are used to adjust the manufacturing processes, quality system and product documentation to continuously improve product and service quality. This process never ends. Corrective and preventive actions are usually based on an engineering change request and engineering change order system. In general it is recommended that all feedback from internal and external sources be entered into the engineering change request system. This can include customer survey results, customer complaints, nonconforming material data, field failure data, work-in-process testing results, internal audit results, external audit results and suggestions from personnel. The inputs are then entered into the Engineering Change Request System. This system is used to queue workload for the engineering and quality problem solvers. The engineering manager or quality manager then reviews this bulk of requests for prioritization. The highest priority issues are assigned to personnel who create an engineering change order to correct the problem. Some engineering change requests will be denied and the denial will be justified in the ECR system before the item is closed. Other requests will generate an Engineering Change Order that includes an assignment to a project manager. The engineering change order will include complete details on how to correct the problem and when the change will take effect. This system is a closed loop system that will continuously improve quality. The status of the ECR and ECO systems should be used as input for the management review meetings.
The process of managing this data usually requires a database since priorities change on a daily basis and the amount of input can be very large, even at small companies. A database is also advised since the system can be used to generate automated reports that are used in the management reviews. Without constant supervision, engineering requests and change orders can pile up and start dragging down the company.
Corrective and preventive actions are listed separately in the standard to drive home the point that you can not have successful company that only corrects problems, you must prevent problems.
Corrective and preventive actions also go hand-in-hand with the requirement for continuous improvement. If the company is analyzing their mistakes, anticipating future mistakes and continuously improving, The quality of the product and services at the company will eventually be GREAT. The corrective and preventive actions system is the most critical element for an efficient quality system. Corrective and preventive actions are made using Engineering Change Requests (ECR) andEngineering Change Orders (ECO).
Any quality problem or suggestion should generate an ECR. This is the queue for engineering. If the engineering/quality manager decides that an action is required, then an ECO is created and assigned to someone with the resources to correct and prevent future problems.
ECOs should be generated by negative customer feedback, negative trend in product performance, observed areas for improvement, upgrades to documentation, or any other continuous improvement activities. Engineering change orders are the lifeblood of the organization and they must always be flowing to keep the organization strong and growing.
With this in mind, it is critical that the engineering change order system quick, simple and effective. I highly recommend the use of a database for managing ECRs and ECOs. This will give you a searchable history of changes to your products and is the best tool for continuous improvement.
For more information, kindly visit http://www.iso9001store.com
Posted in ISO 9000 Standard by .
Jun 11
8
About ISO 14001:2004 Standards
The ISO 14001 aims to reduce the environmental carbon footprints that many businesses leave behind today because of not taking the right steps to be environmental sustainable. This standard promotes the decrease in the waste of necessary business resources and also reduces the pollution that can sometimes be a by product of a business.
About ISO 14001
The most updated version of the ISO 14001 was released in the year 2004 by the International Organisation of Standardization (ISO), which was attended by members from all the committees from around the world. In order for a company to be awarded the ISO 14001 standard certificate, an external auditor has to audit the company by an audit body that has been accredited by an accreditation body. The certification auditors are required to be accredited by the International Registrar of Certification Auditor and the certification body has to be accredited by the Registrar Accreditation Board in the USA or by the National Accreditation Board in Ireland.
The structure of ISO 14001 is very much like the ISO 9000, which is management standard, so these two standards can be implemented side by side to achieve the best results. As a part of the ISO 14000family, which deals with different aspects of environmental issues, ISO 14001:2004 and ISO 14002 deal with environmental management system (EMS). ISO 14001 gives the requirements for the
EMS and ISO 14002 gives the basic guidelines for EMS.
Environmental Management System with ISO 14001:2004
The EMS, as per the requirements of the ISO 14001, enables the company, may it be of any size, location and income to:
- It helps the company improve its environmental strategy and this positively affects their environmental performance.
- It helps in identifying and controlling the environmental impact that the activities, services or products of the company might have.
- And it helps in carrying out a systematic approach to set environmental targets and objectives, to achieve these and also to demonstrate that they have been achieved.
How does it work?
ISO 14001 does not specify or chalk out a definite level that each business has to reach. If the performance was determined, then it would have to be done for every specific business. But that is not how it works and has a very different approach, like:
- The ISO has various standards dealing with environmental issues. ISO 14001 deals with a framework provided for a strategic and holistic approach to the businesses environmental policy, actions and plans.
- It gives the general requirements for the EMS.
- This also states the reference to the communication requirements for the communication of the environmental management issues between the company, stakeholders, the public and the regulators.
- As these standards are not company specific, any and every business can undertake them as long as they are dedicated to the continued and improved environmental performance and they have a commitment to comply with the set norms.
Posted in ISO 14001 Standard by .
Free Download Of ISO 9001 Quality Management System Manual