Quality management systems

What is Quality Management System?

The Quality Management System (QMS) is the way in which your organization directs and controls related activities in order to achieve the intended results. In general, it covers your organization's structure, planning, processes, resources, and documented information that you use to meet your quality goals (such as meeting customer and relevant stakeholders' requirements to improve your quality management or to improve your products and services).

The requirements of ISO 9001 are general and are intended to be applicable to any organization, regardless of its type or size, or the products and services it provides.

Quality management system standard should not be confused with product and service standards. While such standards provide explicit requirements that specific products and services must meet, standards for a quality management system (and in particular ISO 9001) specify requirements for good management practices in order to achieve quality, but without mentions a specific type of product or service.

To ensure that you use all means to improve your customer satisfaction and the competitiveness of your organization (which are not mutually exclusive), you can implement product and service quality standards, management system standards, and quality improvement approaches.

Quality management systems should not lead to excessive bureaucracy, excessive documentation or lack of flexibility. Nor should your quality management system be a financial burden.

Costs associated with implementing and maintaining a quality management system should be considered as an investment that will deliver returns in the form of benefits and improvements. Each organization will already have a governance structure and this should be the basis on which its quality management system is built. You may find that your organization already fulfills many of the requirements included in ISO 9001, but has simply not yet organized its activities in a formal, documented quality management system.

What is ISO 9001 Quality Management System?

An ISO 9001 quality management system is one that is created, implemented, maintained and continuously improved, including the necessary processes and their interactions, in accordance with the provisions of the standard.

The international standard ISO 9001: 2015 incorporates the basic concepts and principles of quality management, as well as the conditions and definitions of quality management systems. ISO 9000 provides the basis for the proper understanding and application of ISO 9001 and therefore its use is essential for the implementation of an effective quality management system.

The purpose of ISO 9001 is not to impose something completely new on your organization. If you are just now implementing ISO 9001, your system may be quite efficient, but informal and probably not well documented.

 

Why is it necessary for me?

Adoption and implementation of QMS is a strategic decision that helps the organization improve its overall performance and provide a sound basis for its sustainable development initiatives.

Many organizations implement a formal quality management system after finding that their customers (both in the private and public sectors) want to ensure that the products and services they seek or receive will meet their quality requirements . These clients seek the trust that can be provided by an organization offering products and services manufactured with an effective quality management system, such as the one complying with ISO 9001. Often, when participating in public procurement, applicants are required to have and certified QMS.

A quality management system alone will not necessarily lead to an improvement in workflows or an improvement in your products and services. This will not solve all your problems. This is a mean for you to take a more systematic approach to meeting the goals of your organization, which in turn should achieve such improvements.

ISO 9001 contains requirements for improvement. You can use this approach to ensure that useful and cost-effective improvements are achieved.

Where to start?

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