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OnSafeLines Free Advice on ISO 9001:2008 to Help You Manage Quality Management System Responsibilities
Within the intent of ISO 9001:2008 are eight key principle concepts which require to be imbedded into an organisation seeking to meet and exceed it's customers expectations;
- Customer focus. Organisations depend on their customers and therefore should understand current needs, meet customer requirements and strive to exceed customer expectations.
- Leadership. Leaders establish unity of direction and purpose of the organisation, They should create and maintain an internal environment in which people can become fully involved in achieving the organisation's objectives.
- Involvement of people. People at all levels are the essence of an organisation and their full involvement enables their abilities to be used for the organisation's benefit.
- Process approach. A desired result is achieved more efficiently when activities and related resources are managed as a process.
- System approach to management. Identifying, understanding and managing interrelated processes as a system contributes to the organisation's effectiveness and efficiency in achieving its objectives.
- Factual approach to decision-making. Effective decisions are based on the analysis of data and information.
- Continual improvement: Continual improvement of the organisation's overall performance should be a permanent objective of the organisation.
- Mutually beneficial supplier relationships. An organisation an its suppliers are interdependent and a mutually beneficed relationship enhances the ability of both to create value.
Successfully implementing ISO 9001:2008 to its truest intent often gives the following advantages:
- A more efficient, effective operation and use of resources
- Enhanced customer satisfaction and especially important customer retention and loyalty
- Mutually beneficial supplier relationships
- Enhance marketing
- Improve employee motivation, awareness, and morale
- Promote international trade
- Increases profit
- Reduce waste and increases productivity
- Better internal and external communications
A more simplistic view of a quality management system could be explained as;
- Quality System = Vehicle
- Quality Management = Driver
- Quality Policy = Road Map
It should be remembered that a QMS based solely on ISO 9001 should be viewed as the minimal requirement. The development of procedures, instructions and process maps etc will in the main part have a beneficial effect on the organization performance. ISO 9001 perhaps suffers from being excellent at telling you where you have performed poorly, but less able to in-force strong leadership and commitment to improvement at all levels, not just with the traditional and in some organizations token quality manager.