ISO 9001 for Manufacturing Companies 

Irrespective of the product that you manufacture, two aspects are of paramount importance if you wish to acquire business success. These two aspects include providing high-quality goods and enhancing customer satisfaction.

On their own, manufacturing companies may not be able to deliver these two aspects in every product. However, ISO management systems can help to increase customer confidence in your products.

ISO certification is internationally recognised and demonstrates your strong commitment to complying with regulations and providing high-quality goods, avoiding creation recalls and keeping your customer’s needs at the frontline of your operations. As the management systems are annually checked and confirmed by a third party, maintaining your ISO certification increases the trust of your stakeholders in your ability to deliver high-quality goods.

For the past two decades, our ISO consultants have supported manufacturing businesses in implementing ISO standards cost-effectively. We advise you to select the most appropriate standard that aligns with your organisation’s unique needs, helping you reap maximum benefits from implementing these standards.

Acquiring ISO certification for your manufacturing company could deliver the following benefits:

• Reduced costs.
• Enhanced compliance with legislation and regulations.
• Reduction in production errors, leading to reduced waste and better cost savings.
• Enhanced efficiency in the delivery of your products.
• Increased business, better opportunities and better relationship management with existing clients.
• Enhanced reputation by demonstrating your commitment to meeting international standards of excellence.

There are two methods of acquiring ISO 9001 certification. Either, you can attempt to meet all the qualifications for the certification yourself. However, this may be stressful, as ISO 9001 is filled with technical jargon and requires you to conduct an audit by its recommendations. Moreover, when implementing the standard, you need to take a deep dive into your company’s operations, considering how your company operates, what kind of leadership it has, how you can listen to your customers and serve them better in addition to considering how you can improve the consistency of your operations.

This ensures that you are functioning best, implementing quality control and attempting to bridge the gap between your existing practices and the compliance requirements.

Alternatively, you can purchase a template for a Quality Management System (QMS). Many organisations have developed and published QMS templates.

By utilising one such template, you will have a reference guide to ensure your adherence to ISO 9001. If you stick to the recommendations in these QMS templates, you are most likely to create a QMS that will pass the third-party certification audit.

Another option is that you can engage a consultant to help you in your certification journey. An ISO consultant is a professional experienced in setting up a quality management system. Their expertise can help you not only set up a system that works efficiently but also troubleshoot to ensure you overcome any potential hurdles.

When you hire an ISO consultant, they will engage with people who hold relevant positions in your organisation, such as top management or process owners, to ensure that the necessary controls have been implemented.

The requirements of ISO 9001 have modified QMS processes. The consultant will provide the guidance needed to ensure that the function of the QMS is easily understood across the organisation, helping your team perform tasks more effectively. Moreover, the consultant will also ensure that the requirements of the QMS and your process modifications are written feasibly, so there are no constraints with applicable laws or regulations. Without a consultant, you will be stuck in a loop of unnecessary paperwork.

To help our clients feel supported in every phase of the certification process, we have devised an eight-step method to help any organisation in the certification journey. These eight steps include:

• A gap analysis.
• A consultation workshop.
• Drafting system documents by your organisation’s needs.
• Planning implementation from initial stages to project completion.
• Conducting awareness training for all employees.
• Implementation activities.
• Internal audits to measure readiness within the organisation.
• Third-party certification audits, including stage one and stage two, once you have cleared initial internal audits.

There are several stages in the certification process. During the first stage, a third-party certification body will review all the documented information related to the quality management system to ensure that it is aligned with ISO 9001.

During this stage, the ISO consultant will highlight any flaws or weaknesses in your QMS or documentation, giving you time to fix these issues. There is no actual assessment or implementation of your quality management system at this stage.

During the next phase of the process, stage two, the same certification body will re-evaluate your documentation and QMS to see if you have made the necessary changes. During this stage, the implementation of the QMS is assessed to determine if the organisation is doing what it is saying.

If there are no inconsistencies between your documentation and your actual processes, you will be able to get your certification. However, if inconsistencies exist, you will get more time to make the necessary changes. You will not get your diploma until you have completed all the required improvements or fixes. Once the necessary modifications have been done, you will have to undergo another audit to achieve certification.

Your ISO 9001 certificate is valid for three years. Once your QMS is certified, you must undergo yearly surveillance audits. The purpose of a surveillance audit is to ensure that your QMS is still adhering to ISO 9001.

You will have to undergo two surveillance audits in the two years post your certification, but thankfully, these audits become less intensive than the original certification audit. It would be best if you underwent a complete and comprehensive re-certification audit at the end of the three-year cycle.

It is always beneficial to learn about the requirements of the QMS before implementing ISO 9001 into your organisation. That way, there is a lesser misunderstanding, and you can achieve certification quickly when your organisation is audited. Some of the more essential requirements of the ISO 9001 standard include the following:

• Understanding the organisation’s context: The organisation should comprehend the internal and external issues that could affect its direction and purpose. These issues could either boost or interfere with its ability to deliver the desired outcome. For example, it is beneficial to monitor governmental guidelines for imports or exports that could affect your organisation’s operations.
• Leadership: An organisation’s top management should be fully committed to upholding the values of the QMS. They should be invested in leading the organisation and steering the QMS towards impeccable customer focus. Practically, everyone should understand who holds the leadership roles within the organisation, and leaders should take accountability for the effectiveness of their QMS. Taking responsibility implies that the leaders should ensure that all the procedures are being followed as planned and consistently ensure that the objectives align with the organisation’s strategic direction by taking regular assessments.
•  Planning: Any company planning to implement a QMS should keep in mind the risks and opportunities they may encounter. Therefore, it becomes necessary to establish quality objectives for the QMS and create a monitoring plan to measure if these objectives have been achieved. This monitoring plan allows you to calculate the progress and make changes if the desired outcomes are not fulfilled. This leads to smooth and intelligent operations.

• Support: To appropriately establish, implement, maintain and improve a QMS, an organisation must determine the resources needed to support the process. Organisations should show which people will be responsible for managing the abovementioned functions. Moreover, managers and top leaders should ensure that proper infrastructure and environment are provided for the desired objectives. A great example is when you land a big project, you should stop and assess your infrastructure, equipment, technology, space and manpower to see if you can adequately handle the project while meeting the predetermined quality standards. If not, consider adding new tools, training programmes or personnel to your organisation.
• Operation: To deliver high-quality products and services, an organisation must lay out specific processes to produce the intended deliverables. Additionally, communication should be done in a manner that is beneficial and informative and allows customers to trust your processes. Therefore, a system should be implemented to allow customers to voice their opinions. If a particular product does not meet the quality you have committed to; procedures should be put in place to ensure that it doesn’t reach the customer.
• Performance evaluation: It is essential to monitor and measure the performance of your processes to ensure that it is adequate and effective. Regular reviewing helps to identify strengths, weaknesses and opportunities for growth. For example, companies should contact customers to see if they are happy with the products and services they have received, audit customer complaints, and reflect upon the processes that are not working as intended.
• Improvement: Improvement is one of the core commitments of implementing a QMS. Organisations should take out time to focus and reflect upon complaints or nonconformities, going on to figure out how to address these issues. If this is done consistently, you can make the QMS more sustainable.

At Edara, we do not want you bogged down by the certification process. This is why we offer customised service using our three pillars :

• Pillar one- A personalised service for companies without time or ISO certification expertise.
• Pillar two- An ultra-fast three-week turnaround adds certainty when accepting new contracts.
• Pillar three- A complete hands-off solution with a 100% money-back guarantee for zero risk. just call 61280056444, we are here.