Your Quality Management System (QMS) is your organisations’ set of rules defined by processes and procedures to ensure you deliver customer satisfaction with your products and services. Using ISO 9001:2015 as your Quality Management System will provide a common-sense approach to the implementation and management of these organisational rules and requirements.
ISO 9001:2015 sets the current standard for how to manage your Quality Management System. It is the globally recognised standard that has been implemented by over one million organisations worldwide.
“Quality is not an act. It is a habit.” – Aristotle
What about ISO standards in your daily life? We are spending so much of our time and energy ensuring that the quality of the products we deliver meets the expectations of our clients for our company to grow – why not apply the same principles to the habits of our personal lives?
Yes, we can look at the standards that the items we use every day need to conform to (for example a light bulb or the alarm clock that wakes us up) but we can also dig deeper than that.
Streamlining your processes
When you really look at your daily activities, it is not hard to find the processes and systems you live by. It is also not difficult to find areas that, by working on them, could be improved to assist you better. ISO 9001:2015 guides you in the study of the processes that result in your deliverables and challenges for you to streamline your task list. What actions are being performed repeatedly that may be unnecessary? How can you minimise your effort while maximising the outcome?
Take a step back from your daily routine and define the actions that carry you through, dialling it back to the basic tasks necessary to help you succeed each day. In getting down to the bare necessities, you will likely find areas of effort that are not adding value. These can be reduced to enable you to move forward with purpose.
When change might happen in your own life
Like customer demands in any business, life is constantly changing. In the same way, we evaluate our daily processes and the possible risks we face and where we can further apply ISO 9001:2015 practices.
A new job, marriage, children, or ageing – life will always be full of change. With those changes come shifts to our processes and procedures. ISO 9001:2015 encourages you to first examine your desired outcome, and then create a plan to achieve your goals. Enter the PDCA cycle. The Plan-Do-Check-Act (PDCA) cycle is one of the main operating principles of ISO 9001:2015. It is applied to all processes within the organisation and the Quality Management System for continuous improvement. It is structured as follows:
- Plan – Understand the external context of the organisation and the needs of interested parties. Identify the risks and opportunities. Establish objectives and resources required.
- Do – Implement what has been planned. From a new Quality Management System down to all small process changes.
- Check – Monitor and measure the effectiveness of the Quality Management System. Test all Quality plans and monitor and review the outcomes.
- Act – Act where necessary based on monitoring, measuring, and other facets for action.
When you are aware of a prospective change, take the time to plan for the outcome that you hope to achieve. After putting a plan into place, step back from time to time to ensure you are still working towards your goal. Should you move off course, adjust your processes to get back on track.
The Quality Management standard is about the improvement and management of systems within your organisation to ensure constant quality. As an organisation considers ISO certification and works toward conformance, you will see how your organisation will benefit from the enhanced workflows, reduction of waste, monitoring of risk, and application of root cause analysis to reduce nonconformances.
Organisations of any size can achieve ISO 9001:2015 certification for their Quality Management System. As a result, some organisations might choose to use outside consultants to help implement these standards. Other organisations may choose to use an in-house team to implement. Both choices offer advantages and disadvantages in terms of timing and cost. WWISE can assist with both. We can assist with every step of the implementation process. We also sell an Implementation toolkit with generic templates that can be customised with your corporate identity.
Conforming to the ISO 9001:2015 Standard is important because it provides a framework for delivering a safe and effective product or service to customers continually. ISO certification is validation for potential consumers that your organisation has dedicated time, effort, as well as resources to a process of quality to ensure your service or product is reliable and can be depended on repeatedly.
To get a more in-depth understanding of ISO 9001:2015 and its application contact WWISE on 0861 099 473 or (021) 525 9159, or email us at admin@wwise.co.za, to assist you and your organisation with implementing an ISO 9001:2015 Quality Management System training.