ISO Certification
The advantages, disadvantages and requirements of the ISO 9000 series of International Standards are much talked about in business circles though they are not yet well understood, even after being around since 1987.
In the global market place organizations are now willing and able to buy and sell locally, nationally and internationally but how do they know, what assurance do they have, that when they deal with a company which claim that 'can do what the management say they can do'. Of course there is no substitute for direct experience with the company, yet this is not available to customers until after the contract has been signed and the first consignment delivered? It may be too late for them by then, so what options are left for the customer? The customer may ask others about the company’s performance, background and get a jaundiced view, may come out and inspect the facility which is very expensive or the customers may seek independent confirmation that the company has a system in place which should enable it to perform as it says it can perform. This is the basis of 'Certification' to an ISO9000 International Standard.
Many customers, internationally and nationally, are now requesting and indeed requiring that suppliers achieve 'Certification', the term used for organisations meeting an ISO 9000 standard, to demonstrate that they 'can do what they say they can do'. Certification is achieved through an independent auditing process to assess the compliance of the organisations systems which is called the Quality Management System, to the international standard most suitable to for the companies or organisations, ISO 9001, ISO 9002 or ISO 9003 by an independent accredited International Certification Body such as QMS Certification Services.
The Certification Body issues following successful audit a ‘Certificate of Approval’; this is the proof of 'Certification' to an ISO 9000 standard and is taken to provide a measure of assurance of their capabilities to meet the contractual requirements. By then, they are placed on a register of certified organisations available to customers throughout the world.
Following the certification which the company has proved to its customers, employees and competitors alike that it claims to be a company or organisation committed to quality in its operations are justified and that it has a system in place which has the capability to perform as expected.
The advantages are not only external, internally the process of implementation and on-going maintenance of a Quality Management System often bring about improvements in operational effectiveness and the international standards have a built in continuous improvement methodology of incident investigation, taking corrective action to resolve the root cause of the problem, self audit and management review. Commonly quoted is a 10% increase in Return on Investment (ROI) for certified organisations over those not certified.
By this certification also the company should immediately take time to capitalize on the effort expended by all of its personnel through rigorous marketing of its achievement and also to review the system with the aim of improvement to drive down cost and improve efficiency.
Adapted from 'ISO 9001:2000 IMPLEMENTATION: SBU MARINE PENANG PORT' by Capt Muhd Ismail Mohd Noor
In the global market place organizations are now willing and able to buy and sell locally, nationally and internationally but how do they know, what assurance do they have, that when they deal with a company which claim that 'can do what the management say they can do'. Of course there is no substitute for direct experience with the company, yet this is not available to customers until after the contract has been signed and the first consignment delivered? It may be too late for them by then, so what options are left for the customer? The customer may ask others about the company’s performance, background and get a jaundiced view, may come out and inspect the facility which is very expensive or the customers may seek independent confirmation that the company has a system in place which should enable it to perform as it says it can perform. This is the basis of 'Certification' to an ISO9000 International Standard.
Many customers, internationally and nationally, are now requesting and indeed requiring that suppliers achieve 'Certification', the term used for organisations meeting an ISO 9000 standard, to demonstrate that they 'can do what they say they can do'. Certification is achieved through an independent auditing process to assess the compliance of the organisations systems which is called the Quality Management System, to the international standard most suitable to for the companies or organisations, ISO 9001, ISO 9002 or ISO 9003 by an independent accredited International Certification Body such as QMS Certification Services.
The Certification Body issues following successful audit a ‘Certificate of Approval’; this is the proof of 'Certification' to an ISO 9000 standard and is taken to provide a measure of assurance of their capabilities to meet the contractual requirements. By then, they are placed on a register of certified organisations available to customers throughout the world.
Following the certification which the company has proved to its customers, employees and competitors alike that it claims to be a company or organisation committed to quality in its operations are justified and that it has a system in place which has the capability to perform as expected.
The advantages are not only external, internally the process of implementation and on-going maintenance of a Quality Management System often bring about improvements in operational effectiveness and the international standards have a built in continuous improvement methodology of incident investigation, taking corrective action to resolve the root cause of the problem, self audit and management review. Commonly quoted is a 10% increase in Return on Investment (ROI) for certified organisations over those not certified.
By this certification also the company should immediately take time to capitalize on the effort expended by all of its personnel through rigorous marketing of its achievement and also to review the system with the aim of improvement to drive down cost and improve efficiency.
Adapted from 'ISO 9001:2000 IMPLEMENTATION: SBU MARINE PENANG PORT' by Capt Muhd Ismail Mohd Noor
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