What is the Quality Assurance Standard
In general a quality assurance standard is set of instructions and guidelines followed by various industries in order to maintain the quality of their products or services.
All kind of organizations as well as small businesses adopt these quality standards worldwide. These companies get quality certification after audit from the authorized certification bodies.
Management certification companies ensure the company and its manufacturing or service delivery steps and procedures are in compliance with the laid down standards and polices.
This certification enhances the brand value of the organization, its products or services and it also instills confidence in the customers.
Some QA standard documents are industry specific while some apply to all organizations. One such universal standard that applies to all types of organizations is ISO 9001 quality management system.
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What Is ISO 9001 Standard
The term ISO comes from International Organization for Standardization. ISO standard for quality is recognized worldwide and hence ISO certified organizations have far better opportunities to trade in the international market.
Any kind of industry can implement the ISO 9001 quality assurance standard, whether it is service or manufacturing industry. Each organization should develop its own quality management system in order to adhere to ISO 9001 requirements.
To get ISO 9001 certification, the organization has to undergo different types of audits. The first audit is conducted by the quality monitoring and inspection professional from within the organization i.e. internal auditor. The second audit can be in some cases conducted by the customers using the product or service in question. The third audit is conducted by the certifying organization that is authorized to grant ISO certifications for maintaining the quality system requirements.
Benefits Of ISO 9001 Standard
The ISO 9001 standard was first published in 1987. The latest edition of the standard is ISO 9001:2015. If an organization complies with the requirements of ISO 9001 it can get benefit in the following ways:
Systematic Approach
The standard helps the organizations to function in a more systematic manner.
There are defined systems, processes, and procedures in the organizations to do each and every task.
Teams are designated to perform these tasks. Hence, it results in more organized and systematic approach to work which improves employee satisfaction and retention.
Improved Quality
The systems are integrated in the whole organization to deliver good quality products or services.
This leads to improved quality and less rework.
All this helps the organization to reduce wastage and increase margins.
Customer Satisfaction
The customers trust the organizations that are ISO 9001 certified because this QA standard certification offers a sort or a assurance of the good practices and systems in organizations.
When customers get good products or services in accordance to their requirements, their loyalty towards the organization increases.
This results in more business for the organization.
The profits of the organization also increase.
Increased Margins due to Quality Standards
Margins of the organization improve due to multiple effects of implementing quality management standards.
Some of the reasons for increase in margins are –
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- When good quality products or services are manufactured or delivered, there is very little rework and fewer customer complaints. This results in lesser wastage and hence increased margins.
- Since according to the requirement of QA standard , there are set procedures, it results in greater employee satisfaction, which in turn results in greater productivity and improved margins. It also reduces the cost of training the employees.
- Since organization gets more business, their margins improve.
What is role of certification company?
A good organization for certification of management systems, provides advanced certification services. Companies are capable of responding to all your requests, and offer the certification services of management systems against various standards and criteria, not only ISO 9001 and ISO 14001, but also sector standards such as those for automotives, aerospace, telecommunications, medical devices, etc., as well as the certification of management systems for food safety, occupational health and safety, information security, IT services, etc.
Below is list of some standards that organizations integrate with quality management standards.
ISO 14001 (Environment)
ISO 14001 is an environmental management system standard that aims to enable the simultaneous pursuit of business achievements and contribution to the reduction of environmental risks and the environment.
The certification to this standard will contribute to the enhancement of confidence by a wide range of stakeholders (interested parties) and to the enhancement of the value of the organization aspiring to realize sustainable development.
ISO 27001 (Information Security)
An information security management system standard for the continuous assurance and maintenance of the “confidentiality”, “integrity” and “availability” of information.
This standard is effective for the appropriate control of risks related to information, enabling the effective utilization of information, and at the same time for the development of a structure for internal control and compliance.
ISO/TS 16949 (Automotive)
The quality management system standard for the automotive industry for evaluating the organization’s management system to see if it is in satisfaction of the requirements of the standard and the customer specific requirements of each manufacturer, as well as the regulatory requirements and others.
This standard is such that answers to the requirements of almost all automotive manufacturers in the world.
ISO 45001 (Occupational Health and Safety)
This is a standard for occupational health and safety management systems for the purpose of reducing the number of reduction of occupational accidents and associated management risks and is adopted by the largest number of organizations in the world.
The introduction of ISO 45001 enables the enhancement of the level of satisfaction by employees and to create a good work environment, to win the social confidence in the organization.
ISO20000 (IT Service)
The international standard for IT service management systems developed on the basis of “ITIL” that makes the overall summary of the best practices of IT service management.
The standard enables to steadily provide high quality IT services and enhances the level of the confidence held by customers and the competitiveness of the organization
JIS Q 9100 (Aerospace)
This standard was established in Japan as the quality management system standard for the aerospace industry and is applicable worldwide like AS 9100 and EN 9100 and is technically equivalent to both standards of AS and EN.
ISO 13485 (Medical Devices)
A quality management system standard for the industry of medical devices.
This standard is developed on the basis of ISO 9001 specialized in specific requirements assuring the safety and effectiveness of medical devices.
This standard will lead to the development of systems that respond to the legal regulations of medical devices that are different from one country to another, and is effective also for the expansion of the international transactions of such products.
ISO 22000 (Food Safety)
A management system standard for the safety of foods that integrates the approach to management systems of ISO 9001, to the HACCP system of the Codex Committee that is widely adopted in the world as a tool for controlling the safety of foods.
TL9000 (Telecommunications)
This standard was established by QuEST Forum that was established for the improvement of quality of telecommunication by the telecommunications industry mainly of the USA.
