By S. M. Waqas Imam – When a consumer decides to buy groceries from a store, or when a hospital procures surgical instruments for medical procedures, their foremost concern is the quality of the product. This quality is negatively impacted by any variability in the product. As such, companies need to reduce inconsistencies in order to manage product quality. To do so, they use quality management systems for standardization.
When it comes to standardization, the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) is a global benchmark. In particular the ISO 9001, which was built by amalgamating global best practices for quality management systems, now sets the international standard for developing and maintaining these systems. This is a voluntary standard that sets both corporate giants and small companies with certain minimum requirements for their quality management systems. Organizations that adopt these standards gain their customers’ trust in the quality of their product.
The standard for ISO 9001 was revised in September 2015, and the new version involved vital changes and the adoption of new concepts that offer a systematic way to handle strategic quality management issues. Organizations looking to sustain and expand their market share are strongly advised to implement the new requirements and concepts.
Learning ISO 9001:2015 is vital for growing your business and enhancing the productivity of your employees. If you want to learn more about ISO 9001 and the key changes made in 2015, you can do so with the new free ISO 9001:2015 Fundamental Concepts course from Alison.
