ISO 9001:2015 Quality Management Standard

This standard is probably the best know standard in the world, it is recognised in its full title in the UK as BS EN ISO 9001:2015.  We have covered this subject before but it is well worth doing it again.

• BS means it is an adopted British Standard
• EN means that it is adopted by Europe
• ISO means that it is adopted internationally

There are over 6 million certifications worldwide and ISO 9001 has long been seen as an entry qualification to tenders and bids.

The Standard is really good business practice and companies holding this qualification have risks and opportunities at the heart of their companies.  This coupled with continual improvement makes both commercial as well as financial sense.

There are 10 sections to the standard and these cover all elements of a company except finance. Finance requirements are different throughout the world and trying to set a common standard would have been difficult.

The 10 sections are:

1. Scope
2. Normative references
3. Terms and definitions
4. Context of the organisation
5. Leadership
6. Planning
7. Support
8. Operation
9. Performance evaluation
10. Improvement

Once properly set up, the system in the UK is assessed by a UKAS Accredited Certification Body and a Certificate is issued to demonstrate compliance to this Standard. (Other countries have specific Accreditation Bodies).

This independent certification shows that the company is fully compliant with ISO 9001:2015 and can be accepted without the need to carry out  additional supplier audits.