Quality Management System best practice for small businesses ISO 9001 is an International Standard that is used worldwide by over one million organizations. It assists businesses of all sizes by providing best practice requirements for an effective Quality Management System (QMS). A quality management system enables a business to run more Effie silently and profit table. It provides a way to organize people, resources and processes to achieve organizational goals, regardless of the size of the business. However for small and start-up businesses, establishing a quality management system can present challenges depending on the experience, capability and style of the founders. Evidence has shown that small businesses who adopt the requirements for ISO 9001 can build a system to facilitate development and growth, supporting the founder or owner in maximizing the value in their business concept and providing a framework to ensure all legal and statutory requirements are met.
What is ISO 9001?
It is a common misconception that adhering to ISO 9001 is a box ticking exercise, that it’s bureaucratic and restricts innovation. In this whitepaper we hope to dispel the myth and demonstrate the core value, starting here by examining some of the basics as defined in the standard.
It recognizes that
The adoption of a quality management system should be a strategic decision. And the system’s design and implementation will be influenced by:
- Business environment and associated risks or changes
- Varying needs
- Particular objectives
- Products or services offered
- Processes
- Size and organizational structure
it’s scope or purpose
To specify requirements for a quality management system where an organization
: • Needs to demonstrate its ability to consistently provide a product / service that meets customer and applicable statutory and regulatory requirements, and
- Aims to enhance customer satisfaction through the effective application of the system, including processes for continually improving it and assuring conformity to customer and applicable statutory and regulatory requirements
In overview it requires that: The organization shall:
- Determine the processes needed for the quality management system and its application throughout the organization;
- Determine the sequence and interaction of these processes;
- Determine criteria and methods needed to make sure both the operation and control of these processes are effective;
- Ensure the availability of resources and information necessary to support the operation and monitoring of these processes;
- Monitor, measure (where applicable), and analyze these processes; and
- Implement actions necessary to achieve planned results and continually improve these processes