ISO 9000 Accreditation
Your first step in implementation should be identifying what your goals are:
- do you want to be more efficient and profitable?
- produce products that meet your consumer's needs continually?
- achieve customer satisfaction?
- increase market share?
- improve morale in your business?
- reduce costs and liabilities?
- increase confidence in your business' ability to operate effectively and efficiently?
Note: Be sure to write down your goals so you can refer to them as you decide what ISO 9000 Standards will be most useful for your business.
The next step in your ISO 9000 implementation should be obtaining ISO 9000 Standards guides and related materials from the International Organization for Standardization. After you have obtained copies of the standards, you will need to evaluate whether or not you are seeking a certification for your management system. More information on applying for national quality service awards can be found on the ISO website.
After having decided what ISO 9000 Standards system you will be using, it might be helpful to hire an outside consultant to help you implement your plan. You might also want to look at your company's own human resources - do you have any employees who are familiar with ISO and might be able to direct your implementation efforts? Be sure to use the resources you have effectively.
The next step in implementing the ISO 9000 Standards is performing a self-evaluation. You will need to determine where there are gaps between your quality management system and the ISO 9000 Standards. Once you have determined what these gaps are, you can start drawing up a plan to implement the ISO 9000 Standards in an effective, efficient and responsible fashion.
After developing a plan to close the gaps between your quality management system and the ISO 9000 Standards, you need to carry out your plan. You will need to educate your employees about what the system is, why you are implementing it, and how you are implementing it. Make your employees and co-workers your partners in the ISO 9000 effort-they will be an invaluable resource to you, and can provide feedback on what facets of the system do and do not work.
After having implemented the ISO 9000 Standards, you will need to do periodic self-evaluations to assure that you are following the Standards. Performing these assessments will also help you target areas for improvement. Synergistic Systems offers periodic internal auditing of your Quality Management System to help you maintain and demonstrate conformance to ISO 9000 Standards for regulatory, contractual, risk or consumer reasons.
The last step in implementing the ISO 9000 Standards is to continue to work on improving your business. Continuing to evaluate and improve your performance will attract customers, boost morale and more than likely save you money in the long run.
