What is ISO 9000?

ISO 9000 is the first in a family of standards that organizations can use for quality management.

The standard traces its history back to the British during World War II, who were eager to reduce the number of errors and accidents in munitions plans. The practices they developed evolved into the ISO 9000 family, which today is used around the world to improve quality management systems – and, consequently, the quality of the goods and services that organizations provide.

ISO 9000 is two things:

• A family of quality management and quality assurance standards established by the International Organization for Standardization (ISO); and
• A standard within that ISO family of standards.

A close cousin to ISO 9000 is ISO 9001, the standard for quality management systems. It is one of the most popular ISO standards there is, with countless companies striving to certify their compliance with it.

What Are the Principles of ISO 9000?

As an ISO standard, ISO 9000 lays the foundation for all the other individual standards within the ISO 9000 family. It contains a glossary of terms used throughout the series of standards, as well as the fundamental concepts underpinning the entire ISO 9000 family, including the seven quality management principles:

Customer Focus

Developing a strong client focus is an excellent method to demonstrate your dedication to quality. Gathering consumer feedback, whether positive or negative, is critical, since it may help you identify non-conformities and improve your procedures, allowing your firm to operate even better.

Leadership

Strong leadership implies a clear vision for your firm’s future. Effectively communicating this vision will guarantee that your whole staff is working toward the same goals, providing your organization with a sense of purpose. This can therefore boost staff enthusiasm and productivity.

Engagement of People

To profit from quality management, you must openly address challenges and share information and experience with your staff. It is critical that everyone in your organization understands their function and feels valued for their contribution to the company’s success. This will assist you in obtaining accreditation and demonstrate your organization’s dedication to quality improvement.

Process Approach

The ISO 9001 standard’s “Plan Do Check Act” (PDCA) principle will assist you in promoting a process-driven culture throughout your organization. PDCA is a proven method for efficiently planning, resourcing, and managing your processes and their interconnections.

Improvement

Continuous improvement is vital to the ISO 9001 quality management system and should be your organization’s primary goal. Implementing procedures for identifying risks and opportunities, detecting and resolving non-conformities, and evaluating and monitoring your efforts will enhance and strengthen your business.

Evidence-based Decision Making

Making educated judgments requires accurate and dependable data. For example, appropriate evidence is required to determine the root cause of a non-conformity. Therefore, maintain open communication lines and ensure that information is available to those who need it.

Relationship Management

Your suppliers can provide a competitive edge, which demands a trusting connection. Developing long-term relations with suppliers and other interested parties necessitates balancing short-term financial rewards and long-term, mutually beneficial initiatives.

Why Is ISO 9000 Beneficial?

The ISO 9000 standards are valuable for organizations of all sizes and types. They help you to measure and improve the quality of your enterprise’s processes and the products and services you provide.

Many companies provide products and services, but only those that provide the best products and services prosper over the long term. When a company has an issue, it can use ISO 9000 to identify that issue’s source and find a solution. Moreover, increased efficiency leads to increased growth and profit.

Not only do businesses appreciate the significance of ISO 9000; customers recognize the significance of quality, too. And because the customer is the most crucial to a business, ISO 9000 focuses on the customer.

What Are the Different Standards of ISO 9000?

As a family, ISO 9000 comprises several standards related to quality systems:

• ISO 9000, Quality Management Systems (QMS) – Fundamentals and Vocabulary
• ISO 9001,Quality Management Systems (QMS) – Requirements
• ISO 9004, Quality Management – Quality of an Organization – Guidance to Achieve Sustained Success, a standard for continual improvement of quality management systems
• ISO 19011, Guidelines for Auditing Management Systems

The most crucial standard, however, is ISO 9001. Not only is it the most widely applied of all the standards in the ISO 9000 family (and, in truth, the most popular among all 22,000 ISO standards). ISO 9001 the only standard in the group for which an organization can obtain certification.

Let ZenComply Help You Maintain ISO Compliance

ZenComply delivers the content required for compliance. It includes a comprehensive library of more than 20 regulatory and legislative frameworks that mirror industry best practices, saving you hours of manual effort and consultation expenditures.

Reciprocity ZenComply, a compliance and audit management system, provides a faster, smoother, and brighter road to compliance by reducing time-consuming manual procedures, expediting onboarding and keeping you informed about the status and efficacy of your programs.

Reduce the time, effort, and uncertainty associated with setting up a compliance program by adopting a guided, content-rich method that makes you audit-ready in 30 minutes.

ZenComply provides you with the visibility you need to analyze the progress and success of your compliance activities and their influence on risk reduction. An audit overview report summarizes the frameworks, requirements, and controls in scope, the activities to be done, and the present audit status.

Schedule a demo to discover more about how ZenComply assists organizations in managing compliance.