ISO 9001 Quality Management System (QMS)

Expert quality management and ISO 9001 certification solutions tailored to you.

Quality Management Systems is a leading UK business process and ISO 9001 quality management system specialist. QMS delivers a comprehensive range of world-class quality management solutions including the implementation of ISO9001 based management frameworks, standards certification, auditing, training and QMS software solutions to organisations of all types, structures and sizes throughout the United Kingdom and internationally.

Our experienced management systems specialists work closely with clients to develop practical, cost effective quality management frameworks that integrate seamlessly with existing organisational processes. By offering individually tailored solutions we help clients improve their approach to quality assurance, product and service delivery, and achieve ISO 9001 certification quickly and efficiently.

By focusing on the needs of our clients, what they do and how they do it, our specialists ensure management processes are streamlined at every opportunity to support and improve core business activities and support processes. As a result our quality management frameworks are developed to support and improve what you do, they are simple and easy to use, and are proven to deliver a number of significant benefits to organisations whatever the size, structure or market sector.

If you would like to learn more about our QMS solutions, and how we can help you develop world-class quality management processes please get in touch today.

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Benefiting from an ISO 9001 Quality Management System

Our carefully tailored quality frameworks and ISO 9001 implementation and certification solutions can help deliver a number of important benefits to organisations including:

Achieve Consistency
Achieve greater consistency in the production of products and delivery of services.
Increase Efficiency & Build Profitability
Increase efficiency, reduce waste, save money and build profitability.
Customer Satisfaction
Increase customer satisfaction to build better, more sustainable relationships.
Continuous Improvement
Continuously improve the way you operate including the quality of products and services.
Enhanced Reputation
Enhance your reputation and build credibility in your market and beyond with an internationally recognised quality management standard.
Greater Opportunity
Formal ISO9001 certification opens doors to new market opportunities.
Growth Management
Manage growth more effectively with improved management processes.

UK & International Capabilities

Our expert quality assurance focused services are delivered by experienced management systems specialists who combine comprehensive capabilities with practical know-how across their specialist areas of expertise to deliver real performance improvements to clients.

Our main offices are located in London and Manchester and these are further supported by regional teams of specially trained process management and standards implementation specialists who deliver expert advice and support solutions to meet the highest standards of performance expected by our clients.

Contact QMS today to learn how our expert quality management and ISO 9001 implementation and accreditation solutions can help you achieve a clear and usable quality management system that delivers effective and efficient quality management processes. To speak with one of our experts call us on 0330 223 25 85 or simply use the button below to get our full contact details or submit our contact form.

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What is Quality Management?

For any aspiring organisation, whatever the size, structure or market sector, a well-planned, practical quality management system or QMS can prove to be a very powerful business tool, helping to ensure the best results or outcomes are achieved consistently, whether this relates to the organisation itself, an individual task, a process, products or services.

Plan – Do – Check – Act

An effective QMS brings into play four separate elements – Plan – Do – Check – Act or the PDCA cycle. When all these elements come together successfully they help to ensure the best organisational outcomes can be achieved, and as importantly, they can be maintained consistently over time.

Quality Management Principles

Generally, there are a number of major principles that must be carefully followed if one is to build an effective quality management system. Different organisations and individual tasks or processes may demand some or all of these principles, and some may be considered to be more important than others.

Whilst understanding these principles is often key to the success of a quality system it is also important to recognise that taking a pragmatic, flexible approach to the implementation of a QMS is essential to its continued success. All too often we see the impact of poorly constructed, overly complex management systems that often struggle to maintain stakeholder support and so fail to deliver long-term. It is also important to recognise that these principles should be tailored to the task at hand, regardless of the size or structure of the organisation, business type, industry sector, task or procedure being reviewed.

The major principles of any quality management system to consider include:

Customer Focus
A clear customer focus within any organisation is essential. It is important that modern organisations aim to exceed expectations on a regular basis when serving clients, customers, suppliers and other partners.

Focusing on the customer and what they desire or expect to receive as part of their interaction with an organisation ensures every possible improvement can be identified and then actioned.
Leadership
Strong, clearly defined organisational leadership is essential if senior managers or other senior staff members are to get the best from their entire teams. Everyone reporting to the “quality champion” should understand the goals and objectives that have been set, they should be clear on what is required of them, and what their role is in the team as a whole.
Engagement of People
The engagement of people within any organisation is an essential success criteria. It is not enough to have people employed simply to work. They must be fully engaged in the process too.

Greater involvement must be achieved in order for people to feel more valued and able to contribute in different ways.
Process Approach
Understanding the role each process plays in how an organisation delivers its products and services is essential to any quality improvement process.

The ultimate objectives of any quality management processes and procedures can only be achieved by fully understanding all the individual processes that lead towards that goal.

Results are gained by performing certain actions. Discovering how different actions lead to the desired outcome opens the way for such processes to be tweaked, improved upon and fully understood by all.
Systems Approach to Management
Taking a systems approach to management involves the identification, evaluation and management of multiple processes. This helps to ensure they are managed collectively as a “system” to improve the organisations effectiveness in achieving its objectives.

When implemented successfully, this systems approach allows an organisation to focus its efforts on those key processes that are essential to success as well as aligning complementary processes for improved efficiency.
Improvement
It’s important to remember that no organisation, business system or process will ever be perfect. The continual search for improvements in all areas, processes and departments could lead to further enhanced results in the future.

Improvements may apply to further staff training, expansion of knowledge and trying new ideas that may achieve better results. A culture of continuous improvement should be encouraged.
Evidence-Based Decision Making
The application of evidence-based decision making is a key tool that can be used to drive quality management system improvements. All manner of data has a value far beyond its basic information.

By using existing data gathered from within an organisation it is possible to gauge the likely outcome in a variety of situations. It is also possible to decide on a course of action that can steer a business, plan or goal towards a more successful conclusion.
Relationship Management
Maintaining and nurturing good stakeholder relationships is a vital part of any successful organisation. It should also form a key component of any good quality management system.

The nature of these stakeholder relationships will depend on the organisation or business. For example, they could relate to customers or clients, or to suppliers, other business associates or strategic partners. Strengthening these key relationships leads to better and stronger future outcomes.

Why Adopt an ISO 9001 Quality Management System?

There are a whole range of organisational benefits associated with good, well structured quality management processes including:

Consistency
A well developed, practical QMS tailored to an organisation can help to achieve greater consistency for products, services, processes and systems.
Right First Time
Getting things right first time helps to reduce waste, eliminate expensive mistakes and periods of non-productivity which all impact on quality assurance and profitability.
Efficiency
Increase efficiency through improved use of resources.
Customer Satisfaction
Activities that help to improve customer satisfaction, approval ratings etc. are essential to the long term success and growth of any organisation, whatever the sector.
Enhanced Reputation
Being formally accredited against the internationally recognised ISO 9001 quality standard sends an incredibly powerful “quality” message to clients, customers, suppliers and other stakeholders. It helps to build credibility and enhance business reputations where quality assurance is a key factor to success.
New Markets
ISO9001 certification is often a pre-qualification requirement for many tenders and approved supplier lists. Access new opportunities and market sectors.
Manage Growth
Manage growth more effectively with a well structured, practical management framework that works for your organisation both now and in to the future.
Continuous Improvement
Continuously improve products, services, processes and management systems to optimise what you do and how you do it.

There are lots of other benefits that a good quality management system brings, for instance, a product launch may achieve greater success when quality management principles are followed. Since these can be applied well ahead of the product launch, many potential issues can be identified and smoothed out before they have a chance to create problems.

It is also likely that a business applying these quality management principles will achieve greater levels of customer satisfaction. Since any business will be reliant upon this to drive future sales and profitability, it could be a make-or-break issue. It is also more likely to generate positive news and reactions about the business, which can in turn bring in more customers.

As a result an organisation may also achieve greater consistency in the way it approaches various tasks. This is true on a day-to-day basis as well as in reference to the long-term plans an individual business may have.

Avoiding unnecessary waste and periods of low or non-productivity is another major benefit of a good quality management system. A great deal of data can be gleaned from evidence and a solid approach to tasks and goals. This data can highlight areas where time could be better spent, not to mention the application of resources in order to get the best possible outcome.

In short, every element of an organisation and everything that must be focused on is likely to be improved when a consistent quality management system is in place.

Quality Management & ISO 9001

Any organisation wishing to implement a quality management system should seriously consider doing so using the globally recognised standard ISO 9001 which forms part of the International Organization for Standardizations ISO 9000 series of international standards and deals with quality management and quality assurance systems.

ISO 9001 is already used by many businesses around the world – many of which have seen significant improvements to their operations since implementing it for the first time.

While ISO 9001 is flexible enough to be used by any organisation, of any shape, size or structure there are a number of specialist quality management standards designed specifically for certain sectors including:

ISO 13485 – Medical devices
ISO 17582 – Electoral organisations at all levels of government
ISO 18091 – Local government
ISO/IEC 90003 – Software engineering
ISO/TS 29001 – Petroleum, petrochemical and natural gas industries

ISO 9001:2015

ISO 9001:2015 is the latest update to this well-established quality standard. It was published in September 2015 and is now recognised as the standard bearer for quality management systems around the world. It has been specifically designed to take into account all the processes and elements mentioned above.

Watch the following video to get a good overview of the new 2015 edition of ISO 9001.

It is much easier to achieve greater success in a business, or indeed in any part of a business, when there is a consistent and proven framework to follow. ISO 9001:2015 provides this framework, giving organisations a proven method by which they can adhere to the principles of good quality management.

Contents of ISO 9001:2015

ISO 9001:2015 is made up of 10 sections that include:

Section 1: Scope
Section 2: Normative References
Section 3: Terms and Definitions
Section 4: Context of the Organisation
Section 5: Leadership
Section 6: Planning
Section 7: Support
Section 8: Operation
Section 9: Performance Evaluation
Section 10: Improvement

While the 2015 version of the standard maintains the same general format as previous versions its structure has been improved to allow easier integration with other ISO standards. It is also less prescriptive and places greater emphasis on organisational performance than previous versions.

Implementing ISO 9001:2015

While ISO 9001:2015 provides a strong framework to use and build upon, it is also important to realise that every organisation is unique. It is unlikely that the “one size fits all” approach will work successfully – what works for one business may not work for another. It is therefore vital to build a practical but robust quality management system that is tailored towards the needs of a particular organisation or business. It is essential that the quality framework should also be able to grow with that organisation making it easier to assess progress, and to find and implement solutions that work and drive that business further forward.

Implementing the ISO 9001:2015 quality management standard takes time and commitment, but most organisations following this route find if it is implemented correctly then it is time that is well-invested. For the long term, a good quality management framework could completely change the way an organisation approaches the future, it can help build customer, client and internal relationships, improve operational efficiencies, reduce costs, build profitability and ultimately lead to business growth.

Manage your quality systems more effectively with our QMS software

Get Expert Quality Management Systems Support

Contact Quality Management Systems today to discuss your quality assurance and ISO 9001 standards requirements. Our experts can provide practical, cost effective advice and support on all aspects of ISO 9001 implementation, certification support, auditing, training and QMS software… all tailored to meet the needs of your organisation.

With offices in London and Manchester, supported by regional teams of specially trained management and standards implementation specialists we can deliver practical, easy to use management frameworks that work to enhance what you do

Contact QMS today for more information or for your FREE, no obligation quote.

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