The ISO 9001 Quality Management System (QMS) was first published by the International Organization for Standardization or ISO back in 1987. Since then it has been through a number of revisions that keep it up to date and relevant to business. ISO 9001:2015 is the most recent revision of this, the world’s most popular of quality management standard.
The ISO 9001 Quality Management System (QMS) was first published by the International Organization for Standardization or ISO back in 1987. Since then it has been through a number of revisions that keep it up to date and relevant to business. ISO 9001:2015 is the most recent revision of this, the world’s most popular of quality management standard.
ISO 9001 revisions
ISO 9001 has seen several minor and major revisions since 1987 that addressed a number of issues and changes to the way businesses have evolved since then. In total there have been four minor or major revisions since 1987 including:
- 1994 – This was the first minor change to the standard
- 2000 – This was the first of two major revisions to the standard
- 2008 – This brought a second minor revision
- 2015 – This was the second major revision and last of the revisions to be made
Each of the revisions listed above was made to correct or make needed changes to the original standard. The changes were important to reflect the way organisations have evolved over the years.
Who should use ISO 9001?
Since most ISO standards are designed to be used by all organisations, and have been created in a way that makes them generic in nature, they are usually flexible enough to be applied across the board to any business regardless of its size, structure or industry sector.
So, regardless of the fact that your business may only employ a few people or there may be several thousand people working there, you can still apply the quality management practices found in the ISO 9001 standard.
Why do companies seek ISO 9001 certification?
There are a number of reasons why a business might want to adopt ISO 9001 for themselves and below is a brief list of them, although not all may apply to every businesses:
- To implement a tried and tested quality management system within the company
- Improve customer satisfaction
- Improve management performance
- Improve employee performance and engagement
- Continual overall improvement
Are there ISO 9001 training courses available?
For the company who is new to ISO 9001, there are several options open to them that are designed to help a business get started. These include specialist training courses that help an organisation prepare for and implement an ISO 9001 based QMS in their own organisation. Additionally, these training courses can also be used by organisations that have well established ISO 9001 quality programmes in the place, but are interested in updating them to the current 2015 edition.
World-class quality management frameworks
Quality Management Systems deliver a comprehensive range of world-class quality management frameworks, auditing, training and QMS software solutions to organisations wishing to increase customer satisfaction, achieve greater consistency in the delivery products and services, build profitability and enhance reputations.
If you would like to learn more about our quality management systems, and how we can help you develop world-class processes please get in touch today.
Further reading…
More information about the ISO 9001 QMS … here →