Insights into the new ISO 9001:2015 Quality Management Standard

In September 2015 a revised edition of the world’s most popular quality management systems standard ISO 9001 was published and is now titled ISO 9001:2015. In this short presentation we get an insight into the new standard from two experts who were both heavily involved in the update. Kevin McKinley, the acting ISO Secretary-General, and Nigel Croft, chair of the subcommittee that revised ISO 9001, discuss the new standard and the changes introduced.

The 2015 edition of the world-leading quality management standard ISO 9001

The long awaited 2015 edition of the ISO 9001 quality management system standard is now available. Here, Kevin Mckinly, ISO acting secretary general discusses where the standard has been revised.

The world has changed and the revision is needed to reflect some of these changes. We see globalisation has occurred, we’ve seen a reduction in trade barriers, a reduction in tariffs. Organisations are now trading across borders more easily and it’s important that the standard reflects these types of changes. It’s also a reality that economies are going more towards service based approaches, service based economies supporting the products that have been put in place supporting supply chains, and supply chains themselves are now quite a bit more complex.

The revision was led by a group of experts that you (Kevin) worked closely with in the past, what can you tell us about this?

I had the pleasure and opportunity to work with the committee for the year 2000 revision and was part of the effort to get that revision out. I’m very pleased with the work that’s been done. This is a very important committee for ISO, a committee that has led the way in terms of global relevance in terms of impact, in terms of utilisation and I wish all of the experts well and thank them very much for their hard efforts on this standard.

Now let’s hear what Nigel Croft, the chair of the committee on quality systems and what he has to say about the revision of the ISO 9001.

So what are some of the improvements in the new version?

ISO 9001 2015 looks beyond just the contractual customer; it takes into account other interested parties who may be end users, consumers, regulatory bodies and so on. The focus is always on achieving conformity of products and services to meet customer needs and expectations.

We have also heard a lot about the process approach and risk based thinking, can you tell us a bit more about that?

I think it is important to recognise that the processing approach is an important part of ISO 9001, it has been since the year 2000 and it will continue to be in the 2015 version. What we have is managing processes using Plan-Do-Check-Act. Managing the interaction of those processes as a system also using Plan-Do-Check-Act but with an overall background of what we’re calling risk based thinking. Recognising that not all processes have the same impact on the organisations ability to deliver conforming products and services and now the 2015 version which actually has no specific prescribed documented procedures. It’s left very much up to the organisation taking into consideration of course their customer requirements – the regulatory framework in which they may operate to define their own needs for documentation in order to manage the processes.

What role do we expect for ISO 9001 in the next decade?

I think its important ISO 9001 forms a solid consistent base for sector standards such as the TS 16949 for the automotive industry, AS 9102 the aerospace and so on that it also provides a stable set of requirements for regulators so that they can build on their regulations on to ISO 9001 that is provides that confidence that’s the key word – confidence that customers around the world right through the supply chain. Business to business, business to consumer right down to us as individuals can have confidence in the products and services that they’re receiving from their certified suppliers.

We have heard there is a common framework for all management system standards, what does this mean exactly?

ISO 9001 uses a high-level structure, a high-level structure that was developed within the ISO community to try and provide a level of consistency for all of the management system standards. If you have environmental management objective or quality management objective now you’re using the same base structure and ISO 9000 follows that high-level structure to ensure consistency.

Timeline for the transition to ISO 9001:2015

From September 2015 to September 2018 there will be a three year transition period for certified organisations. This means that after September 2018 certification to the 2008 edition of ISO 9001 will no longer be valid.

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