A quality management system is a system that is completely focused on meeting customer quality requirements on design, development and delivery of a product or service through a set of standardised business processes. Implementing a quality management system demonstrates to your employees, customers and other stakeholders that you are committed to quality and customer satisfaction as well as continuous improvement.
Does your company have a quality management system today? If not, there’s no time like the present to get started – and little time to waste.
ISO quality management systems
The International Standards Organisation (ISO) quality management system standards are the most widely recognised in the world. An ISO certified quality management system will benefit your company in a multitude of ways. Internally, you will have increased efficiency, better supplier relationships, consistent documentation and increased customer satisfaction. Externally, you will have a stamp of approval to tell the world that your quality management system is top-notch in an internationally recognisable way.
Part of the certification for ISO quality management is documentation of your company’s processes and procedures. That means you will have to look at them, and think about them – and in many cases, you will see flaws and improve them. Better processes lead to increased efficiency and increased efficiency leads to increased profit.
Another part of the ISO quality management system is increased testing of materials and evaluation of suppliers. The feedback you are able to give your suppliers through these new processes will clarify expectations and increase communication, leading to mutually beneficial improvements in your supplier relationship.
An ISO quality management system is all about quality and today’s customers demand quality from the products they buy. Implementing a system that ensures a higher level of quality will increase your customer satisfaction beyond measure.
Implementation
A quality management system is, without a doubt, something any company can benefit from and every company should have. Although certification is the right direction to go, the road can be complicated if you are not familiar with it. Standards are complex and frequently updated. Certification requires frequent compliance audits and immense amounts of documentation. Seeking help from a proven consulting firm that has expertise in quality management systems simplifies the process exponentially.
Firms that specialise in quality management systems know what you need to do and will expertly guide you through each step. Some firms will even handle the entire system for you from implementation to compliance audits. They make it easy for you to be the best.
Not only will outsourcing your quality management system to a consulting firm simplify the process for you, but it will also save you money both long and short term. In the early stages, you won’t have to go back and re-do work as you learn more about the regulations during implementation. Later, you won’t have to worry about the cost of losing certification due to incorrect maintenance because you will have a team of experts to ensure your continued success.