ISO 9001:2015. Don't get left behind!
Steven Wardell
|| Quality | Lean Samurai ?? | Problem Solver | Process Improvement | Quality Management Systems | Auditor | Mentor | Leader | Published Author ||
Signing up for the ISO 9001:2015 membership is not mandatory; unless your customers/suppliers insist. I wanted to make that clear so that everyone understands…
During my time as a contractor, I have come across various people, with their views on what they think they need to do in respect of this international standard, with my thoughts being, "holy smoke, they could not be further away from the truth if they had a learjet!"
If I had a pound for every time I have said to a responsible manager, "Please read the standard." on several occasions, I have had to repeat that advice, though mainly to deaf ears. The other thing I have come across is when I talk to people is when they give me that, "nothing behind the eyes look," which is also very worrying.
“I’ve lost you, haven’t I?” I ask.
“No, no, no,” they reply, giving me that nothing behind the eyes look.
Reading the standard is not always enough; understanding what is written is another thing.
If you/the business you represent, sign up for this membership; then I must tell you that you must abide and respect your legal responsibilities/obligations as stated within the standard. If you don’t, then that is your choice.
Please, please, please don’t think that anything written in the standard does not apply to you/the business you represent. If it did not, then it would not have been included within the standard.
Another thing I would advise you on is that you must be very selective when recruiting the right people to manage this for you.
Whichever way you refer your management system is your choice, as Quality Management System (QMS) or Business Management System (BMS) both need to achieve what is required by the standard.
I would also like to advise you to try not to invent your own acronyms; all this will achieve, is confusion.
If needed, ask for help. This is an education, with various areas of the standard being open to 'interpretation.' Whoever you select to have your membership with, will help; at a higher cost. Or you can ask a specialist contractor, who should charge a lot less.
We are here to help and advise.