Year 2024 Quality Management System Certification: a still winning weapon for Companies

My opinion after so many years of work does not change, the Certification of the Quality Management System obtained by Accredited Certification Bodies from bodies belonging to the International Accreditation forum (IAF) is a strategic tool that represents a real investment for the long-term future of a company, as long as it is intended as a lever for improvement and performance.

The first certifications began at the end of the 80s and today they are numerous in the world (ref . ISO/CASCO - Committee oref . ISO/CASCO - Committee on conformity assessmentn conformity assessment)

But what drives companies to certification?

The evidence leads us to think that it is primarily the Customers who contractually impose them on their suppliers, however as Companies have Suppliers and Customers, they all also have an Entrepreneur in the Private or a Manager in public bodies at the top and often those who seize the Certification as an opportunity for growth and improvement are the most enlightened and aware of the future success of their Companies.

The Certified Companies that I have had the opportunity to get to know well over the years have all grown and have improved their performance, their production capacity and with them their market.

The effort to maintain the Certification imposes and periodically recalls, like a mantra, with internal and third-party audits to all the heads of the departments, the offices and the people who work there, the methods to be used to achieve continuous improvement and customer satisfaction, methods Designed and studied for years by the "Quality Gurus" starting with Walter Shewhart, Kaoru Ishikawa, W. Edwards Deming, Joseph M. Juran, Armand Feigembaum, Geniki Taguchi, Imai Masaaki and others. Winning methods for prevention such as statistical analysis and standardization of products and processes.

Sometimes the Audits with third-party Evaluators of the Certification Bodies with experience even in sectors where Standardization and methods for continuous improvement are historically more advanced can be a winning weapon even in the short term.

I remember, at the end of the 80s, the trust and support of entrepreneurs derived from seeing for the first time in their companies the positive effects of a Quality Management System, the always positive feedback from customers, the enthusiasm of the staff of all the departments most involved.

I also remember a few years later the amazement and appreciation for the results obtained by Auditors with experience in the Steel sector in seeing methods from Quality Management Systems used in precision components and pharmaceuticals, applied in the Steel Industry.

It is a pride to have had the opportunity to experience the years of the first Certifications and to have seen Certified companies grow and with them the Quality of the products and services that we all use every day.