Quality Management Systems (QMS)

Quality Management System implementation is likely to be one of the most important decisions an organisation will make. 

Many companies and government bodies now require suppliers tendering for supply of products and/or services to have an accredited Quality Management System.

If you intend to tender for contracts, then an accredited quality management system is virtually a must today. 

All organisations, whether large or small, already have an established way or "system" of running their business, many systems are informal and probably not documented.  Quality management system standards identify those features which can help an organisation improve performance and competitiveness and to consistently meet customers requirements. 

Quality management systems are not about imposing new ways of business management, they are about evaluating how and why things are done, writing them down and recording the results showing they were done. Most organisations already carry out the processes which quality management system standards require.

ISO 9001

ISO 9001 is the international standard for quality management systems. It is an established and proven management system model.

Previously in the UK the need for one national standard was recognised, the result was BS5750 published in 1979 and revised in 1987. The International Standards Organisation (ISO) published the first international standard ISO 9000 in 1987. it was revised in 1994 (ISO 9001:1994, ISO 9002:1994 and ISO 9003:1994) superceeding BS5750. A major revision was published in 2000 (ISO 9001:2000).

The lastest revision is ISO 9001:2008, although with some important changes, the 2008 revision is generally considered a minor update to ISO 9001:2000.

In the UK ISO 9001 is known as BS EN ISO 9001.

What are the benefits of ISO 9001?