How to: Implement ISO9001 certification

Welcome to the series of How To:Quality. Your 3 min guide on how Quality Professionals address various business needs to drive Improvement and Governance.

Quality Professionals, regardless of the sector they work in, strive to help businesses achieve their strategic objectives. They do this in various ways: be it deploying governance frameworks, implementing improvement strategies, or delivering assurance programmes.

In this post I welcome Thiago Barcelos MSc | CQP MCQI | CLSSBB* who shares his How To: Implement ISO9001 certification. Thiago is a Six Sigma certified Operations executive with Process and Quality backgrounds, with a vast international experience, including major awards in the automotive industry over 25 years. Mechanical Engineer by trade from the Federal Centre of Technology – Rio de Janeiro (CEFET-RJ) – Brazil, he also holds a Master’s degree in Strategic Quality Management from the University of Portsmouth (UK). He is a member of the Chartered Quality Institute (CQI), and the European Organisation for Quality (EOQ), as well as a certified Lead Auditor in ISO9001.

How to: Quality

Many small and medium size organisations go through the question whether it is worth to implement International standards or not, in particular the ISO 9001. This is not exclusive to these organisations, as this is normally seen as a Customer Requirement, Government Regulation (including tax benefits) or a market demand, but not really understanding all the synergies and benefits; benefits such as the increase on the speed of execution, the reduction of costs, complexity and variations in products and services.

In some geographical areas, the adoption of international standards are not seen as important by government agencies or other businesses. However, particularly in emerging markets, buyer’s normally have the perception that ISO certified organisations are more reliable than a non-certified one, creating a feeling of trust.

Another regular claim is that such activities involve the need to hire external consultants normally at a price that the business is not capable or willing to afford. Although the particular decision to implement (or not) the ISO certification is down to the individual organisation, this article will give you the basic steps on how to bring your company closer to the implementation of ISO 9001 Standard, and start harvesting some of the benefits. Here are five steps you can follow:

1. Identify and map your existing key processes
2. Train the teams
3. Gather information from the processes indicators
4. Report the findings to Leadership
5. Act upon the findings, and record what was done

1. Identify and map your existing key processes

Any auditor will ask three questions whenever they arrive on site:

• “Tell me what you do” 
• “Show me how you do it”
• “Prove to me that you have done it”

There’s no way to answer any of these questions unless you have something that the worker can rely on. Therefore identifying the key processes of your organisation is the first step. At this stage, do not think about improvements or adjustments needed, simply collate the information as-is.

Processes for the sake of processes do not bring any value. Focus should be on processes that give a measurable output, normally presented in the form of numeric indicators. Normally known as Key Performance Indicators or KPI’s

For the mapping, use simple and clear wording or flowcharts with clearly defined figures. Special attention should be given when transitioning parts / actions / results from one department to another, making sure that the outputs from one matches the needed inputs of the other.

Avoid the use of long text. All processes should be easily readable for all audiences. Normalise the way all documentation is presented and stored, keeping in mind that the documentation should be easily accessible by the workers for reference.

2. Train the teams (Capacitation)

With the processes identified and mapped, training is necessary to take place, so the teams can understand what is expected from them. This is also a great opportunity for them to propose improvements and adjustments which are more in line with their day-to-day activities. There’s a wealth of knowledge that can be collected at this stage, that brings speed to the execution as well as simplification of the process as a whole, reducing costs. The workers on the other hand, knowing that they can improve their work conditions / stations are inspired to more actively suggest improvements.

3. Gather information from the processes indicators (KPI’s)

With the processes now running, you should be able to have a metric to rely on, and which you are able to use for reference. Metrics should be easy and clear to understand, and when setting targets should be tangible and achievable. Variation on the results normally indicates issues that are now easy to spot and easy to calculate the impact.

4. Report the findings to Leadership (Management Review)

Many Quality professionals in my network claim that perhaps the most challenging aspect of implementing the ISO certification is to have the necessary commitment and presence for a Management Review meeting. And my response is: “In no point of the ISO standard it states that it needs to be a meeting, but the need to escalate the information”. So the easiest way to gather attention and get the necessary feedback is to establish a periodic newsletter, with all the necessary information to the Leadership team and prompt them to respond if they are in acceptance or if they have any comment or question on the information shared. If so, you can then setup the necessary meetings. This time, prompt by their own interest. Keep record of all this information as evidence.

When dealing with Leadership, another great point is to keep the information simple, preferably using illustrations. When possible use a monetary indicator when suggesting improvements or reporting quality issues.

5. Act upon findings, and record what was done (Continuous improvement)

From the Management review, as well as any other external output, such a Customer complaint, or change of laws or regulations, list all the improvements that are needed, as well as when and who will be responsible for them. Keep track of these points, observe if they impact any of the KPI’s that you are using and have them added to the Management review for discussion, preferably with some basic analysis.

With these initial 5 steps, you should be able to get momentum on the implementation of the ISO 9001 certification or at least start harvesting some of the basic benefits that this international standard bring you.

If you would like to learn more from Thiago and engage with him further, you can connect with him on LinkedIn here

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* MSc: Masters of Science
  CQP MCQI: Chartered Quality Professional Member of the Chartered Quality Institute
  CLSSBB: Certified Lean Six Sigma Black Belt