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Wondering What To Do For ISO 9001 For Small Business? Best Practices For Certification

Wondering What To Do For ISO 9001 For Small Business? Best Practices For Certification

ISO 9001

You may be wondering exactly what to do for ISO 9001 for small business. Keep in mind that ISO Certification is a significant step for a small business to raise its reputation. Indeed notes that ISO certification allows a company to establish its credibility among consumers, business partners, and other stakeholders. For small businesses, ISO 9001 certification can make them stand out in a crowded field. The International Organization for Standardization (ISO) informs us that ISO 9001 deals with the establishment and maintenance of a quality management system (QMS). Unfortunately, the road to certification is complicated. Most companies need to delve into what to do for ISO 9001 for small business. Luckily, we can break down the process in an easy-to-understand way.

The Overview Of the Process

We’ve covered a simplified method of getting ISO 9001 certification before, but for small businesses we’ve condensed the process into a few appropriate steps:

  • Adopt the standard: Buy the standards publication, read it, and decide that you want to achieve certification.
  • Find a consultant: Ideally, a company that knows how to help small businesses meet the needs of the standard would be what you’re looking for.
  • Examine existing processes: See what your existing processes are and how they compare to the standard.
  • Make necessary adjustments: If your systems are already functioning in compliance with the standard, there’s nothing to do. If they aren’t up to standard, then you need to make changes and re-examine.
  • Select a registrar: This body will perform an external audit to ensure that you conform to the standard.
  • Deal with issues: After the audit finishes, you should address the shortcomings that the registrar found to achieve your certification.

The process seems simplistic when laid out like this, but each one of these steps has many smaller parts involved. Achieving certification is an ongoing process. Even after the certification, you will need to renew it every few years, which requires the systems you put in place to remain operational. Luckily, the ISO 9001 process has something designed just for this purpose.

The PDCA Cycle

If you want to know what to do for ISO 9001 for small businesses, the core of the continuous improvement process hinges on the PDCA cycle. PDCA stands for Plan-Do-Check-Act. It describes how a company should deal with meeting and maintaining the standards prescribed by the ISO 9001. Each of these steps has its own responsibilities:

  • Plan:

The planning stage defines the aims of the component, and the material and personnel needed to achieve those aims in line with the business policy.

  • Do:

Once the plan is finalized, the business proceeds to work to meet the previously outlined plan’s goals.

  • Check:

The process is monitored and compared to the plan. This step is usually where documentation happens, and corrective measures are suggested to ensure that the process conforms to the plan.

  • Act:

Suggestions proposed in the previous step are tested for viability, and if they are workable solutions, the business can then implement them.

A Wholistic Alignment: Understanding What To Do For ISO 9001 For Small Business

The ISO 9001 standard is unique in its approach since it allows businesses to align their business objectives with the implementation of their QMS. Part of the process requires that companies look inward and define their strengths and weaknesses, as well as external threats that could impact their industry. Additionally, the inclusion of employee awareness as an integral part of the process keeps everyone on the same page. It helps promote buy-in at the employee level to establish and maintain the ISO 9001 standard.

Interested in seeing what ISO 9001 can do for your small business? Contact Sync Resource today to find out what to do for ISO 9001 for small business.

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What You Need to Know About ISO 9001 Awareness Training

What You Need to Know About ISO 9001 Awareness Training

ISO 9001

We’ve previously covered management commitment to ISO 9001 certification, but ISO 9001 awareness training should also be top of mind. For a business to succeed in implementing their ISO 9001 standards, the employees must also buy into the vision. As The Houston Chronicle notes, if you don’t communicate how your QMS works or which aspects of quality you’re focusing on, your program will fail. In the case of ISO 9001, awareness training is how businesses can seek to inform their employees about the QMS and what constitutes “quality” in the company’s terms. But what defines quality, and how can you communicate that to employees effectively?

Understanding ISO Quality Awareness

An employee does not need to know all the details of the ISO standard. In fact, adding that information to their plate can overwhelm them and make them less likely to support the standard’s implementation. ISO quality awareness has a much smaller scope. For ISO 9001 awareness training can help employees understand their role in the QMS, and how their specific duties impact its functioning. Therefore, awareness training allows employees to learn how their actions play a critical part in the implementation of the ISO 9001 standard. Quality awareness doesn’t mean the employee knows the ISO standards definition inside and out. It means that they are aware of how their contribution affects the company’s push towards compliance.

Employee Engagement and ISO 9001 Awareness Training

We covered in a previous blog post how managers who want to engage their employees properly should approach implementing the ISO 9001 standard. Employee engagement goes hand in hand with awareness training. To properly engage an employee, management must understand their competencies. What are those particular employees good at? Once you determine the roles they are best suited for, you can engage them by showing them how their actions impact the larger picture. ISO compliance requires all hands to be on deck. ISO 9001 awareness training allows employees to judge whether their actions are compliant with the standard. Employees can then take corrective action, with the end goal of being compliant in line with the business’s goals.

Knowledge Fosters Self-Correction

Employee buy-in, combined with the knowledge of the employee’s specific role, can help develop a self-correcting positive feedback loop. Employees within a company should demonstrate autonomy for certain things. Internal audits form a part of the ISO certification process, but if an employee can self-audit the company benefits. An employee who can determine his or her compliance makes the internal auditor’s overall job much more manageable. When the business gets to the point of external auditing in anticipation of certification, each employee’s self-auditing nature ensures that the company remains compliant. Whether the company can rely on employees to self-audit comes back to ISO 9001 awareness training.

What Employees Should Know

The standard has a series of requirements that employees need to know:

  • The company’s quality policy
  • The quality objectives for the employee’s department
  • The employee’s specific contribution to the success of the QMS
  • What benefits improved performance will bring to the company
  • What non-compliance means and the consequences of failing to meet the standard

These key points offer employees the motivation and the knowledge to contribute to the QMS in a meaningful way. It serves to empower and inform the workers so that they can align themselves with the company’s vision. By offering employees this level of knowledge, management shares the burden of responsibility and makes the employee feel like an integral part of the company. This feeling is crucial to achieving employee buy-in and raising engagement.

If you’re looking for a professional consultant to help you develop tools for your ISO 9001 awareness training, Sync Resource remains dedicated to helping our clients achieve their certification goals. Call us today, and let us help you train your workforce to self-correct!

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ISO 9001: The Key Importance of ISO Employee Training

ISO 9001: The Key Importance of ISO Employee Training

ISO 9001

ISO employee training, also known as competence and awareness training, is critical in ensuring that a company complies with ISO standards for certification. Yahoo Small Business mentions that, no matter how good your QMS system is unless people are aware of its existence, it might as well be invisible.

Competence and awareness forms a significant part of several ISO standard, including ISO 9001. It is crucial for businesses seeking ISO certification to take the necessary steps for proper training. Ensuring employees have ISO employee training as part of their preparations for certification is crucial to success. But what does ISO competence and awareness training consist of?

The Roles Within the Company

Because ISO 9001 encompasses the entire organization, each department has its own responsibilities to ensure that employees are competent in using the system and aware that it exists. Three departments within an organization spearhead the responsibility for ensuring ISO employee training. These are:

Human Resources Department

This department holds the responsibility for ensuring that employees are adequately trained in using the system. Alongside departmental heads, HR will ensure that employees meet the competence standards in using the QMS. HR will also verify that employees follow all procedures according to the ISO guidelines.

If any breaches of compliance are detected, the HR department then moves into planning mode. This shift allows them to figure out how to resolve the problems that have arisen. Documentation is a significant part of the ISO 9001 standard. HR is responsible for documenting all training that has happened within the organization.

Departmental Leaders

Within each department, there is a single leader responsible for ensuring each worker underneath them has undergone ISO training. Their first responsibility lies with ensuring that all employees within their department are competent with the regulations.

They are a redundant check on the HR department. Their interest ensures that all employee records about workers in their department are updated regarding their training. Regular reviews are also the purvey of these departmental leaders. Ideally, they would take time to advise employees under their management about what needs to be changed.

They should also help in arranging training for employees. Some workers may need further clarification on critical issues within the company’s strategic plan. Training plans may need to be modified to fit specific workers’ needs.

This action helps make the ISO training a more robust system that addresses individual weaknesses within the organization. Businesses that prefer to try a one-size-fits-all approach are likely to find it challenging to encompass their staff’s unique needs. Departmental leaders are a vital part of ensuring these training exercises pinpoint specific needs within the workforce.

Managers

Management hands down the mandate for the company’s transition into ISO compliance, but in keeping with that goal, a few responsibilities also rest with them. The requirements for competency that the business will judge its employees on will be developed by management.
This responsibility ensures that those lower down the hierarchy are well-aware management’s vision for the company’s compliance with ISO 9001. Creating requirements is only the first part of the solution. The second part requires following up with employees to ensure they are competent. Again, this redundancy ensures that departmental heads are taking their responsibilities in employee training seriously.

Why Is ISO Employee Training Important?

In summary, ISO employee training exists as a method of ensuring that the vision of ISO compliance doesn’t die with upper management. Competence and awareness are crucial parts of implementing a working QMS because each employee needs to be aware of the situation.
Knowing what the QMS is being used for and how they play a part within its success is of critical value in maintaining the business’s certification. Overlooking this requirement could lead to the company entering non-compliance very quickly. Sync Resource has helped many companies develop training programs that address competence and awareness. Contact us today for guidance on how to develop these training regimens.

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Critical ISO Certification Advertising Rules

Critical ISO Certification Advertising Rules

General

ISO Certification Advertising Rules

A bunch of congratulation for achieving ISO certification!

You have just finished your ISO audit and have been handed over a brand new ISO certificate.

Reward your internal audit on special notes by offering them monetary bonuses  as token of appreciation, customized mugs, shirts, calendars and diaries with your company’s logo on is another smart marketing technique. The first thing you should do is to celebrate the achievement with your team, shoot out an email of admiration to everyone, you can hold a press conference and prepare a press release, display banner of announcement on your website but what to do afterwards. Below you will find guidelines in order to understand how to market yourself.

What are the ISO Certification Advertising Rules?

Having ISO certification can give you competitive edge among your competitors. Here are few effective enlisted ways to use your ISO certification as a lethal marketing weapon.

ISO Certification Advertising Rules – How to Display ISO Certificate?

Displaying a hanging copy of ISO certificate on your reception desk or your entrance is also not a bad idea but more effective ways to display such strong marketing weapons are to display on corporate events, on your workers’ uniform or on exhibition standees.

ISO Certification Advertising Rules – Using the ISO Logo  Offline

You can have the certification mark on your company’s letterhead, documents, business cards, flyers, handouts or stationary.

Using the Logo On Online Basis

Include the certification mark on the home page of your website and at your social media digital banners so that online audience should get to know about the improvement that you have accomplished in your business. There are few ISO Certification Advertising Rules that you need to know before placing ISO logos anywhere. These are:

(a). Using the complete name of your certification is mandatory.

(b). Sometimes in certain cases, you need to include your certification number also.

(c). please keep in consideration that ISO certification have been granted on your management system not the products itself.

(d). Do not claim certification outside the scope of your business.

About Your Organization

While writing a description of your company’s profile, it is advisable to write few lines about ISO  certification that you have so far succeeded to achieve along with the list of potential clients that you have worked for in your past and are satisfied with your products’ and services quality.

Inclusion In Email Signature

Do include a statement about ISO certification achievement in your email signature as the statement written in the end of your email will definitely be read by your clients, customers or your vendors/suppliers leading to enhanced credibility of your company in marketplace.

Target Print Media

Prepare an effective, short and crisp press release and send it to local and international newspapers agency and business magazines so that your message can reach to your target market.

Marketing Via Blog

A blog post regarding your ISO certification and your journey to all the way of achieving it can be posted accompanied with your celebration pictures with your team can really boost confidence of your peers working under you, your present customers and other potential clients of yours.

Email Marketing

Design a beautiful newsletter with catchy headlines explaining your ISO certification success so that readers can know how you are able to offer everyone improved services. Remember, spamming can take you into deep troubles so avoid it by all means!

Making the Most Of Social Media Platform

A tweet or a post can connect you to the right audience in few blinks. Make yourself socially active on social media by regularly engaging your audience and by boosting your posts and social media activity on paid basis.

Healthy Networking With Past, Present and Future Clients

The power of human touch cannot be ignored. You can host an open day session, an orientation day or a simple networking event can help to connect you with people who are interested in your business, your products and your services. Furthermore, you will get to find many suppliers who will be seeking someone like you to supply their products and services to you so that their portfolio can come in better competitive shape.   

Don’ts of ISO certification Marketing

There are few rules and regulations by which an organization has to abide by them. Enlisted below are some safe ISO marketing tips and tricks that will sink you into hot waters.

Claim and ISO Certification Advertising Rules

If you are owner of more than one companies and any one of your company has got ISO certification successfully then you can only market ISO certification of that company who has got ISO certification successfully and not for the other one that has not got ISO certification. Wrong advertisement can result in legal actions against your organization.

Usage of ISO logo

One cannot really use ISO logo nor can you alter the logo in any way for using it any of your endorsements. One cannot put logo on the products or package of the product.

Mention Complete Name of the ISO standard

ISO Certification Advertising Rules state you must always mention complete name and version of the ISO standard. Delivering half knowledge is one of the bad practice of ISO certification marketing.

ISO Accreditation

Please remember that there is no such thing as ISO accreditation and you cannot claim it so. Legal action can be taken against your organization on wrong public claims.

 

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ISO 9001 Certification Requirements in Only 5 Steps

ISO 9001 Certification Requirements in Only 5 Steps

ISO 9001, Quality Management Standards (QMS)

ISO 9001 Certification Requirements in Only 5 Steps

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Concept of ISO 9001 Standard in a Nutshell

ISO 9001 Certification Requirements revolves around a systematic approach for managing high quality in one’s products and services leading to improved production efficiency and high profit margins. ISO 9001 is proven and tested quality management system that has been declared successful in almost every type of business. Consider Sync Resources in your assistance to get you ISO 9001 certification and to help in maintaining the ISO 9001 certification requirements.

What are ISO 9001 Certification Requirements?

ISO 9001 deals with quality management system whose utmost goal is to ensure high quality products and services to customers every time. ISO 9001 is suitable for every type of business looking for increased productivity, consistently high quality flawless production with minimum wastages and losses. Being ISO 9001 certified means that your organization is fully meeting the requirements of ISO 9001 standard.

Quick Guide of Achieving ISO 9001 Certification Requirements Simplified in Five Steps

ISO 9001 Certification Requirements is all about getting high quality products and services every time and anytime. It revolves around the holistic approach of Quality Management System (QMS), its standard and its full compliance. However to achieve ISO 9001 certification, we refer you to go through each step one by one in detail. Moreover, the team of Sync Resources is just a click away to help you get through ISO 9001 certification robust but not so impossible journey within just 30 days’ time.

In order to read the complete ISO 9001 guidelines and compliance criteria in detail, International Organization for Standardization has developed a couple of easy to access and far more easy to learn handbooks of ISO 9001 standard to help you go through the requirements in convenient way. Here are the ISO 9001 certification steps briefly defined that will enhance your knowledge about ISO 9001 certification process and its requirements in detail.

Step 01: Grab Basic and Essential Information about ISO 9001:2015 Certification Requirements

Buying the copy of ISO 9001 standard will be definitely most important initial step of get ISO 9001 certification. For getting an easier pathway to get ISO 9001 certification knowledge, one can go through the handbooks published by International Organization of Standardization (ISO) which are available and easily accessible on request.

We recommend you to delegate a senior employee of yours preferably a senior Quality Assurance manager or even Head of Production department to implement ISO 9001 system throughout in your organization or make sure to sync your current management system with the requirements of ISO 9001 standard. Moreover, Sync Resources team will be there to get that delegated person trained in accordance to the requirements of certification of ISO 9001.

Step 02: Documentation Preparation for ISO 9001 Certification

Warning: Don’t get scared after going through the requirements of ISO 9001 certification, jot down gaps that you may find between your current management system and ISO 9001 requirements. Listing down evident gaps will help you in detailed Gap Analysis exercise that will be conducted in later stages. Sync Resources team will be side by side in helping you to understand how documents will be prepared in accordance with ISO 9001 requirements.

Sync Resources has templates made in accordance with ISO 9001 requirements that can be provided to you during certification process. Please note that ISO 9001 certification documents are not made generically but are specific as well as suitable to your company keeping the type of organization that you are present in market.

 

ISO 9001 Requirements

Following are the basic requirements that are essential for ISO 9001 Certification Requirements

  • Quality Policy
  • Procedures
  • Scope of the Quality Management System
  • Process Map preferably in flow chart form
  • Quality Objectives
  • Work Instructions in documented form

ISO 9001 Certification Requirements include everything of your organization starting from your mission statement of the organization, scope, quality policies, objectives, consumer complaints minimization targets and much more.

The important point to be considered here is implementation of ISO 9001:2015 will not put any hurdle in manufacturing processes, productivity and business operations of your organization but will strengthen the quality of your products and services to the maximum possible level.

Step 03: Implementation of ISO 9001 Certification Requirements to Your Current Management System

It’s time for action! After going through the requirements of ISO 9001:2015 certification, jot down gaps that you initially find out within your current management system and that do not fully or partially comply with your current management system.

Where to start Implementation of ISO 9001:2015?

We know you have got tons of things to do in order to get full compliance with ISO 9001:2015 requirements for ISO 9001:2015 certification. (Consider Sync Resource as your helping hand in getting ISO 9001:2015 certification within 30 days’ time.) Don’t get puzzled while looking at a number of requirements that are needed for getting ISO 9001 certification.

We suggest you to start with documentation control as new or modified documentation will help mold the concepts of your employees and colleagues to work according to ISO 9001:2015 requirements.

Once your team start filling up the documents in accordance with ISO 9001 standards, gradually start modifying your system in accordance with ISO 9001;2015 certification requirements. Always keep in mind to take one step at a time during implementation of ISO 9001:2015 standard.

Step 04: Internal Audit

Internal audits will not only help you to minimize the gaps between your current management system and ISO standard’s requirements but will further support your systems to maintain ISO 9001:2015 certification. Internal audits will assist you to realign your goals in accordance with ISO 9001:2015 certification system.

The main purpose of an internal auditor is to see how much your current system complies with the requirements of ISO 9001:2015. We recommend you to conduct gap analysis before implementation of the ISO 9001:2015 system, after partial ISO 9001:2015 implementation, after ISO 9001:2015 standard implementation and periodically after ISO 9001:2015 standard implementation.

Step 05: Certification for ISO 9001:2015

To be an ISO 9001;2015 certified body, it is mandatory to have an independent third party ISO 9001 team of auditors to visit your facility and to go through your documentation flow and verify the documentation effectiveness in your current management system. Please keep in mind to conduct ISO 9001:2015 certification audit only after the completion of internal audit and all identified gaps closure.

Selecting ISO 9001 Registrar:

It is important to select right type of ISO 9001 registrar that has complete knowledge of ISO 9001 certification requirements and process. Your ISO 9001 Registrar can sink or sail your certification ship during ISO 9001 certification process. Before selecting an ISO 9001 registrar, don’t forget to go through the registrar’s track record and success ration to the number and kind of clients he has worked with before.

The ISO 9001 Certification Audit:

The ISO 9001:2015 certification audit will be a notch more than the internal audit. The auditors will randomly pick or select any department and will verify their documentation control and system’s effectiveness. If the auditor remain unsuccessful in highlighting any significant major non-conformance then you will get ISO 9001:2015 certification.

If the auditor discovers major non-conformity along with few minor ones then a timeline will be given after mutual agreement of both the parties to close the identified preferably Major non-conformity in order to get ISO 9001:2015 certification.

Maintaining ISO 9001 Certification:

Achieving ISO 9001 certification, is not once in a life time activity. In fact, ISO 9001 certification audits will be conducted twice or thrice in a year to check continuous improvement cycle and to review the effectiveness of your system after getting ISO 9001:2015 certified.

To maintain ISO 9001:2015 certification, it is mandatory to conduct internal audits periodically and close all the major and minor identified gaps within decided timelines. However, Sync Resources believes in acting on actions rather than wasting hours and hours on long boring meetings which derives no conclusions and endless unfruitful discussions.

Get the ISO 9001 Certification Cheat Sheet

Looking to get ISO 9001 accreditation for your business?

What questions do you have and how can we help?

 

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