5 Key Factors Working behind ISO 31000 & AS9100 Certification

In this article, we will unravel five important aspects of ISO 31000 and AS9100. This information will help you take the right approach when implementing these two standards.

Note that ISO 31000 is a standard that is not intended for certification, where as AS9100 is intended for certification.

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What is the best way to run a business? You might have asked yourself this question a thousand times. At least part of the answer is implementing ISO management standards. ISO has developed a suite of management standards to help organizations protect their business (e.g. reputation, assets, market share, safety, environment, etc.), improve their position and thrive. At the beginning of its journey, ISO started with certain things like weights and measures. Over time, ISO has developed into standards including everything ranging from the shoes to Wi-Fi networks. The main aim of ISO’s management series of standards is to ensure the customers’ confidence in a particular product or service. It is not possible to cover all the ISO standards in one single article. Hence, we are going to discuss two important ISO standards in this article- ISO 31000 compliance and AS9100.

Risk Management- ISO 31000

“Dealing with risk is part of governance and leadership, and is fundamental to how an organization is managed at all levels.” –ISO

Well, this is ISO’s take on risk management. To help organizations manage and mitigate risks, ISO has come up with the latest version of their Risk Management Standard-ISO 31000 in February 2018. To sum up the entire update for ISO 31000:2018, we need to discuss five key issues. Let’s review these here:

1. Executive Buy-In is the Key

This latest version of ISO 31000 has clearly stated the importance of strong leadership and commitment to the risk management program. You should ask your executives to ensure that the risk management program of your organization is fully integrated across all levels of the organization. It should be properly aligned with your business philosophy, strategy, and work culture.

1. Risks in Business Decisions should be Considered

ISO 31000:2018 attaches greater importance to the role of Boards in ensuring that possible risks are considered several times before decisions are made. Since these risks can have adverse effects on an organization’s reputation, Boards, and Top Management should be careful and wise when making a decision related to their risk factors.

1. Proper Implementation is Important

You may have an excellent risk management plan, but that is not enough. Your plan is useless until you implement it properly. Whenever you are developing a plan, you should consider how practical your plan is. Your Board, Directors and Management may not have enough expertise required for fully grasping the impact of certain risks on your organization. In such cases, you need to may need to consider an external consultant to ensure that actions taken by your organization will be effective.

1. Don’t Take Risk Management as a One-Size-Fits-All Affair

ISO 31000:2018 has defined risk management as a cynical process having plenty of scope for customization and improvement. This version of the standard does not accept a one-size-fits-all approach. In fact, you need to customize your recommendations and risk management approach keeping in mind the risk profile, nature, and appetite of your organization.

1. Management should be Proactive

ISO 31000 requires you to take a proactive stance on risk to ensure that your risk management system is well integrated with all aspects of the decision-making process across the organization. This should include business continuity, legal compliance, crisis management, human resource management, IT management, and other operational areas.

Aerospace Management- AS9100

ISO has introduced the AS9100 standard for industries specific to aviation, space, and defence. You can consider it an extension of the ISO 9001 standard. It includes all the requirements of ISO 9001. In addition, it introduces 80 more requirements, which are not included in the 9001 standard. Let’s find out the core five factors that you should consider carefully when dealing with AS9100 certification:

1. Develop an Effective Quality Policy

If you do not have any written quality policy, your employees will lack the necessary understanding of what is the main emphasis of your organization. Therefore, there will be poor decisions across the whole organization resulting in negative consequences for the customer and ultimately the organization. Customers may begin to avoid your organization when you are directionless, and have ill-defined expectations. Hence, you should develop an effective quality policy.

1. Set up Quality Objectives

You should set up measurable quality objectives, which are relevant to your business and compliant with your quality policy. Your objectives should clearly define the responsibilities, targets, and the possible deadline for the implementation.

1. Management Reviews

Like other ISO standards, AS9100 attaches great importance to the role of management / leadership. Your management should keep reviewing the aerospace management system to ensure quality and maintain performance.

1. Provide your Team with Sufficient and Competent Resources to implement AS9100

You should hire sufficient human resources. While hiring, make sure the candidates will be a valuable addition to your AS9100 management team, otherwise, you can hire external consultants to develop and / or take care of your quality management system.

1. Let the Employees Understand the Importance of Having a Process and Following It

Quality management is a planned process. Your employees should carry out the process to achieve the desired outcomes of your management system. Therefore, you should make them understand the importance of quality management.

Which one is your priority? ISO 31000 or AS9100? Make your decision and start working on it!