Understanding the Steps to Maintain ISO 9001 Certification

Most business owners don’t know how to maintain their ISO 9001 certification, and they think achieving it is the last thing they need to do for quality assurance in their business. The ISO certifications have a definite 3 year period of validation, after which the business will need to renew it. So, businesses that have implemented the ISO 9001 standard need to maintain compliance with ISO 9001 requirements to make sure that their quality management system or QMS is consistently improving. In other words, the key to any ISO certification is continual improvement, and maintaining the certification means you are consistently being alert and active in enhancing your quality management approach in the business.

Here is the definitive guideline for maintaining the ISO certification of your QMS.

Adopt the PDCA Cycle

Understand and adopt the role of the PDCA (Plan-Do-Check-Act) cycle to continuously improve the effectiveness of your QMS and maintain the certification. The Plan-Do-Check-Act cycle involves four indispensable steps that ensure the QMS and the processes it covers are monitored, checked, and modified at periodic intervals. The ‘Plan’ stage calls for defining the new objectives for the QMS, based on the changing expectations and needs of the customers. ‘Do’ calls for integrating them in the QMS. ‘Check’ implies monitoring and measuring the processes, products, or services against the expected quality standards and then analysing them to see if there are have been any improvements. ‘Act’ implies taking corrective actions to improve the quality of the products or services as required, and to ensure compliance the ISO 9001 certification is maintained.

Set Goals and Measure Performance

Measure the effectiveness of your QMS by setting performance goals or metrics and measure them over time. The number of customer complaints or feedback received should be evaluated as well. Measuring the metrics and interpreting the customer feedback will help you know the underlying causes of quality issues, and you will be able to include the appropriate measures in the QMS to resolve them.

Revising the QMS Documentation

Next, you should revise the ISO 9001 documents that mention the procedures or practices falling under the QMS. Revising the procedures is the usual way to improve the quality management approach in your business. Improvements can include a minimal correction or an addition to the QMS, or an overall modification of the entire QMS. When you get the auditors to assess your QMS, they will discover many opportunities for improvements. However, preparing your employees for every change made to the QMS can be difficult. Therefore, after you finish revising the documents with the changes in the QMS, you will also need to spend some time informing them why those changes are needed if the certification has to be retained.

Get Management Commitment

The businesses that fail to maintain their ISO certification are the ones that have a laid-back management team that does not pressure the employees to continually improve the QMS. They often pretend to effectively execute their QMS, but to auditors, it turns out to be an ineffective and bureaucratic QMS that has little to do with continuous quality improvement. Therefore, support from management is hugely needed to ensure that the QMS is well implemented, reviewed, and improved after periodic surveillance audits to maintain the certification.

Maintaining compliance with the ISO 9001 requirements seems difficult as the standard goes through minor or major revisions after certain years. What is needed most is the determination and commitment from the team for quality management to systematically monitor the QMS and review its performance. Subsequently, they will need to make necessary amendments in the QMS, and ensure top management supports their endeavor for continual QMS improvement. Without management support and the right awareness among the employees, it is not possible to bring in any change in the QMS for the good. Therefore, among all the steps for maintaining your QMS certification, you should first consider ensuring your employees improve the QMS and maintain compliance while asking management to support them.