It is important to recognize that an ISO 9001:2008 quality system is alive and constantly evolving. ISO 9001:2008 includes “continuous improvement” as one of its requirements, and “continuous improvement” not only refers to a company’s products and services but to the ISO 9001:2008 quality management system itself.
Achieving Continuous ImprovementThe
ISO 9000 standard incorporates several processes that help a company continuously improve:
- Goals and Metrics: setting goals on various levels and using metrics to gage performance.
- Customer Feedback: measuring what customers think about the company and its products or services.
- Internal Audits: periodical evaluating if the company still meets all
ISO 9000 requirements.
- Corrective Action: systematical identification of underlying causes of existing problems and then correcting these causes.
- Preventive Action: systematical search for potential problems and correcting their underlying causes before the problems can occur.
- Management Review: management’s periodical review of key business indicators and planning of improvement initiatives.
We recommend keeping all employees involved in the
ISO 9000 quality system. A great idea is to periodically send tips to all employees.
Sat Apr 25, 2009 4:11 am
