ISO 9001:2008 Quality Management Systems

The ISO 9001:2008 Quality Management Systems - Requirements standard is the most widely used quality management standard with nearly one million certificates issued worldwide. The standard defines the minimum requirements for a well managed organization. In other words, noncompliance to an ISO 9001 requirement puts at risk an organization's ability to consistently and efficiently satisfy the expectations of its customers. It is published by the International Organization for Standardization (ISO). National accreditation bodies provide accreditation to registrars who issue the ISO 9001 certificates to the organizations they audit. 

Orion Canada Inc. is a consulting company that has assisted hundreds of organizations to improve their management practices to realize efficiencies, improve quality and comply with international standards and best practice models such as ISO 9001.

Orion Canada's experience with quality management models and standards is unequalled. In fact, Orion Canada client AMITA Corporation was the first in North America to be registered by an accredited registrar to ISO 9001:2000 (registered on December 15, 2000, see press release)! 

Minimize your effort in complying to ISO 9001. Orion Canada Inc. will get your quality system compliant to the international standard for good management quickly and painlessly ... after all, you are not in business to learn new standards! Also ask us about our workshops on the ISO 9001 and other quality standards.

The Highlights

• ISO 9001:2000 was the most anticipated international standard in history.
• The ISO 9001:2008 standard was a minor update that clarified terminology but added no new requirements to the standard. All ISO 9001:2000 certificates expired on November 15, 2010.
• ISO 9001:2008 has five broad categories of quality management: 
    1) Quality Management System
    2) Management Responsibility,
    3) Resource Management,
    4) Process Management
    5) Measurement, Analysis and
         Improvement. 
• The standard only requires six procedures, although most quality systems have more than the specified minimum. Orion Canada specializes in lean and efficient quality systems. 
• The quality management standard represents the accepted minimum requirements for a well managed organization. However, the generic standard does not prescribe how to comply with its requirements. Orion Canada specializes in designing management systems that not only comply with industry best practices, but that deliver significant bottom-line contributions in terms of improved effectiveness, better efficiency and high rates of customer satisfaction. 
• The Quality Management Process Model upon which the ISO 9001:2008 is based is provided below.

• Transition Planning Guidance for ISO 9001:2008 is available from the ISO 9000 Technical Committee ISO/TC 176/SC 2. Contact Orion Canada to learn more about their simplified process for upgrading to the new standard.
• The Table of Contents from ISO 9001:2008 is listed below:

ISO 9001:2008 Table of Contents

Electronic copies of the ISO 9001:2000 standard may be ordered through the American Society for Quality. Below is the Table of Contents of the ISO 9001:2000 standard:

Contents

1 Scope
1.1 General
1.2 Application
2 Normative references
3 Terms and definitions
4 Quality management system
4.1 General requirements
4.2 Documentation requirements
5 Management responsibility
5.1 Management commitment
5.2 Customer focus
5.3 Quality policy
5.4 Planning
5.5 Responsibility, authority and communication
5.6 Management review
6 Resource management
6.1 Provision of resources
6.2 Human resources
6.3 Infrastructure
6.4 Work environment
7 Product realization
7.1 Planning of product realization
7.2 Customer-related processes
7.3 Design and development
7.4 Purchasing
7.5 Production and service provision
7.6 Control of monitoring and measuring equipment
8 Measurement, analysis and improvement
8.1 General
8.2 Monitoring and measurement
8.3 Control of nonconforming product
8.4 Analysis of data
8.5 Improvement
Annex A (informative) Correspondence between ISO 9001:2008 and ISO 14001:2004
Annex B (informative) Changes between ISO 9001:2000 and ISO 9001:2008
Bibliography