Why is certification of an organization’s quality management system to ISO 9001 – or AS9100, or IATF 16949 or ISO 13485 – so special? What does the certification signify? And what supports the paper behind that framed certificate?
In the last 35 years, certification of a company’s quality management system (QMS) to a recognized international standard has become the Holy Grail in the global manufacturing arena. It proclaims the achievement of an effectively implemented management system whose process controls are adequately robust to reassure customers of its ability to consistently deliver quality products as specified. This, in turn, serves a few purposes. It heightens customers’ confidence that they can rely on the quality of your products and services over time. It relieves the company of the burden of supplemental customer audits (sometimes) and it helps improve how the company operates. This last benefit is often the least touted but the most valuable.