In todays’ highly competitive world the one thing which will ensure sustainability and continuous growth of any Organisation is adopting a Quality Management system. Be it a Manufacturing facility or a Service providing Organisation, delivering quality goods/services on-time meeting and exceeding the customer’s requirement consistently is the sole mool mantra for the Business success.
Quality Management System is a systematic approach for planning the various steps of a Process, Checking the effectiveness and efficiency of the process, Executing and analyzing the output of the process to continually improve upon it. This approach helps in delivering consistently to the customer, goods as well as services, as specified and desired by him. A good Quality Management System incorporates all the Seven Quality principles listed below:
- Customer Focus
- Leadership
- Engagement of People
- Process Approach
- Improvement
- Evidence based decision making
- Relationship Management
General perception that most Small and Medium Enterprises have is that implementing QMS is an additional cost and WHY go that extra mile? A Quality Management System has major benefits.
- QMS helps in reducing Cost of operation by providing complete traceability of the process and helps in identifying and reducing wastages by plugging them.
- Customer satisfaction is ensured as QMS holds for company efficiency, consistency and commitment to quality.
- Improvement of Credibility and Company Image. When we adopt an International Standard like ISO 9001 we improve our Brand Name and Image as perceived by the Customer.
- Continuous Growth can be achieved by Improvement as it is easier to identify areas needing attention and improvement.
- Employees being engaged with the process have a better sense of satisfaction and achievement and deliver their best output as they feel empowered.
FUTURE READY
An Organisation comes into existence and delivers goods and services only when its processes are effective. However by adopting Quality Management System it can become efficient and deliver better quality goods with optimal use of its resources. Path of future growth is paved and clear by effective use of QMS Tools of evidence based decision making and Risk based thinking. It is easier to gear up for growing market opportunities and adapt to the socio economic as well as legal requirements if there is a good Quality Management System implemented by the Organisation. System Procedures laid out and defined processes make it easier to take up additional work load and deliver for the increased demand of new orders and contracts.
ISO 9001 is a good starting point for any Organisation to adopt Quality Management System and get certified. ISO 9001 is also a good foundation for implementing many other management standards, such as ISO 14001 for environmental management and ISO 20000 for IT service management, which follow much of the same structure and organization. The international nature of ISO 9001 has already been identified and it is used as the basis when industry groups want to add specific industry requirements, thus creating their own industry standard. These include AS9100 for the aerospace industry, ISO 13485 for the medical devices industry and ISO/TS 16949 for the automotive industry.