FAQS

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ISO 9000 is a set of rules that companies follow to assure that they have the systems needed to meet their customers' needs. It involves writing procedures, following them, and getting the same audited by an accredited registrar who after satisfying himself (by examining the systems) will certify that the required standards are being followed and will then grant certification

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The term ISO stands for the International Organization for Standardization having its headquarters in Switzerland. You would reasonably assume that it ought to be IOS, but it isn't. Apparently, the term ISO was chosen (instead of IOS), because iso in Greek means equal, and ISO wanted to convey the idea of equality - the idea that they develop standards to place organizations on an equal footing

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To talk to ISO in Switzerland, please use ISO's Contact Page.

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Unfortunately, the ISO standards aren't free. You have to pay for them. If you wish to purchase the authorised copy thereof you may contact the nearest office of Bureau of Indian Standards. You may also purchase it directly from ISO headquarters at Switzerland at:http://www.iso.ch/iso/en/prods-services/ISOstore/store.html

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No. ISO does not issue ISO 9000 certificates of any kind. "ISO is not an auditor, assessor, registrar or certifier of management systems, products, services, materials or personnel, nor does it endorse any such activities performed by other parties. ISO develops International Standards but does not operate any schemes for assessing conformance with them".

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The purpose of ISO 9001:2015 is to assure customers that suppliers can provide quality products and services. It is intended to serve the needs of customers. ISO 9001:2015 is for customers. Supplier needs are secondary. So, why would you want to become ISO 9001:2015 certified? We recommend that you become ISO 9001:2015 certified if you meet at least one of the following conditions:

• You need to control the quality of your products and services.
• You need to reduce the costs associated with poor quality.
• Your customers want you to become certified.
• Your markets expect you to be certified.
• Your competitors are already certified.

• Competitive Advantage
• Improves Business Performance
• Attracts Investments
• Enhances Brand Value
• Saves Money
• Streamline Operations
• Increase your customer satisfactions

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ISO 9001:2015 can improve your company's financial performance if it is properly implemented. An ISO 9001:2015 Quality Management System can help you to improve your bottom line because it can reduce the costs associated with poor quality (the cost of repairs, rework, complaints, returns, warranty work, law suits, etc.). And, of course, if ISO 9001 helps you keep your old customers and attract new ones, it will certainly improve your financial performance.

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No. IS0 9001 will not certify the quality of your products and services. That's because it's a process standard, not a product standard. When an organization gets ISO 9001:2015 certified, it means that its quality management processes have met ISO's requirements

This also means that your packaging, advertising, and marketing documents and programs must not imply or suggest that the quality of your products and services have ISO 9001:2015 certification.

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Yes it does. That's because it's a generic standard. It applies to all kinds of organizations. It doesn't matter what they do or how big they are. They can be product oriented or service oriented. The standard works the same in all cases.

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The term ISO 9000 has two meanings: a broad one and a narrow one. In the broad sense, the term ISO 9000 includes at least the following standards: ISO 9000:2000, ISO 9001:2000, ISO 9004:2000. In the narrow sense, the term ISO 9000 refers only to the ISO 9000:2000 standard (which talks about definitions and vocabulary). However generally the term ISO 9000 refers to the ISO 9001:2000 standard.

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None. There is no difference. In some countries companies say they're certified, and in others they say they're registered. It's the same thing.

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When a company claims that they are ISO 9000 certified or registered, they mean that an independent registrar has audited their quality system and certified that it meets the ISO 9001:2000 requirements. It means that a registrar has given a written assurance that ISO's quality management system standard has been met. However, when a company says that they are ISO 9000 compliant, they usually mean that they have met ISO's quality system requirements but have not been formally certified by an independent registrar. In effect, they are self-certified. This is perfectly acceptable for many companies, especially small ones. Of course, an official Certificate does tend to carry more weight in the market place.

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The phases of ISO 9000 certification consists of two parts i.e., documentation and certification.

The documentation part can be done in house or by the help of a consultants. Normally every company takes the services of a experienced consultant to develop and introduce the system.

The certification is done by an agency accredited in this regard. The certification agency normally divides into activities into two parts documentation review which may be done with or without visits to your works and compliance audit which is conducted at your site.

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Probably you could buy a copy of the ISO 9000 standards and attempt to do it yourself, but this will probably lead to higher cost and more time to achieve certification since you will also have to employ specialised people for the job who may become workless after certification is achieved. Such people being employees may not enjoy the degree of freedom which a consultant would enjoy. You may achieve certification eventually, but your quality system will probably not be effective and efficient. You must find a good consultant who not only has a track record of helping clients achieve ISO 9000 certification, but also has the ability to improve the way you operate

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This depends on several factors including :

• How much of the work a company is willing to do itself;
• How large the company is;
• How many sites the company has and where they are located;

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Yes the SSI ministry of Govt. of India and some of the state Govts. have a scheme of subsidy but only to those units who hold permanent SSI registration. The amount granted by the SSI ministry of the Govt. of India is 75% of defined expenses subject to a ceiling of Rs.75,000/-. The amount and norms differ from state govt. to state govt.

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When choosing a registrar, we suggest that you:

• Make sure that the registrar's ISO 9000 certificates are recognized and respected in your industry and the people you are dealing with
• Ensure that your registrar has been formally certified by a recognized accreditation body.
• Find out whether your registrar has.
• Find out whether your registrar has been authorized to issue ISO 9000 certificates in your specific industry.
• Ask for the list of the clients already certified by the registrar

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ISO does not specify a document format. How you format your ISO 9000 documents is entirely up to you. However, ISO does expect you to control your ISO 9000 documents. For more information about how to control your documents, please see the next question (below).

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Your organization must develop and document a procedure to control quality documents. Your procedure must ensure that you:

• Approve documents before you distribute them.
• Provide the correct version of documents at points of use.
• Review and re-approve documents whenever you update them.
• Specify the current revision status of your documents.
• Identify changes that are made to documents.
• Preserve the usability of your quality documents.
• Preserve the identity of your documents.
• Preserve the readability of your documents.
• Monitor documents that come from external sources.
• Identify documents that come from the outside.
• Control the distribution of these external documents.
• Prevent the accidental use of obsolete documents.
• Identify obsolete documents that have been retained.

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A quality manual is just a document, while a quality system is a network of processes. They're two different things. Your quality manual is all about paperwork, while your quality system is a web of REAL processes.

A quality system is a network of interrelated processes. A process is made up of people, work, activities, tasks, records, documents, forms, resources, rules, regulations, reports, materials, supplies, tools, equipment, and so on - all the things that are needed to transform inputs into outputs. In general, a quality system includes all the things that are used to regulate, control, and improve the quality of your products and services. This is always unit specific and possibly no computer program or software can make a quality system which is universally applicable. So do develop your quality systems as per your set up and requirement.

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A procedure describes how a process is performed, while a work instruction describes how a task is performed. Work instructions tend to be more detailed than procedures.

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Procedures and work instructions can take any suitable form as long as the result is effective. ISO does not specify what form these documents should take. Procedures can take the form of a narrative, a flow chart, a process map, or any other suitable form. As long as the procedure is effective, it really doesn't matter what it looks like.

Work instructions can also take any suitable form. However, one of the best ways to document a work instruction is to use a form. Forms are particularly useful because they become records once they're filled in.

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Work instructions describe how tasks should be done, while records document how tasks were actually done. Work instructions are used before the task is performed, while records are used after the task has been performed

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Corrective actions are steps that are taken to remove the causes of existing nonconformities, while preventive actions are steps that are taken to remove the causes of potential nonconformities. Corrective actions address actual problems, ones that have already occurred, while preventive actions address potential problems, ones that haven't yet occurred. In general, the corrective action process is a problem solving process, while the preventive action process is a risk analysis process

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Design verification is a process whose purpose is to examine design outputs and to use objective evidence to confirm that outputs meet design input requirements. Your purpose here is to see whether your design outputs meet your organization's design goals.

Design validation is a process whose purpose is to examine products and to use objective evidence to confirm that these products meet customer needs and expectations. Your purpose here is to see whether your product does what your customer or user wants it to do under real-world conditions.

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In order to determine how long it will take to become SA 8000 certified or registered, you have to figure out how long it will take to develop or upgrade your social management system. One way of figuring this out is to start with a Gap Analysis. A Gap Analysis will tell you what steps you need to take to upgrade or develop your management systems. In general, it can take an average of 6 months to develop a complete social management system. How long it will actually take will depend on a lot of factors, most especially your compliance to the requirements regarding child labor, forced labor, health and safety, freedom of association and right to collective bargaining, discrimination, disciplinary practices, working hours, remuneration and management systems.

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This is one of our most popular questions. Unfortunately, there is no simple answer. How much it costs depends on a lot of factors. It depends on how long you take to develop your social management system. How many people are involved, whether you hire outside consultants or not, and how much your registrar charges.

So instead of trying to give you a simple answer, we’ll show you how to construct your own answer. One approach is to start with a Gap Analysis. Once you know what needs to be done, you can figure out how long the work should take, who should do it, and how much it should cost. With this kind of information, you can plan your system development project and prepare a budget using the following kinds of cost categories:

Internal costs

• Gap Analysis
• Taking corrective and preventive actions in order to qualify for compliance
• Cost of preparing for an audit
• If there are non-conformances, corrective actions may be taken in order to resolve problems
• identified by the auditors.

External costs

• Services
• Consultants
• Registrars