What the New Version of ISO 31000 Certification has to say?

The integration of quality management system into the supply chains has become mandatory not only in the manufacturing industry in the United States of America but all over the world. In a recent research, practices required for quality management have been made to disseminate across the supply chains. Honestly speaking, in the previous years, ISO 9001 had been admired more by European and Asian countries in comparison to the USA. The researchers have highlighted the lack of research in this field as the reason behind less popularity of quality assurance certification in the USA. However, now the scenario has been changed. In the USA, the interest in quality management system is rapidly increasing due to the remarkable growth of supply chains. This article is going to provide you with a clear insight into the relationship between ISO 9001 quality management and supply chain quality in the USA.

Supply chain quality can be viewed from different perspectives, such as quality management philosophy, quality award criteria, the requirements for ISO 9001 etc. The series of certifications introduced by ISO is widely diffused across the globe. Quality management principles usually have diffused the supply chains throughout the world. Hence, it is considered as a beneficial structure to assess the quality management of a supply chain. Many ISO experts have related the success of ISO 9001 implementation to the size of the organization, the interpretation of quality management philosophy by the organization and the organization’s strategy for gaining the certification. Several studies have revealed remarkable differences between small and large organizations in terms of gaining quality assurance implementation. In comparison to the larger organizations, the smaller ones exercise less influence on the market. These organizations don’t have a huge capital and human resources. However, they are more flexible, communicative and involved than the larger organizations.

Every supply chain manager should know five things about ISO quality management system. Let’s have a quick glimpse of them:

1. If you are in the beginning stage of the process of meeting the ISO 9001 standard, you are free to choose among various options. Even you don’t need to consider additional requirements within the three years of your certification. When registration is the main requirement in your supply chain, you should focus on engagement with partners so that you can ensure that your organization meets the customers’ demands. Even you can search for forums provided by the Supplier Day Conferences to gain more information and knowledge about quality assurance principles related to the supply chains.

2. Second, it is important to achieve the international management system standards. Every business should ensure that the standards followed by their company remain relevant and worldwide applicable. The new version of this standard requires a key driver as the standardization of a format among management system standards such as ISO 14001 certification, ISO 22000, ISO 50001 etc.

3. The 10-section format is consistent among this type of international standards. The introduction and section 1-3 gives the document itself a context. You may not find these two sections implemented in the registration audit. Let’s find out the auditable sections:

• Section 4- Context of Organization

• Section 5- Leadership

• Section 6- Planning

• Section 7- Support

• Section 8- Operation

• Section 9- Performance Evaluation

• Section 10- Improvement

Since it is a system standard, you may find many interconnections and cross-references throughout the standard. You should read the content thoroughly and review the document once again to note the linkage. In this way, you will be able to understand the benefits of some requirements and insight into the implementation. It is important for ISO 9001 quality management system.

4. Next, you need to assure that you are focusing on the current version only. It is imperative for an organization to upgrade from ISO 9001:2008 to ISO: 2015. This upgrading process can provide you with an advantage when you need to address the risk concerns of the new standard.

5. FMEA or Failure Mode Effects and Analysis is a popular tool that most of the quality professionals are using these days. This method helps an organization to identify the failures of a process or product and assign a value related to the likelihood and severity.

A clear insight into the relationship between the quality management system and supply chains is required when you are responsible for handling a supply chain. Please feel free to share your experience and opinion.