Who Is ISO 9001 Consultant?
ISO 9001 Consulting has been available ever since the ISO management system standards were initially published in the late 1970′s. As of now, nearly a million business companies internationally have been certified to one or more of several ISO business standards. These include ISO 9001, ISO 14001, AS9100, ISO/TS 16949, etc. The statistics that have been accumulated to date indicate that while many organizations deployed ISO standards using internal know-how, those that used outside ISO 9001 consulting services profited the most in terms of speed of implementation, effectiveness and return on investment.
ISO 9001 Consultancy firms provide a numberof services. Let’s take a look at some of these so that you can determine what collection of services would best suit your company:
How To Interpret The ISO 9001 Standard?
The ISO 9001 quality management system standard can be a hard document to understand. It is written in semi-legal language and specifies requirements in in a very general sense. This is deliberately so, as it is meant to consider just about any type of business activity. Many companies have problems relating it to their specific organizations. An experienced ISO 9001 consultant can show you exactly how to apply the standard to your specific business processes.
ISO 9001 Gap Evaluation
Prior to implementing the ISO standard within your organization, you need to know the gap between your existing business practices and controls relative to ISO 9001. Using ISO 9001 consulting services, you can have an evaluation done of your current management system practices, controls and documentation, to determine to what extent you comply to ISO 9001 requirements. The consultant will give you a detailed audit report listing the gaps in your company, along with their recommendations. This will assist in developing your ISO 9001 project implementation plan to accomplish full compliance.
ISO 9001 Project Planning and Organization
Depending size and complexity of your business, an ISO 9001 implementation project can take as few as 4 months to over 18 months to complete. Your ISO project needs to well-planned in terms of time and resources needed, specific activities to be carried out, who will be responsible for each activity, milestone reviews, authorizations, training, dealing with problems, etc. A good ISO 9001 consultant can be an invaluable resource in assisting a business address with this important activity.
ISO 9001 Business Process Identification and Documentation
ISO 9001 views business processes as the main point of control. These include internal as well as outsourced processes. Quite a few companies have issues differentiationg between processes, departments and functional activities. ISO 9001 consulting experts can assist you identify and effectively document all organizational processes pertaining to your quality management system. These include customer-oriented, management, product realization, resource planning, measurement, support and outsourced processes.
ISO 9001 System Development and Implementation
The main thrust of the ISO 9001 standard is on effective planning, operation and control of thrust all relevant quality management system processes. This is probably the most time-consuming and difficult aspect of any ISO implementation project. Many questions may arise as to what processes must be be controlled, what should be an effective control, how best to communicate and implement it, the inter-process impact, how to set process goals and objectives and what records to keep. Here is where using external ISO 9001 consulting will significantly help in answering these questions, provide focus and speed up implementation.
ISO 9001 Management System Documentation
The latest ISO 9001:2008 standard minimizes the emphasis on documentation and maximizes its attention on effective planning and control. Adequate documentation is however needed for many business processes in order to establish consistent application of effective controls. Some business have either too much or too little documentation. An experienced consultant can help your organization determine where it is needed, how much and how it should be documented.
ISO 9001 Pre-assessment
ISO 9001 Registrars (also referred to as Certification Bodies) conduct their certification audit in two stages. In stage 1, they determine your state of readiness (which includes your planning, documentation and internal review activities) and in stage 2 they evaluate your management system for effective implementation of planned controls, in both cases relative to the ISO 9001 standard. After spending several months of implementation, you feel your company ready for the certification audit, it might be useful to use external consulting to do an assessment to determine if you are truly ready, identify any issues and help you take appropriate corrective action, prior to the Registrar audit.
ISO 9001 Training
ISO 9001 Consultancy services generally provide a number of training alternatives. These include
- ISO 9001 awareness training to employees at all levels
- An executive summary of the ISO standard to senior management
- Process identification, mapping, analysis and improvement
- ISO project management
- ISO documentation and implementation
- Internal audit
- Use of problem-solving tools
Based on the amount of internal expertise inside your organization, you may want to have an external ISO 9001 consulting service provide some or all of this training.
Develop and Maintain your ISO 9001 Internal Audit Program
To be certified and maintain your certification, the ISO 9001 Standard requires your organization to plan and conduct an internal audit program of its quality management system. In these days, some comapnies are short on resources, internal audit expertise and personnel availability outsource the upkeep of their internal audit programs to ISO 9001 consulting firms.
ISO 9001 Continual Improvement Process
The ISO 9001 standard requires your quality management system to be dynamic and work towards continually improving the effectiveness and efficiency of your organization and enhance customer satisfaction. Some ISO 9001 consulting firms have diversified skills and experience in continual improvement strategies and methods. These mayinclude problem-solving, six sigma, lean manufacturing, use of various business software and tools, etc. They can significantly accelerate your pace at gaining further operational efficiency, customer satisfaction and increased business profitability.

Who Is ISO 9001 Consultant?

ISO 9001 Consulting has been available ever since the ISO management system standards were initially published in the late 1970′s. As of now, nearly a million business companies internationally have been certified to one or more of several ISO business standards. These include ISO 9001, ISO 14001, AS9100, ISO/TS 16949, etc. The statistics that have been accumulated to date indicate that while many organizations deployed ISO standards using internal know-how, those that used outside ISO 9001 consulting services profited the most in terms of speed of implementation, effectiveness and return on investment.

ISO 9001 Consultancy firms provide a numberof services. Let’s take a look at some of these so that you can determine what collection of services would best suit your company:

How To Interpret The ISO 9001 Standard?

The ISO 9001 quality management system standard can be a hard document to understand. It is written in semi-legal language and specifies requirements in in a very general sense. This is deliberately so, as it is meant to consider just about any type of business activity. Many companies have problems relating it to their specific organizations. An experienced ISO 9001 consultant can show you exactly how to apply the standard to your specific business processes.

ISO 9001 Gap Evaluation

Prior to implementing the ISO standard within your organization, you need to know the gap between your existing business practices and controls relative to ISO 9001. Using ISO 9001 consulting services, you can have an evaluation done of your current management system practices, controls and documentation, to determine to what extent you comply to ISO 9001 requirements. The consultant will give you a detailed audit report listing the gaps in your company, along with their recommendations. This will assist in developing your ISO 9001 project implementation plan to accomplish full compliance.

ISO 9001 Project Planning and Organization

Depending size and complexity of your business, an ISO 9001 implementation project can take as few as 4 months to over 18 months to complete. Your ISO project needs to well-planned in terms of time and resources needed, specific activities to be carried out, who will be responsible for each activity, milestone reviews, authorizations, training, dealing with problems, etc. A good ISO 9001 consultant can be an invaluable resource in assisting a business address with this important activity.

ISO 9001 Business Process Identification and Documentation

ISO 9001 views business processes as the main point of control. These include internal as well as outsourced processes. Quite a few companies have issues differentiationg between processes, departments and functional activities. ISO 9001 consulting experts can assist you identify and effectively document all organizational processes pertaining to your quality management system. These include customer-oriented, management, product realization, resource planning, measurement, support and outsourced processes.

ISO 9001 System Development and Implementation

The main thrust of the ISO 9001 standard is on effective planning, operation and control of thrust all relevant quality management system processes. This is probably the most time-consuming and difficult aspect of any ISO implementation project. Many questions may arise as to what processes must be be controlled, what should be an effective control, how best to communicate and implement it, the inter-process impact, how to set process goals and objectives and what records to keep. Here is where using external ISO 9001 consulting will significantly help in answering these questions, provide focus and speed up implementation.

ISO 9001 Management System Documentation

The latest ISO 9001:2008 standard minimizes the emphasis on documentation and maximizes its attention on effective planning and control. Adequate documentation is however needed for many business processes in order to establish consistent application of effective controls. Some business have either too much or too little documentation. An experienced consultant can help your organization determine where it is needed, how much and how it should be documented.

ISO 9001 Pre-assessment

ISO 9001 Registrars (also referred to as Certification Bodies) conduct their certification audit in two stages. In stage 1, they determine your state of readiness (which includes your planning, documentation and internal review activities) and in stage 2 they evaluate your management system for effective implementation of planned controls, in both cases relative to the ISO 9001 standard. After spending several months of implementation, you feel your company ready for the certification audit, it might be useful to use external consulting to do an assessment to determine if you are truly ready, identify any issues and help you take appropriate corrective action, prior to the Registrar audit.

ISO 9001 Training

ISO 9001 Consultancy services generally provide a number of training alternatives. These include

- ISO 9001 awareness training to employees at all levels

- An executive summary of the ISO standard to senior management

- Process identification, mapping, analysis and improvement

- ISO project management

- ISO documentation and implementation

- Internal audit

- Use of problem-solving tools

Based on the amount of internal expertise inside your organization, you may want to have an external ISO 9001 consulting service provide some or all of this training.

Develop and Maintain your ISO 9001 Internal Audit Program

To be certified and maintain your certification, the ISO 9001 Standard requires your organization to plan and conduct an internal audit program of its quality management system. In these days, some comapnies are short on resources, internal audit expertise and personnel availability outsource the upkeep of their internal audit programs to ISO 9001 consulting firms.

ISO 9001 Continual Improvement Process

The ISO 9001 standard requires your quality management system to be dynamic and work towards continually improving the effectiveness and efficiency of your organization and enhance customer satisfaction. Some ISO 9001 consulting firms have diversified skills and experience in continual improvement strategies and methods. These mayinclude problem-solving, six sigma, lean manufacturing, use of various business software and tools, etc. They can significantly accelerate your pace at gaining further operational efficiency, customer satisfaction and increased business profitability.