Quality management principles to ensure business success

The success - or failure - of all businesses largely depends on the quality of the products and services they supply. This, in turn, depends on finding the right balance between investment and returns. Develop goods and services that are of too low a standard and no one will buy them; put too much into creating high-quality products and services and you may price yourself out of the market in an attempt to recover your costs. This is where quality management comes in.

A quality management system (QMS) establishes process-driven methods of producing and delivering products and services with consistent results. Assuming your QMS processes are effective, your products and services will meet the expected quality levels every time, giving you greater control over production costs and increasing customer satisfaction.

Currently used by more than 1.1 million organisations worldwide, the international standard ISO 9001:2015 is the world's most established quality framework. It specifies the best-practice requirements for a QMS that organisations can use to:

demonstrate their ability to consistently provide products and services that meet customer and applicable regulatory requirements;
enhance customer satisfaction;
manage costs and improve efficiency.
An ISO 9001-compliant QMS is adaptable, continually improves to meet organisational and market requirements, and includes processes for the assurance of conformity and applicable regulatory requirements.

Product overview

ISO 9001:2015 - A Pocket Guide is a handy reference book that provides an overview of the ISO 9001 quality management standard. It includes:

a brief history of quality management and ISO 9001;
useful definitions of ISO 9001 terminology;
a discussion of the requirements of the Standard, including an in-depth examination of clauses 4 to 10 of ISO 9001, which specify the requirements for a QMS; and
some of the myths about ISO 9001 certification.
This is the perfect introduction to the Standard, and will help ensure the quality of your products and services, increase customer satisfaction, and enhance your business's efficiency.

About the authors

Steve G Watkins has been working with quality management standards since the days of BS 5750, first applying it in a leisure centre and then other service sector environments. In addition to quality, his experience includes environment, health and safety, information security, business continuity, and IT service management systems, working with the relevant British and international standards. Steve sits on a number of UK technical committees that contribute to ISO's work developing and revising standards in the areas of risk, information security and service management. He also contracts to UKAS as a technical assessor, giving him a strong understanding of accredited certification.

Nick Orchiston is a management systems consultant with more than 20 years' experience encompassing quality (ISO 9001), health & safety (OHSAS 18001), environmental (ISO 14001), IT service management (ITIL/ISO 20000) and information security (ISO 27001) management systems. He has successfully supported a wide variety of organisations, from SMEs to global corporations, through to accredited certification to all of these standards. Nick also created the IT Governance Toolkits for ISO 9001, ISO 14001, ISO 16001, ISO 50001, and OHSAS 18001 standards, used across the globe by project implementers.

Buy your copy of ISO 9001:2015 - A Pocket Guide now to learn how an ISO 9001:2015-compliant QMS will help your business thrive.