ISO Articles & News

How to Develop Effective Work Plan

A work plan is an important tool that helps individuals, teams, and organizations achieve their goals and objectives in an effective and efficient manner. Work plans help articulate strategies to employees and create a shared purpose. Therefore it is important that a work plan is defined in a manner that it not only ensures that all key areas are covered but also ensures that the final objective is met.

Six Sigma and ISO 9001 Quality Management

When it comes to taking a decision on methodology to improve quality and processes in a company, managers often struggle with a dilemma to choose between Six Sigma or ISO 9001. It is believed that these 2 are a different set of methodologies which will achieve the end objective of improving the processes in an organization and either of these two can be used to achieve this. While there is nothing wrong with this belief, many people fail to understand that these can be used together and can complement each other very well.

Implementing ISO 9001 Improves Business Performance

Business Performance is defined by the capacity of an organization to achieve its goals and anticipated outcomes. Indicators of business performance include product quality, waste control, cost reduction, competitiveness improvement, sale volume, and profitability.

The ISO 9001 sets requirements designed to improve a business ability to improve business performance by addressing all aspects of business planning and monitoring including the assessment of business risks, setting of goals and objectives, defining business processes and monitoring their effectiveness and monitoring business results.

Read more about ISO 9001 and business performance.

Effective Performance Appraisal

A performance appraisal is a pre-determined formal periodic meeting between a manager and an employee, which takes place on matter-of-fact terms after preparation by both parties. A conversation in which attitudes, thoughts, opinions, desires, needs, and challenges in work and relationships are discussed. The appraisal provides the opportunity for an open conversation with the employee, in which the employee provides and receives detailed feedback about his/her work.

Appraisals are a valuable tool for the organisation and should take approximately an hour per employee (non-binding).

How to Develop Effective KPIs

Developing key performance indicator (KPIs)for a business is not a simple task. There can be many that you can identify which may soon become an overhead for every person in the organization. So, how do you decide which one is relevant and would help you achieve business goals?

KPIs should serve as a lead-indicator to future problems and they shall be solely used for this purpose. It is important that you identify the right KPIs which gives you insights into the performance of the functions rather than becoming a set of measurements through which you can hardly infer anything. The right KPI will help you in decision making.

Financial Benefits of Implementing ISO 9001

Are you having a hard time deciding if ISO 9001 will be beneficial for your company? Are you in a dilemma on investing a huge amount of money in getting an ISO 9001 certification and not sure if the certification will bring you any financial benefits in future?

Financial benefits may not be evident immediately after certification but companies do benefit from ISO 9001 certification in the long run in reducing operational cost and increase in Sales.

Key Factors for Successful Implementation of ISO 9001 Quality Management Systems in SME

Management systems are not just tools for large organizations. There are many benefits in implementing ISO 9001 systems in small business. This article discuss the key factors that influence the success of a quality management system implementation by an SME.

Difficulties Small Businesses Face in Implementing Management Systems

Although the different standards, mainly ISO 9001 quality, AS/NZS 4801 safety and ISO 14001 environmental standards are applicable to any organization, regardless of size, small businesses face unique difficulties when trying to implement theses standards.

Types of ISO 9001 Audits

While trying to find out how to get certified, you must have come across various types of audits – internal audits, certification audits, surveillance audits and supplier audits. You might be be wondering if all of these are required to get certified, or you may just be confused with the purpose of each of them and their differences.

ISO Global Client Achieved ISO Certification with PWC

ISO Global client, My Energy Group (MEG), has achieved certification to ISO 9001 with Price Waterhouse Coopers (PWC), one of the four biggest professional services networks in the world.

MEG is a national provider of solar power and LED lighting solutions from residential home owners to full scale commercial systems.

ISO Global consultant, Phillip Lane, worked closely with MEG management on the development of the system. MEG passed their certification audit with PWC Compliance zero non-conformances.

Continual Improvement: the Key to Business Growth!

Do you want your business to move in a positive direction? Want it to be more competitive? Embrace continual improvement! But, what is it precisely?

It is an ongoing improvement of services, products or processes through innovative and incremental improvements.

How is it done?

Among the most commonly used tools for it is “the plan-do-check-act (PDCA) cycle” – a four-step quality model, also referred to as Shewhart Cycle or Deming Cycle.

Why Monitor Customer Satisfaction

Businesses who succeed in a competitive marketplace are the ones that make customer satisfaction a key element of their business strategy. Customer satisfaction is a term used to measure how business product and service offerings meet or surpass the expectation of its customers. It is a requirement of the ISO 9001 standard that the organisation will monitor customer satisfaction. Why is it important for a business to monitor customer satisfaction? Customer satisfaction is important because it provides business owners with a measure to manage and improve their businesses.

Businesses who succeed in a competitive marketplace are the ones that make customer satisfaction a key element of their business strategy. Learn about the top 5 reasons for monitoring customer satisfaction.

Risk Management and ISO 9001 Quality Management

The term risk can be defined as those factors that companies have little to no control of. Risk can further be described as a situation involving exposure to danger. The danger is the possibility of exposing someone or something of value to harm or loss. This definition also refers to the result of uncertainty in situations that can be avoided through pre-emptive action.

The presence of risk in running a business is not at the absence of opportunity. Although risks are often thought of only as hazards, they can present significant opportunities and possibilities. Some of these possibilities include organisational innovation and an increase in competitive advantages which can lead to short and long-term profitability.

ISO 9001 quality management system can be used to further risk-based thinking. Read more: Risk Management and ISO 9001 Quality Management

Safety Management System Give your Customers Confidence

Safety systems have evolved significantly and are requiring manufacturers to respond in an appropriate way.

Manufacturers once viewed safety systems as simple mechanistic shut-down functions, but they have developed into technologies such as safety capable logic, which can react to machine conditions and improve productivity. Read more