SMEs (small and medium enterprises) that include quality management activities as an integral part of their company management system improve their conditions for competing in the international market. One of the most practical ways of doing so is by applying general standards such as those set forth by the International Standards Organization (ISO). According to the website Normas y Certificaciones, the ISO9000 family of standards basically sets out criteria for a quality management system that can be applied to any type of organization or activity dealing in the production of goods or services.
What is a quality management system (QMS)?
It is a set of organized processes needed for the product or service to meet client, consumer or customer demands. It consists of standards and guides related with management systems and specific tools such as auditing methods (activity for verifying that processes meet the standards.)
PROMPERU describes the main benefits of implementing these criteria: improves client satisfaction, continuously improves quality-related processes, increases productivity and reduces production or service losses.
Why the ISO9000 series?
The objective of the ISO is to promote the development of international standards for the industry and its related activities, including compliance with these standards to facilitate the exchange of goods and services worldwide. To date over 16,000 standards have been published towards different ends, among them the ISO9000 series.
This is the most important series due to the fact that the 9001 standard specifies the requirements for developing a QMS. Originally this series of standards was laid out for companies in the manufacturing industry, whereby its implementation by services companies was excessively bureaucratic and not very convenient.
The 2000 revision created a standard that would adapt better to all types of organizations and could be easily applied to small and medium enterprises. This is why in the last decade its application has expanded rapidly to other sectors in the economy.
FUNDES highlights that QMS implementation and certification based on ISO 9000 standards has shown sustained growth worldwide due to the increase in client satisfaction and quality requirements.
Advantages:
A QMS enables SMEs to compete with larger companies and assures their clients that their products and services maintain constant quality. Additionally, QMSs implicitly require continuous improvement of the production processes. For example, the ISO 9000:2000 standard requires a systematic approach on meeting and maintaining increased productivity, client satisfaction and other objectives set forth by the company.
According to data published by the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC), there are over 450,000 companies in the world certified in ISO 9001. Below follow the benefits obtained by the majority of these companies:
External:
- High levels of customer satisfaction
- High perception of quality
- Increase in volume of orders
- Increase in exports
Internal:
- Improves the organization’s productivity and efficiency
- Consistently improves products or services
- Increases personal efficiency
- Increase operational efficiency
- Reduces expenditures and losses
- Improves decision making
- Improves internal communication
Follow Us