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

1.  Diagnosis: the initial stage consists of determining the available resources, the advisability of having an external advisor or of grooming staff internally, or both, and detecting the staff’s commitment.

2.   Commitment: the company is responsible for creating awareness on the importance of initiating the project. The organization’s top management must be involved, otherwise the project will remain just a good intention.

3.   Planning: at this stage it is important to set the timing for each activity to be carried out (points 4 to 9). On average, an ISO9000 project takes between 1 to 1.5 years to implement. If the company is familiar with the manuals, procedures, format controls, etc, the period may drop from 6 to 10 months.

4.   Training: a sensitivity course is initiated for all personnel to raise awareness on the scope of the project and what is expected from each area.

5.   Documentation: all organization policies and forms for meeting the standard are set out in writing through manuals. The operating process instructions are also defined. The decision as to the extent or details of the procedures to be defined is going to depend on the type of organization.

6.  Implementation: this is extremely important since all the policies that have been defined and the procedures that have been developed will be put to practice. It is one of the most difficult stages because it involves participation of the entire staff.

7.  Internal audits: inside company staff performs audits to detect evidence of breaches in documentation, registration or staff knowledge. Internal audits are carried out to learn the status of the system that has been implemented and to detect opportunities for improvement. This is the limit stage to select a certifying company, once the company is ready to receive an audit.

8.   Pre-assessment audits: the certifying company comes to the organization to assess the level of conformity with the quality system. Apre-assessment audit is a mock process of the certification audit that has no validity. It is useful for the company to assess whether it is prepared for certification or it has to make the necessary adjustments.

9.    Certification: the certifying company comes to the organization with the objective of assessing the level of conformity with the quality system and the results of this stage have certifying validity. If all requirements are met, the certifying organization issues a three year certificate under the condition that the company will maintain its quality system. Once the organization is issued a certificate it has to be renewed on the third year. 

10.  Follow-up visits: normally there are two visits per year, but the minimum requirement is of at least one annual visit.