The team at Insight Electrical Technology are happy to announce that we recently achieved an ISO 9001 certification. This certification provides additional proof of the quality of our service and demonstrates our commitment to continual improvement through innovation and the development of our workforce.
The ISO 9001 certification
The ISO 9001 certification (the current version being ISO 9001: 2015) is the international standard for a quality management system (QMS), with over 1 million organisations around the world certified to ISO 9001.
To achieve certification, a company’s QMS must meet a list of requirements outlined in the ISO 9001 Standard. At its core, it assesses whether your QMS is good enough and encourages businesses to continuously improve how they run their business.
At IET, we went through the process of applying and obtaining certification with GRS, a leading certification body in Australia and New Zealand. GRS assisted us through the journey, from reviewing our documents to auditing and through to the approval of our certification.
What does it mean to be ISO 9001 certified?
Being ISO 9001 certified allows organisations to show that they can provide a consistent level of quality in their products or services.
The certification also provides the necessary assurances required by some industries and preferred in others; that the organisation conforms to the necessary regulatory requirements. For instance, construction and building companies and their contractors are often required by law or contractual agreement to be certified with ISO 9001. This provides an insurance policy of sorts for those hiring construction companies: to ensure they can reduce waste and costs, build a high-quality product, and work more efficiently on the project.
The criteria to achieve the certification
To achieve the certification, organisations need to satisfy a list of detailed criteria to implement an ISO 9001 certified QMS. The ISO 9001 requirements are split up into 8 clauses, 5 of which pertain to specific requirements in the following areas:
- The QMS
- Management Responsibility
- Resource Management
- Product Realisation
- Measurement, Analysis and Improvement
Organisations must seek the assistance of a certification body to ensure all the above clause are met and everything is in place before submitting the registration to be certified. In our case, GRS assisted us in getting the correct documentation together and executed the audits on our behalf.
Why did we want to be certified?
There are several reasons why we chose to go through the process of becoming certified. A primary objective of our business is to continue to deliver quality results – committed to exceeding expectations, championing improvement, and producing improved efficiency, professionalism and workmanship. Therefore, becoming certified with ISO 9001 was a natural progression for our business to continue to achieve our goals and add an extra level of credibility to the quality of our service.
The benefits for our clients
The primary benefit for customers of an ISO 9001 certified organisation, such as IET, is a consistent level of quality. They can be certain that the product or service they are investing in meets their requirements and will continue to do so for the foreseeable future. This is due to the requirement of certified organisations to continually improve their product or service to keep their certification.
While the organisation’s Internal customers i.e the staff members, also stand to benefit from working for an ISO 9001 certified organisation. They can feel a sense of pride in their work due to a consistent level of quality and the measures being in place to ensure that they can do their best work. Being certified can also help boost morale and performance within the business as staff can work more efficiently and to a higher standard. A win-win for all.