The answer is . . . . it depends.
It depends on your current business needs, where you want your business to be in the future, and how you want to use it. The way I see it, every business owner or manager wants to grow their business and reduce costs. Believe it or not, ISO 9001 can help you achieve just that.
If you want your business to grow then ISO 9001 can help you to:
- Win lucrative tenders.
- Supply the government and big business.
- Expand your customer base.
If you want to reduce costs then ISO 9001 can help you to:
- Decrease defects and waste.
- Increase efficiencies.
- Improve consistency be it in the products and services you supply, the processes through which you supply them, or how your staff do their job.
An ISO 9001 Quality Management System is just that, a Management System. Well designed with the end user in mind, it will help you to achieve all of the above and more. It will help you to systematize your business so that it runs well when you are not looking over people’s shoulders, when you are not checking every output, even when you are on holidays.
A well designed ISO 9001 (or AS 4801 or OHSAS 18001 or ISO 14001) management system is simply a communication tool. It will communicate to all your staff how you want your business to be run utilizing the best knowledge, skills, experience and know how available. This raises another important point. Developing an effective management system is a team effort, as is maintain it and improving it. Involve your staff and you will not only harness all their abilities but you will also gain their commitment.
Just remember – KEEP IT SIMPLE and
“If you always do what you always did, you’ll always get what you always got”.
If you’d like some guidance or need a sounding board please email me at liz.cole@groweq.com.au. Alternatively, visit my website where you’ll find my Top 5 Essential Tips and free ISO 9001 procedures.
All the best – Liz
