What is an ISO certification in quality management?
An ISO 9001 certification is a conformity assessment. Many companies that are new to the subject of quality management certainly aim for a QM certificate. But what does this term stand for? After all, what can you imagine under the definition and what is the purpose of quality management certification according to ISO 9001? As already mentioned at the beginning, certification represents a form of conformity test. This means that the fulfillment of the requirements that are placed on a product, a process, a system or a person is checked. An example of a conformity assessment that can be carried out by a manufacturer’s declaration or a certification body is the GS mark for tested safety.
A definition can be found in DIN EN ISO / IEC 17000: 2004 Conformity Assessment – General Terms and Basics. According to this, certification is a “measure by an impartial third party that shows that there is reasonable confidence that a properly designated product, process or properly designated service is in accordance with a specific standard or a specific other normative document.”
What are the advantages of the certification of a quality management system according to ISO 9001?
Certification according to DIN EN ISO 9001, just like a manufacturer or self-declaration, is a form of conformity assessment. Nevertheless, there are differences between these conformity assessments. A manufacturer’s declaration has the disadvantage that it lacks credibility and objectivity. As the name suggests, in the case of a self-declaration or a manufacturer’s declaration, the conformity assessment is carried out by the manufacturer himself. It is difficult for external persons or customers to understand whether the requirements are actually met. Quality management ISO 9001 certification or certification in general is intended to counteract this problem, since the conformity is carried out by a third, independent party.
Unfortunately, the term certification is not protected, so any person or organization can carry out an ISO 9001 certification. However, you can protect yourself and your company from “wrong” certifiers by resorting to an accredited organization when choosing a certification body. The term accreditation means that the competence of a certification organization to carry out specific tasks has been formally recognized. An accredited certification body offers you not only the credibility of your ISO 9001 quality management certificate but also other advantages. If you have implemented an energy management system in accordance with ISO 50001 in your company, you can only benefit from tax advantages, such as the EEG surcharge or peak compensation, if your energy management system has a certificate from an accredited certification body.
What are the areas of application for QM certification?
If you have your quality management system certified, it is a system certification. However, there are also other areas of application. In the following, we will briefly introduce you to these areas of application.
Product certification
A product certification is given when an independent body verifies the fulfillment of quality requirements placed on a product.
System
Certification of a (management) system means that it is checked whether a system meets the requirements of a system-relevant standard or another set of rules, e.g. certification of an ISO 9001 quality management system, ISO 50001 energy management system, ISO 14001 environmental management system or ISO 45001 occupational health and safety management system
Personnel
In the case of personnel certification, the competence of an individual is checked on the basis of defined quality requirements; e.g. certification from the quality management officer (QMO) or environmental management officer (EMO).