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The ISO 9001 standard is the most popular quality management system standard in the world. It provides guidelines for organizations that are seeking to implement a quality management system for the production of their products or services provided to their customers. The standard focuses on controls such as: Control of Documents, Control of Records, Control of Nonconformities, Internal Audits, Corrective Actions, Risk Based Thinking and Leadership.

Companies interested in achieving ISO 9001 Certification must implement a quality management system, based upon ISO 9001. The QMS must be in place for a minimum of 3 months, so that the certification body has records to audit against. The primary steps to certification include: develop a Quality Policy; develop a Quality Manual; write required procedures; conduct training for staff; implement your manual and procedures over a 3 month period; conduct an internal audit; conduct a management review meeting; obtain quotes from accredited certification bodies; Stage I audit; address findings from the Stage I audit; Stage II audit; address findings from the Stage II audit; achieve ISO 9001 Certification.

ISO Certification is an actual certificate companies receive from a certification body, once they have undergone a certification audit. Upon successfully passing the certification audit, the certification body will issue your organization a serialized certificate. The certificate will be registered with the certification body, as long as you continue to pass the annual audits by the certification body. It's important to state, that the certificate actually belongs to the certification body — they can withdraw or suspend your certificate for major and repeat findings when they conduct their audit. The certificate does not certify your products or services, but rather indicates that your quality management system has been verified by the certification body to meet the requirements of the respective management system, such as ISO 9001, ISO 45001, ISO 17025, etc. ISO certification does offer a competitive advantage to those that achieve it. One primary advantage is that it allows organizations to be listed as approved vendors by their existing or potential customers. Organizations that pursue ISO certification should see a return on their investment within 1 year.

ISO certification offers a competitive advantage to those that achieve it. One primary advantage is that it allows organizations to be listed as approved vendors by their existing or potential customers. Organizations that pursue ISO certification should see a return on their investment within 1 year. ISO certification allows organizations to reduce their risks and improve operations, because they have policies, processes and procedures (a management system) in place that employees are trained on and execute when performing their duties. The management system provides a strong foundation to support current operations and future growth. Many problems in an organization are due to the lack of clear policies, processes and procedures. ISO certification can assist in addressing such problems.

API Spec Q1 is published by The American Petroleum Institute (API). API Spec Q1 is a Quality Management System Specification for Manufacturing Organizations to the Petroleum and Natural Gas Industry. API Spec Q1 is similar to standards such as ISO 9001, but API Spec Q1 is industry specific. If your organization manufactures, machines or performs repairs for parts and equipment used by the petroleum and natural gas industry, you may want to consider implementing an API Spec Q1 quality management system.

The first thing to point out when pursuing API Spec Q1 certification, is that it should be considered as an investment, not a cost. An investment provides return and increases revenues; a cost is a burden on profits. The investment for consulting services to assist an organization achieve API Spec Q1 certification primarily revolves around the following variables: type and complexity of products or services; how many sites; size of sites (square footage); number of employees; whether you design products; existing systems in place; etc. Other investments to consider when pursuing API Spec Q1 certification include: travel expenses (if not local), time and labor required to implement the system, and actual certification cost ($3k – $7k) per site. Without knowing the answers to these variables, it's hard to provide an estimated investment. The best way to determine the investment for consulting services is to request a proposal.

The first thing to point out when pursuing ISO 9001 Certification, is that it should be considered as an investment, not a cost. An investment provides return and increases revenues; a cost is a burden on profits. The investment for consulting services to assist an organization achieve ISO 9001 certification primarily revolves around the following variables: type and complexity of products or services; how many sites; size of sites (square footage); number of employees; whether you design products; existing systems in place; etc. Other investments to consider when pursuing ISO 9001 certification include: travel expenses (if not local), time and labor required to implement the system, and actual certification cost ($3k – $7k) per site.

Certification Bodies, aka CBs, are the actual companies that issue the certificate for your management system. CBs are accredited most commonly by either ANSI-ASQ National Accreditation Board (ANAB) or United Kingdom Accreditation Service (UKAS). ANAB or UKAS accredits the CBs to issue certificates to your organization. You should always ensure that you are dealing with an accredited CB. There are reputable non-accredited CBs, but we recommend that you use an accredited CB. CBs follow a standard called ISO/IEC 17021, Requirements for bodies providing audit and certification of management systems. ISO 17021 forbids CBs to offer consulting or auditing to their clients, as this is a major conflict of interest. CBs are supposed to be impartial and objective in their efforts to certify you. When getting certified to standards such as ISO 9001, ISO 14001, ISO 17025, etc., organizations have many options and you're not stuck with any specific CB. In fact, we often save our clients between $3k – $5k, because we shop our clients' certification around to various CBs, to get the best price for our client.

There are many benefits in using an ISO 9001 consultant. As consultants, we are experts on management systems such as ISO 9001 and many others. We have assisted hundreds of various types of organizations achieve ISO 9001 Certification and have mastered the process to certification. We are able to assist our clients avoid many of the common pitfalls organizations often face on their journey towards certification. Here are a few main benefits of using MBC&C as your ISO 9001 consultant: Save Lots of Time — many organizations contact us after they've spent sometimes up to 2 years attempting to implement a quality management system; we are typically able to get our clients certified within 4 – 5 months from start to finish. Save Lots of Money — time is money; if we shorten the process for clients by 19 months, we have saved our clients a lot of money. Guaranteed Certification — we offer a 100% guarantee that you will get certified; our clients have been certified by many certification bodies, which means our system has been vetted and proven. Continued Support — we continue to support our clients' management system beyond their initial certification. Achieving certification is simply the first step. A management system must be maintained and continually improved to keep up with the ever-changing needs of industry and customers. Standards change on an average of every 5 years — as we attend specialized training and conferences regarding the latest changes, we are able to bring that right back to our clients.