International Organization for Standardization referred to as ISO. It is an independent organization that sets standards for the effectiveness, safety, and caliber of goods and services offered by companies. Delivering high-quality goods and services is crucial in the current corporate environment of higher competition to remain competitive. The overall effectiveness of the business and your company's credibility both benefit from ISO certification.
India's prerequisites for the ISO certification process
Selecting the ISO Certification type
You must first decide which type of ISO certification your company
needs. There are several kinds of ISO certification offered, including:
A.
Quality Management Standard ISO 9001
B.
Environmental Management Standard ISO 14001
C.
Information security Management according to ISO 27001
D.
Conformity assessment | Inspection Bodies ISO 17020
E. ISO 22000 - Food Safety Management, and many others.
Making an ISO Certification Body selection
It should be emphasized that companies do not receive accreditation from
ISO directly. External bodies carry out certification. You must select a
reputable and well-known certifying authority. You should consider the
following factors while selecting the ISO registrar:
- A variety of ISO
Certification service providers should be evaluated.
- Verify that they are
adhering to CASCO guidelines. The ISO committee known as CASCO deals with
matters about conformity assessment.
- Verify the organization's accreditation. Although accreditation is not required, they must adhere to the standards set by ISO Accreditation agencies.
India's ISO Certification Procedure
Make a proposal or contract.
A contract between the applicant and the registrar is required. This agreement typically outlines the parties' respective rights and duties and addresses matters of liability, confidentiality, and access.
Review of Quality Documents
All of your quality manuals and papers about the various organizational policies and processes will be examined by the ISO auditor. The ISO auditor will be able to find any potential gaps against the specifications outlined in the ISO standards by reviewing the already completed work.
Create a plan of action.
Following the ISO auditor's disclosure of the gaps currently present in your company, you should create an action plan to close these gaps. Make a list of the tasks that must be completed to bring about the necessary improvements in your organization. It can be necessary for you to provide training to your staff so they can operate effectively while adjusting to new practices. Make sure every employee is aware of the ISO requirements for both quality and productivity at work.
Audit for initial certification
Stage 1 and Stage 2 are the two categories used to categorize the initial certification audit.
Stage 1: The ISO auditor will examine the adjustments you made to the company. They will then make an effort to find any potential deviations from the required quality management system in your systems and processes. These non-conformities will be separated into minor and major non-conformities. All of these non-conformities must be carefully evaluated by the applicant to align them with the intended quality standards through adjustments to the organization's methods and procedures.
Stage 2: The ISO auditor conducts the final auditing after the organization has made all the necessary modifications. According to ISO quality standards, the auditor will determine whether or not any non-conformities have been eradicated. The final ISO audit report will be created and sent to the registrar if the ISO auditor is satisfied.
ISO Certification completion
The registrar will award you the ISO certification if all non-conformities have been resolved and all findings have been documented in the ISO audit report.
Surveillance audits
The main purpose of a surveillance audit is to confirm that an
organization is upholding the ISO quality requirements.
It is conducted from time to time.
The price of obtaining ISO certification
The price to become ISO certified isn't set and varies from company to
company. The ISO certification body takes into account various factors, such as
the following when calculating the cost of ISO certification for each
organization:
- Number of personnel
- The number of processes
- Risk level related to the
organization's service offering
- System management's
complexity
- The number of shifts worked, etc.
How long does the ISO certification process take?
The length of time needed to complete the entire ISO Certification
procedure varies from company to company. The ISO certification body can
provide a fair estimate after determining the size of the business.
