Discontinuing ISO 9001 certification

[Mike S.]

Sure, certification does not ensure compliance. But it takes a VERY special culture for a company to truly meet requirements (ISO9001, AS9100, etc.) without being externally audited as a way of providing "incentive".

Just like operator self-inspection, it can work well, but it's not for everyone - or not for most.

 

[LUV-d-4UM]

Has anyone experienced discontinuing their certification? After deliberating over the issue our company has decided to drop from ISO certification. What now? How long has anyone allowed registrar logos to continue on business forms before destroying them? How about banners? What are others doing in this instance?

Should you decide to discontinue to comply with industry-required certification, you need to consider the internal and external parties who are interested in your Quality Management System. Examples are: Stakeholders, Sales and Marketing, Customer and your CB.

 

[LUV-d-4UM]

Sounds like they weren't doing it right...

As long as you are not shipping your product overseas, I guess it is OK not to be registered to ISO. But if you have customers who have what they call "customer specific requirements" you may need to get a waiver from them.

 

[michajel86]

It depends on contracts between your company and your partners .

In case that you have contracts with customers where the requirement for certification exist , you can get in serious troubles.
But:
Also keep in mind that you will be audited by your customers acc. to requirements of this standard.So you can not just throw away some processes or obligations from 9001 . BTW , have you checked the version 2015 ? Still doesnt fit ?

 

[JoShmo]

BTW , have you checked the version 2015 ? Still doesnt fit ?

The OP is only talking about dropping certification, not whether ISO "fits".

 

[michajel86]

You are right, I just pointed that there is a new version that could be better for his company than previous one. So probably he can decide to keep certification .Nothing more, nothing less

 

[SpinDr99]

I know there's a lot of talk, consideration and action about achieving or dropping ISO9001 certification. Until my current position, I've always been in certified companies. My current company is compliant based on our sole customer (government) requirement. To add a little more into the mix, we're only required to be compliant to ISO-9001:2008. While some might say "Great! Now we can save the bucks!" The real problem comes when people become lax and say "Well, now that we don't have an auditor coming in looking over our shoulder, what's the problem if we don't do what the standard says to the letter?". So now, you have people who don't take compliance seriously because there's no "bite" in the "bark". Now that I'm in a compliant company, I'd MUCH rather be certified.

 

[gpainter]

ISO is a great start to a QMS! unfortunately most companies do not utilize it to its full extent and are only minimalist.

 

[AndyN]

Dropping certification puts the (cost) burden back on the customer to audit the supplier. With that comes the additional risk of the customer auditors NOT being competent to do the audit - a situation you can't easily correct. With a CB you can at least make arrangements to have an auditor who knows your process/industry and you can work with (or change CBs!).

Having been a Supply Chain manager for a number of years, I'd much rather lower the burden (on me) by using an ISO certified (IAF accredited) supplier.

 

[hogheavenfarm]

Maybe, but we are finding this not to be the case. Our customers continue to audit us regardless, so it makes better sense for us not to bother. We maintain 2008 compliance only, and would never consider 2015 version at this point.