How can Small Companies afford and meet the needs of ISO 9001 accreditation?

[ysid69]

how could small companies which are too small to afford full time quality staff ,controll documentation and meet the needs of ISO 9000 series accreditation.
i will be very grateful if you give me some examples from your experience.

thank you guys

 

[Claes Gefvenberg]

how could small companies which are too small to afford full time quality staff ,controll documentation and meet the needs of ISO 9000 series accreditation.
i will be very grateful if you give me some examples from your experience.

thank you guys

I posted a number of links in your thread Why are the principles of controlled documentation important to a QMS? I think they basically cover this question too.

/Claes

 

[Randy]

For the small organization the greatest amount of cost would most probably be external (the costs associated with the registrar, possible outside assistance,training courses from external providers, etc).

The small organization should rely as much as possible on their intenal assets, try to use a mentoring organization that may already have a system in place, use local assistance that may have little or no cost (like members of a quality association), small business assistance organizations, and so on.

The task is only as daunting as the organization makes it.

 

[Wes Bucey]

The final part of the equation is understanding why your organization seeks third party registration versus "self-declared compliance" to the Standard. Is this a customer requirement? If so, you have to balance the cost of registration against the poetential profit from that customer and others you may gain as a result of "qualifying" as a supplier by virtue of your third party registration. If you do the calculation and the profit isn't sufficient to cover the cost, you have to ask yourself if you can find other customers who don't require registration.

 

[Jen Kirley]

I agree with Wes. I know of a nice family owned calibration facility that didn't agree it was necessary to register ISO, but they made themselves compliant to the standard and advertised that. They have been doing well.

 

[qualitygoddess - 2010]

Small Can Do ISO

how could small companies which are too small to afford full time quality staff ,controll documentation and meet the needs of ISO 9000 series accreditation.
i will be very grateful if you give me some examples from your experience.

thank you guys

I am assisting a 9 person company with this very task. I've set everything up for them on their intranet, and everyone can easily access the documents at their desktop computers. Updates are simple, too. The office manager just follows the procedure for the updates, if they need something before I would be scheduled to stop in. I stop in two times per week right now, as we are getting ready for the ISO 9001 initial assessment in a few months. Otherwise, I will come in once a week for 4 hours to help them keep up with everything.

All told, it will cost them less than 0.5% of sales in a year to keep everything up-to-date and functioning, including the cost of registration. I realize this number will be different, based on sales for the company.

--JM

 

[Sidney Vianna]

how could small companies which are too small to afford full time quality staff ,controll documentation and meet the needs of ISO 9000 series accreditation.
i will be very grateful if you give me some examples from your experience.

thank you guys

Try (broken link removed).

 

[Carl Keller]

Welllll....................

I worked for a mid size (250 people) division of a larger corporation that I convinced to self declare rather than register. It worked out fine. The only advantage/reason I could see in registering was if our customers REQUIRED us to register.

I put a certificate up in the reception area stating we declared compliance to ISO 9001:2000 as of xx/xx date. I put my signature as well as my credentials below.

Nobody ever questioned it. We also offered to host any/all of their Quality auditors for an ISO based audit at any time they wished.

It would seem that our willingness to lay it all out in the open gave them a very good sense of security where our QMS was concerned.

The registration is not worth the paper it is printed on anyway. It is basically a worthless document that costs the company several thousand dollars with no benefit.

If you are REQUIRED to register, develop the best system you can and get the cheapest registrar that you can find. Save your money for something that yeilds a return on your investment.

Just my opinion that is likely to stir some comment.

Carl-

 

[db]

I've worked with numerous small (less than 25) companies. In certain aspects, ISO is easier on small companies. Because they have less folks, their processes tend to use less folks, which means that they are less complex. So, the resulting documentation is less complex as well. I have also found that smaller organizations (at least in my neck of the woods) tend to have less turnover. This changes everything from training to work instructions. They have less suppliers, and quite often less customers. In many cases customer specific requirements may be waived (even in TS). They also tend to have much quicker reaction and response times.

All, in all, I would much rather work with a small company than a large one.

 

[joanne24783 - 2005]

Hiya, I'm also from the UK and think its great that as a small company you are looking at implementing ISO!!!!
Having just graduated from university with a BSC Hons in quality management i am currently implementing ISO for a medium sized brewery on a fairly low wage.
So why not do something similar and get in touch with a university who teaches TQM degrees and offer a placement.
I can say that if you manage to find someone passionate who knows there stuff on ISO you can seriously benefit and at a bargain price, whilst at the same time giving the student/graduate the chance to gain some much needed experience.
I have just improved one of the internal processes here and am delighted.
Direct them here to the cove if they need some assistance the people are great, and I have found it so helpful.
Big thankyou again to all of you who helped me on my thread titled
"Implementing ISO in the operations department of a brewery"