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Hi my company is thinking about getting ISO certification, but we have a good quality program now and are very disciplined when it comes to documentation and for us, I think the ISO tag would only be something to attract new customers, BUT I am really afraid that all of the extra documentation and auditing will lead to more problems than benefits. Does anyone have any input on this. The only link I could find in a quick search was for this site talking about ISO as a selling point which it probably would be for my company, since we have already established our own procedures and documentations. What other benefits would ISO bring???
I think it depends on your company's mission, as well as the needs of your customers. It depends on what your company is manufacturing / selling.
Why will certification attract more customers, in your opinion?
Do you serve an industry that looks for certification? Does the company intend to distribute product internationally?
If you currently have a good quality system in place, why would there be any extra documentation?
Have you conducted a gap analysis? What parts of your quality system need to change? What's missing?
In my opinion, the quality system should not impose burden on your business model. If it's completely non-existent, there would obviously be new requirements which could easily be translated into "burden" - at least until it's shown through your monitoring system that the quality system is effective.
But, then you need to determine what will make your system effective? You could write volumes of procedures, and people could follow them. You could generate a ton of records to prove it. But that doesn't make the system effective. It just means you know how to fill out some forms.
Beginning with your top-level objectives, you can make your quality system work for you. Make it an everyday part of business and an everyday tool to systematically reach your business objectives with an ROI.
With an effective implementation of a quality system, I've seen processes streamlined, overhead cost reduced, work efficiency improved, COGS reduced, improved customer satisfaction, reduction in complaints, improved product reliability... and the list goes on.
I work in an industry where a quality system is mandatory. I've been to many manufacturers whose quality systems were so overburdened, the cost of quality was astronomical. Many organizations jump on a "procedure writing" freight train, and don't stop until they've strangled themselves by their own processes. I went to work for a company once that manufactured two products. They had about 30 manufacturing procedures in place, but nearly 1000 other procedures around the company. Many were duplicated or contradicted one another. I try to approach a quality system from a very practical perspective. The system will never be fully effective unless it speaks to the very heart of a business. It'll always be a thorn in the company's side (an "us against them" mentality) unless it can demonstrate some kind of ROI.
So, bottom line is if changing your current quality system will create additional recurring cost to the company with no ROI, it's not implemented correctly.
I hope that gives you a little insight and good luck with it!
