Steps to Preserve ISO 9001 Certification during Corporate Acquisition?

R

River

I am working with a very large company that is acquiring another very large company that is ISO 9001 certified. The acquiring company is not ISO 9001 certified (although it may become ISO 9001 certified in the future). I am interested in learning what the acquiring company may or may not do in order to preserve the acquired company's ISO 9001 certification in the short term. For example, the acquiring company may want to merge some operations in order to achieve cost savings....are there any practical guidelines that I can suggest so that integration of the two companies does not jeopardize the acquired company's ISO 9001 certification in the short-term? Any recommended steps would be greatly appreciated. By the way, I am NOT an ISO 9001 expert so this is all new to me!
 

AndyN

Moved On
Well, the certificate should remain intact, for the company which has it. The ownership status MAY need to change to name on the cert. It's worth calling the CB's management and talking to them.
 
I

isoalchemist

Yes, Talk with your CB/Registrar. So much depends on how the organizations merge and the interactions/overlap of the two. It certainly is possible to have one organization registered and the other not. At one point we had 3 plants registered as stand alone and the Corporate Offices not even considering it (so much for top down quality).

At minimum you will need to redefine your scope to the segment of the organization that wants to be certified vs. the whole. Good Luck
 

John Broomfield

Leader
Super Moderator
I am working with a very large company that is acquiring another very large company that is ISO 9001 certified. The acquiring company is not ISO 9001 certified (although it may become ISO 9001 certified in the future). I am interested in learning what the acquiring company may or may not do in order to preserve the acquired company's ISO 9001 certification in the short term. For example, the acquiring company may want to merge some operations in order to achieve cost savings....are there any practical guidelines that I can suggest so that integration of the two companies does not jeopardize the acquired company's ISO 9001 certification in the short-term? Any recommended steps would be greatly appreciated. By the way, I am NOT an ISO 9001 expert so this is all new to me!

River,

Also bear in mind quality management system planning per clause 5.4.2. You should have evidence of the plans from both sides to maintain system integrity.

John
 
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