creating sustainable growth
Navigating Your Quality Management System Certification Journey
Globally recognized quality management standards, can be within your reach faster and more affordably than you might think. This straightforward guide breaks down the five key steps to achieving certification, offering practical insights to streamline the process, avoid common hurdles, and build a Quality Management System (QMS) that not only earns you certification and boosts your business efficiency and scalability.
What's Involved in Getting Certified?
Earning certification means demonstrating that your company has a functional, active quality management system. This involves showing it's functional and compliant through internal audits, and then successfully completing a certification audit conducted by an independent registrar.
Your QMS:
A Tool for Success, Not a Burden
Scalability and long-term success hinge on how well your QMS integrates with your everyday operations. Our streamlined approach ensures your QMS is truly yours—not a generic, off-the-shelf set of documents you have to force-fit. This ensures your system and certification actively support your team and contribute to your success. A well-designed QMS should empower you, not weigh you down. We understand this can feel like a big undertaking, but with the right guidance, it can be a surprisingly smooth and efficient process.
Your 5-Step Path to Certification
Startups, small businesses, and medium-sized companies don't need to overcomplicate certification. This efficient guide provides a clear, stress-free path forward. We focus on essential tasks, avoid common pitfalls, and skip unnecessary Gantt charts and task force meetings—simplifying certification for you.
Here’s how it works:
1. Capability Assessment
Building a strong foundation is essential for successful certification. We'll work with what you already have in place, focusing on essential activities like training, identifying any gaps, and planning for the future. The most effective path to certification is to build on your existing strengths.
2. Standard Alignment
Documentation is often seen as the most challenging and time-consuming part of implementation. We'll work with you to understand each standard requirement in the context of your business and align your current procedures accordingly. We'll create custom procedures or processes only where needed, ensuring clarity and efficiency.
3. Incorporation
This phase is all about bringing your team on board with any changes, explaining the why behind them. It also provides time to test new processes, fine-tune them as needed, and build your auditable track record. This is where you'll start to see process improvements and increased efficiency.
4. Internal Audit
Internal audits are like self-checkups, making sure your quality management system is being used effectively throughout your organization. A thorough internal audit is a must-do before the certification audit.
5. Certification
Certification is granted by an independent, accredited registrar after a successful certification audit. We'll help you choose the right registrar, prepare for the two-stage audit, and get ready to promote and maintain your certification.