What is Quality Management System?

The main axis of the certification of the quality management system according to the requirements of ISO 9001 is the client. All the processes that are carried out within the company or the measures that are adopted are aimed at achieving customer satisfaction. But, What is a QMS? In in this article we are going to understand the characteristics of a quality management system and what its implementation aims at.
What is meant by quality

Quality is defined as the “set of properties inherent to something, which allow judging its value” is also understood as synonymous with superiority or excellence. Keeping this definition of quality in mind, we can make distinctions between:

Quality control: through an inspection or certain examinations the properties of the product are verified so that it is satisfactory.

Quality management: defines the guidelines to be followed in terms of an organization’s quality policy, with responsibilities in planning, resources or processes.

A Quality Management System (QMS) includes a series of norms and standards that must be met. The ISO 9001 standard deals with establishing the requirements to certify that a company has a quality system in accordance with the standards contemplated. This is practically implemented by QMS software such as HGINT Quality Management Software Systems.

These rules establish the procedure under which the company’s productive activity is to be carried out, defining the organizational structure, the procedures to be carried out or the resources to be used.

The goal of meeting these set quality standards is to ensure that the end result will be the best for customers, while simplifying processes during production.

What does a quality management system look for?

– Customer satisfaction: the purpose of implementing a quality management system is to be able to meet customer expectations. The whole process is geared towards him.

– Obtaining new customers: compliance with the standards that a quality management system determines provides security for potential customers. The acquisition of new customers is due to the good image that the fact that a company offers quality goods or services projects, and this happens by adopting a quality management system that supports both the procedure carried out and the result of the productive process. By having the certification in the ISO 9001 standard, excellent customer service is ensured that helps to attract them.

-Improvement in the organization of the company’s processes: the processes that are carried out in the productive activity follow standards that ensure that the rules that make it an optimized process are being met.

– Differentiation from the competition: a company that has a certificate in the ISO 9001 standard will always stand out above its competition. Having a certified quality management system projects a positive image to potential clients that makes the company prevail over others.

– Cost reduction without affecting quality: it is possible to improve the quality of a product or service without affecting its quality. It is about optimizing the process and eliminating unnecessary costs of time or resources.

– Compliance with Public Administration requirements: having the ISO standard certification is a requirement to enter any Public Administration competition, without which you cannot choose to participate in it.

– Fulfillment of requirements derived from belonging to a group: in some companies, most of them multinationals, the certification of the quality management system is an essential requirement to be part of the group and to ensure that no component lowers their guard in terms of quality of product or service.

Implementation of a quality management system

The ISO 9001 standard establishes what makes up a good quality management system, but does not indicate how to do it. It is worth highlighting the importance of the involvement of all the middle managers of the company, but, above all, of the senior management that must have a relevant role that motivates the staff.