WHAT IS ISO 9001:2015 INTRODUCTION (PART 1)

Perhaps the biggest change ever in Quality Management Systems is finally here. The Final Draft of Quality Management Standard (ISO 9001:2015) was released on July 09. This is still a draft, but there will be no material changes when the International Standard is released later this year. Contrary to many who thought that the standard has been watered down, and requirements reduced, careful reading will show that quite the opposite has occurred. There have been no reductions. In fact, there have been substantial additions of a philosophical nature. Despite the nature, the additions are not just feel good cerebral exercises—they come with teeth, and can bite.

This is the first in a series of articles that will be published on the Quality Institute of America (QIA) website qi-a.com/Articles.aspx . The articles are written principally by Wali Alam with help from colleagues. Mr. Alam has been associated with the standards since 1990: implementing, auditing in the roles of certification, internal, second party auditor, and providing training in these standards. He is also the principal architect of the Quality Management Software QISS that helps people automate their systems.

The purpose of these articles is to start a discussion on how to interpret the changes, and then how to deal with them. Mr. Alam and others at Quality Institute of America will start a line of thinking, and hopefully trigger discussions that will culminate in solid take always for interpreting and implementing the new standard.

Part 1 will introduce the reader to the history of the standard, and paint a 30,000 foot view of the requirements of the new standard. The discussions will typically be presented in the context of the fact that the 2015 standard is a major change from the current 2008 version. Subsequent parts of the article series will dig into details of the requirements in bite size pieces so you can read them in one sitting of approximately an hour for reading, digesting, and contributing any thoughts and comments of your own through our blog page,https://plus.google.com/u/0/b/100418610237055178555/+QisssoftwareQMSsoftware/posts/p/pub

We hope that you will enjoy this series, and have the time to contribute with your comments.