{"id":25,"date":"2015-03-29T14:35:19","date_gmt":"2015-03-29T14:35:19","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.pinnacleeg.com\/iso\/iso-9001-myth-3-failing-iso-9001-certification\/"},"modified":"2015-04-08T12:55:58","modified_gmt":"2015-04-08T12:55:58","slug":"iso-9001-myth-3-failing-iso-9001-certification","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.pinnacleeg.com\/iso\/iso-9001-myth-3-failing-iso-9001-certification\/","title":{"rendered":"ISO 9001 Myth #3 – Failing ISO 9001 Certification"},"content":{"rendered":"

Sometimes the office chatter gets around to the outcome of a pending ISO 9001 certification<\/a>.\u00a0 With a healthy combination of fear of the unknown coupled with serious concern for getting the job done right, I often hear key players speculating whether the auditor \u201cis going to pass us.\u201d\u00a0 Perceptions of over-zealous or inexperienced ISO 9001 consultants<\/a> and quality professionals often exaggerate the slightest documentation blemish and threaten to derail what would otherwise be an opportunity for positive momentum, streamlined operations, and tangible improvements.\u00a0 Many firms are not this extreme with their concerns, but most look at failure of the audit as a potential outcome.\u00a0 The truth is that failure is highly unlikely.<\/p>\n

First, it\u2019s important to realize that registrars are not in the business of failing their customers and auditors are not looking for reasons to fail you.\u00a0 Auditors are looking for reasons to pass you.\u00a0 In fact, they want you to pass.\u00a0 The objective of a good auditor is to understand your quality management system and communicate with you to justify that your processes are effective and compliant with ISO 9001 requirements<\/a>.\u00a0 Although many of my ISO 9001 consulting and training<\/a> clients imagine auditors as people who are difficult to work with; typically auditors are not trying to play \u201cgotcha.\u201d\u00a0 In reality, you have to try hard to screw up an ISO 9001 certification<\/a> audit that is properly prepared for.<\/p>\n

Second, the auditor is measuring you against a basic set of requirements.\u00a0 As I have discussed in previous articles, ISO 9001 is a minimal set of generic requirements<\/a>.\u00a0 Consequently, the auditor\u2019s charter is to assess whether your company meets these minimal levels.\u00a0 Since ISO 9001 is a quality management system framework<\/a> and a platform for continual improvement, the auditor is not so interested in whether your company has realized every value-added potential for the business.\u00a0 Sure he or she may note opportunities for improvement, bring some things to light, and even make some recommendations \u201coff the record.\u201d\u00a0 But if you\u2019re meeting the stated ISO 9001 criteria for a quality management system<\/a>, then your auditor is typically anxious to report that your ISO 9001 implementation<\/a> is successful.<\/p>\n

Finally, if your company really is too screwed up to pass, this should be caught long before your certification audit.\u00a0 The first line of defense should be your ISO 9001 consultant<\/a>.\u00a0 He or she should suggest that you postpone the certification until you are truly ready.\u00a0 If the ISO 9001 implementation<\/a> was done internally without the aid of a competent consultant and your company has begun the certification process only to find that failure seems possible or imminent, then your registrar may be more to blame than your quality manager or implementation team.<\/p>\n

One of the first steps of the ISO 9001 certification<\/a> process is the \u201cstage one readiness assessment.\u201d\u00a0 Your auditor should note any red flags or significant concern as you cross the stage one toll gate.\u00a0 By the time the stage two certification audit takes place, the path to successful compliance should be readily apparent and there should be no major nonconformances.<\/p>\n

The truth is an auditor who issues failures with any regularity is an issue in itself.\u00a0 The ISO 9001 auditor<\/a> is a key component in the ISO 9001 certification<\/a> process and should be communicating whether the organization is ready to proceed.\u00a0 Your auditor should be looking to work with you to stand up a lean, value-added business operational system that meets minimum requirements and positions the company for continual improvement.<\/p>\n

So that begs the question \u2013 \u201cDoes failing happen?\u201d<\/p>\n

Unfortunately there is the occasional situation where the auditor does not recommend the company for ISO 9001 certification<\/a>.\u00a0 This is usually due to extraordinary circumstances.\u00a0 Sometimes a company going through a merger, opening new facilities, changing facilities, or changing leadership may make assumptions about the business operations based on the current state which simply cannot be carried forward.\u00a0 Even if the existing systems have worked well in the past, if it can\u2019t bear the organizational and operational changes, this may provide grounds for an unsuccessful ISO 9001 audit<\/a>.\u00a0 These situations aren\u2019t typical but they do happen.<\/p>\n

Many audits will end with the report of some minor nonconformities (the national average is 4-6; Pinnacle\u2019s average is less than 1).\u00a0 Does this mean failure is on the horizon?<\/p>\n

Most of the time when minor nonconformities are reported there is ample time to correct them; sometimes prior to the auditor even leaving the facility or in a few days or weeks after the auditor makes his recommendation but before certificates are issued by the registrar.\u00a0 The auditor may offer to recommend your company pending receipt of corrected minor nonconformities, so you still don\u2019t fail; you just have some additional work to do prior to the auditor\u2019s recommendation.<\/p>\n

The bottom line is that no company should worry about passing or failing your audit.\u00a0 ISO 9001 implementation and certification<\/a> are not about collecting another plaque for the lobby.\u00a0 The process is about developing, maintaining, and evaluating a business operating system that works well and positions your business for success.\u00a0 Align your business processes with best practices, create lean value-added documents, be able to demonstrate that your quality management system is effective and your ISO 9001 certification<\/a> will be a byproduct and a positive force to move your company to continual improvement.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Sometimes the office chatter gets around to the outcome of a pending ISO 9001 certification.\u00a0 With a healthy combination of fear of the unknown coupled with serious concern for getting the job done right, I often hear key players speculating whether the auditor \u201cis going to pass us.\u201d\u00a0 Perceptions of over-zealous or inexperienced ISO 9001 […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,4,5,7,10,11,12,13,14],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-25","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-as9100","category-continual-improvement","category-iso13485","category-iso9001","category-pinnacle-enterprise-group","category-process-improvement","category-quality-management-system","category-tl9000","category-ts16949"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.pinnacleeg.com\/iso\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.pinnacleeg.com\/iso\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.pinnacleeg.com\/iso\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.pinnacleeg.com\/iso\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.pinnacleeg.com\/iso\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=25"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/www.pinnacleeg.com\/iso\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":46,"href":"http:\/\/www.pinnacleeg.com\/iso\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25\/revisions\/46"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.pinnacleeg.com\/iso\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=25"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.pinnacleeg.com\/iso\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=25"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.pinnacleeg.com\/iso\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=25"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}