Why choose an accredited body for your ISO 9001 certification

The purpose of an ISO 9001 audit is to make an accurate assessment of the capabilities of an organization’s Quality Management System (QMS) to deliver its customers' requirements consistently.

This is the auditor’s primary role, and accredited Certification Bodies will ensure that their auditors are equipped and trained through suitable policies and competence processes to fulfil this function..

So why choose a UKAS accredited Certification Body?

Those seeking to procure products and services often prefer to contract with suppliers whose management system is appropriately certificated. They do this in order to increase their confidence that the selected supplier will deliver. This in turn, lowers risk.

The risk is lowered further when being assessed by an accredited independent body because of the mitigation to the risk of poor or inconsistent quality.

For customers of certified organizations, it is vital that the certification audit of the QMS is undertaken rigorously and impartially by auditors who are competent and who are given sufficient time to carry out the required audit activities against the requirements of the international standard.

Certification can also lessen the customer’s supply chain management overhead by reducing QA activities. The use of accredited certification bodies provides an additional level of confidence in the competence and capabilities of the supplier.

Supply chains have lengthened and become more complex, often crossing international boundaries. This has been particularly so with organizations supplying complex systems requiring their supply chains to be increasingly agile and innovative. In turn, this means confidence is required in more organizations, thereby increasing the importance of robust QMS certification.

Increasingly those seeking to procure products and services often prefer to use tenderers and suppliers whose management system is appropriately certificated.

Once they become customers, they seek confidence that the product/service the organisation produces through its quality management system will be ‘right’ (i.e. satisfy customer and legal requirements). This continues for the duration of a contract and to give the required auditors must collect objective evidence from a number of areas and use this to evaluate and conclude if the QMS is likely to deliver consistently the product/service expected by their customers.

To this end it is important that organizations seeking certification always contract with accredited certification bodies, ensuring that the accreditation covers the scope covered by the required certification. The accreditation assessment process of these Certification Bodies will ensure that they are considering the supply chain and that systems and procedures are aimed at fulfilling customer and supply chain requirements.

Learn more about ISO 9001 or  get a Quick Quote for ISO 9001 certification.

BM TRADA also provides a wide range of training courses. The Bookshop sells copies of the standard, and a Getting started with ISO 9001 book.