ISO Certification:

ISO 9001:2008 is an internationally recognized quality standard.

The International Organization for Standardization is based in Switzerland and is a
network of national standards institutes. The ISO 9001:2008 quality standard is
perhaps the most well-known quality standard in the world, and is recognized
around the globe. In its early days the quality standard was most popular in Europe,
but then began to take hold in North America, South America, and Asia as well.
The ISO quality standard requires organizations to document their quality system,
including having a manual and documented procedures.
Basically, the steps involved in becoming ISO certified are as follows:
1. Decide what it is that you are looking to get out of your new ISO quality
system.
2. Prepare your documentation in accordance with the ISO quality standard, and
also in accordance with your company's quality goals. The basic
documentation youll need is a Quality Manual and a set of Quality System
Procedures.
3. Training your people. Everyone at the company will have to be on board in
order to make your ISO quality system successful, and everyone will require
some training. A few key people will have to be trained in all areas of your
quality system. There are a few sections in ISO that all the employees will
have to know. Everyone in the company should have a general knowledge of
ISO, what it is, how it works.
4. Find a registrar. Those have to be called and set up interviews with them.
5. Set a date for your certification audit.
It is recommended at least 2 to 3 months of experience with your new ISO quality
system before you get audited. It is wanted to have evidence that you are doing
what you say. It is needed to have training records, possibly inspection records,
customer feedback records, etc. For most small to mid-size companies, two to three
months should be sufficient time to give the practice and experience needed to
pass your certification audit.
It is needed to perform an internal audit and have a management review of your
quality system about two weeks before your certification audit. It will give you a
last chance to fine tune your quality system, and it will also provide more evidence
to the auditor that you have truly implemented your ISO quality system.