ISO 9001 and IATF 16949 are the two most commonly implemented quality standards used in manufacturing organizations worldwide. It’s important that your company understand what these standards mean and how to implement them into your manufacturing processes; failing to do so could result in your company being excluded from doing business with large companies around the world.
This article will teach you about the importance of ISO 9001 and IATF 16949, as well as detail five ways to guarantee quality manufacturing through ISO 9001 and IATF 16949 audits.
1) Maintain a culture of continuous improvement
ISO 9001 and IATF 16949 audits are critical to maintaining a culture of continuous improvement. They allow manufacturers to evaluate the quality of their processes while also highlighting opportunities for improvement.
As an added bonus, they can strengthen relationships with customers. ISO 9001 audits must be conducted at least once every three years by a third-party organization like ABACUS, while IATF 16949 audits should be conducted every year or two depending on the requirements of your customer base.
These inspections will ensure that your manufacturing process meets international standards, which will result in higher product quality.
2) Perform regular internal audits
Perform regular internal audits: Regularly inspect your processes for compliance.
By inspecting the processes, you will be able to identify any areas that need improvement or have gone off track. Once identified, take corrective action before it becomes a bigger issue.
Regular inspections allow you to avoid surprises about ISO quality standards that could result in an audit failure or costly change orders.
3) Identify compliance risks early
ISO 9001 audits are a vital part of manufacturing quality assurance, but they don’t guarantee quality. To be sure you’re meeting customer needs and exceeding expectations, it’s important to identify compliance risks early.
– Understand the customer’s requirements: Meet with your customers early on in the process so you can understand what they want in their product. This will help you tailor your processes to meet their needs.
– Review customer feedback: Take customer feedback seriously as it can provide insight into how well your products are meeting expectations. If they consistently report that items break during shipment, for example, this could point to problems in packaging or shipping methods that need addressing.
4) Conduct proactive external audits
An ISO 9001 audit is the formal process of assessing an organization’s compliance with the requirements of ISO 9001. These audits are crucial for ensuring quality manufacturing, because they allow your company to prove that it is capable of meeting customer needs in a consistent and reliable way.
The best way to ensure that you’ll pass an audit? Conduct proactive external audits. A proactive external audit will help you identify any areas in which your quality management system can be improved before an inspector shows up. This helps ensure that the ISO auditor will find no problems, granting you certification.
5) Regularly review corrective action plans
Regularly reviewing corrective action plans is a great way to ensure that your manufacturing process is being improved. This will help you gain peace of mind knowing that the quality of your products is always improving.
Furthermore, this will make it easier for you when the time comes for an ISO or IATF audit. Knowing what needs improvement on the ground level will make it easier for auditors to see improvements over time.
Final thought
As a company, it is important to monitor the quality of your products for two reasons. First, you need a certain level of quality in order to ensure that your products are safe for public consumption.
Secondly, you need a certain level of quality in order to maintain customer satisfaction. To guarantee these two qualities, it is essential that you have regular audits conducted by qualified third parties such as those certified under ISO 9001 or IATF 16949 audit.
These audits will provide you with an unbiased report on the status of your production process and highlight where any deficiencies may lie so that they can be addressed before they affect the quality or safety of your product.
