ISO 9001:2015

The quality of products or services is no accident. The best possible quality must be carefully planned and consistently implemented. That is why quality management is tasked with designing business processes in such a way that high-quality products or work are the end result. Based on this understanding, quality-oriented management encompasses all measures that lead to the improvement of products, services, and processes.

ISO 9001 is an internationally developed, cross-industry standard for process-oriented quality management systems. It specifies all the requirements that companies must meet to obtain a globally recognized certification. It does not matter on which continent the company is located. The requirements are always identical. So, for example, if a business owner has semi-finished products manufactured by a producer in Asia that is certified to ISO 9001, they can be confident that they will receive the quality specified in the contract.

The international standard ISO 9001 sets out all the minimum requirements that a company must meet in order to obtain a quality management certification. The term DIN EN ISO indicates that this standard is significant at the national level (DIN), in Europe (EN), and worldwide (ISO).

Thanks to well-defined, structured responsibilities and processes, a quality management system (QM) is a key component of modern management. Processes tailored precisely to the company and clearly defined responsibilities help employees perform their tasks in accordance with requirements. An ISO 9001-certified QM system forms the foundation for a company organization that is constantly improving.

ISO 9001 leads to greater competitiveness due to comparable performance at the national and international levels. Clear procedures, reduced process lead times, and consistent error prevention and minimization contribute to increased efficiency. Actively involving employees in the development and implementation of ISO 9001 principles boosts their motivation. Last but not least, demonstrable quality performance enhances the company’s image.

The ISO 9000 family of standards has been in place since 2000. It is the result of extensive revisions to the standards. For example, the ISO 8402:1995 standard and the ISO 9000:1994 standard, which was valid until 1994, were combined into ISO 9000:2000.

In 2005 and 2015, the ISO 9000:2000 standard underwent another comprehensive revision. The current version is titled ISO 9000:2015.

In addition, in 2000, the versions of the standards ISO 9001:1994, ISO 9002:1994, and ISO 9003:1994—which had been in effect up to that point—were combined into a single international standard, ISO 9001:2000.

In 2008, ISO 9001:2000 was modified again, and in 2015, the standard underwent a comprehensive major revision by the “Organization for Standardization.”

Since then, ISO 9001:2015 has been the only certification standard worldwide with a process-oriented approach. A quality management system certified according to this standard supports all key operational processes, quickly identifies errors, and highlights opportunities for optimization.