ISO Certification Consultants

I've had this question raised by people in the past. What is the difference between getting certified by an accredited vs. non-accredited Certification body? To be clear, a non-accredited body is not necessarily an incompetent organization. There can be some very good organizations within those ranks. The problem is, to be a non-accredited organization is easy. Anyone can self declare themselves as a competent certifying body. As a consumer how does one gauge or rate their services? A company wishing to become ISO 9001 certified will be paying money to achieve this certification. They need to spend their money wisely. It's important to note that many organizations including Governments are making it mandatory now that certifications are from accredited certifying bodies. So the choice becomes very clear when confronted by these type of mandatory requirements. When a certifying body states that it's accredited by an orgainzation such as the IAF (International Accreditation F...

ISO 9001 certification seems to be the craze these days and the buzz word in many organizations. A little known fact is that the ISO organization first became more than just an idea back in 1946 when a group of 65 technical experts from 25 countries met to to discuss the future of International Standardization. In 1947, the ISO organization was launched. Based in Geneva Switzerland, it has grown to be the governing body for all ISO standards currently in existence today.  The first true Quality Management Standard was launched by the ISO organization in 1987 and has been updated and upgraded to the most recent version in 2015 called ISO 9001:2015. With continuous improvement being the mandate for many growth oriented groups, its certainly possible that there will be updated versions in the years to come as the face of manufacturing and industry changes. ISO 9001 is simply a total Quality Management System. When an organization follows the tenets of Clauses 4 through 10 in the order...

 I get this question all the time. Here are some of the common ones I hear all the time. It's costly. We can't afford it. Why should we spend that money. It serves no purpose. It's a waste of time. It's a big money grab. The auditors make the money. We don't get any benefit. Our company's philosophy is just do it. We fix problems as they come along. Why do I need ISO to tell me how to run my company? We don't have time to document what we do. Time is money. I don't have the people or resources to spend on this. My customers don't require it of me so why spend the money I'm making good money on my product now. How's this going to positively impact my bottom line? I can answer some of these questions easily. The answer to some of the other questions will require you and your organizations to seek on your own. Business's which stagnate typically follow the adage: "Why change how we do things. If it ain't broke don't touch it...

What is an ISO Audit? Well, there's nothing really tricky about what an ISO audit is. Simply speaking, it's the process which an organization undertakes to audit their compliance to the relevant tenets of the ISO 9001:2015 standard. It is performed by a certified ISO 9001:2015 Lead auditor. Depending on the complexity of the audit, it can require one of more auditors. This requirement is always discussed in advance with the client company.This is the general statement to what is an ISO Audit. CoVid 19 has forced the industry to re think its needs with respect to ISO auditing. ISO auditors are performing more remote or online audits to support the needs of many organizations now. ISO Certification Consultants Inc, with its partnership certification body, has auditors who are ready to perform these necessary audits for your organization.

Remote Auditing for ISO has always been a necessity in situations where a company cannot be easily accessed for any number of reasons. Such as no roads, impassable roads etc. With CoVid 19 in our lives, the IAF has become more accepting of the realities surrounding companies becoming ISO 9001 certified. Many auditors have the additional challenge of getting to a client company now due to travel restrictions and access to facilities restrictions. The Remote ISO Audit has become more accepted and in many cases mandatory or requested by companies.This has become, in many cases, the only way to circumvent the challenges facing our industry due to CoVid 19.  I'm willing to challenge that the future of ISO 9001 auditing has been changed forever and that the remote ISO audit will become more sophisticated with time and the preferred method of ISO certification going forward. The other ancillary benefit to remote audits is the reduction in costs to the client as they no longer have to carr...

 Things to know There is a large number of searches on Google by people trying to understand the costs associated with performing an ISO audit and ISO Certification. Firstly, its important to note that these are two separate costs. Secondly, ISO Certification Costs or fees are typically based on the scope of work that needs to be performed. Many Certifying companies will request that the company wishing to be certified complete a questionnaire. The questionnaire is designed to determine a number of items about the subject Company's business. Some of the questions asked are: Sites to be covered in the audit? Some companies have multiple sites                  Is the company design responsible                  Does the company have any outsourced processes                 What is the current status of the c...

  ISO Certification Consultants Inc. is a Canadian provider of ISO Certification, ISO Consulting, ISO auditing and ISO Training.  ISO Certification Consultants Inc. supports the implementation of its user friendly QMS compliance software and solutions designed to follow the ISO approach to Quality  systems.  Our QMS software was designed using the PDCA approach to auditing and verification.  We provide “boots on the floor” support and solutions to help Companies implement robust Quality systems.  We can help you prepare for ISO Certification.  ISO Certification Consultants Inc. provides service in a number of ISO certifications such as ISO 9001, ISO 14001 , ISO45001 , ISO 22000 , HAACP, GMP, ISO 27001 , ISO/IEC 27017 , ISO 55001 , ISO 50001 .  We provide 1st party audits (internal) and 2nd party audits (supplier). In addition, we provide unique services such as Franchise audits, Healthcare accreditation audits, School safety audits, Halal a...

Many people enroll in ISO Auditor Training worldwide. With CoVid 19 here, classroom courses have disappeared and have been replaced by the video conferencing era. Of important note is that the majority of people who become an ISO Lead Auditor never embark on the course of becoming a full time auditor. There are a number of reasons for this; Firstly, being a good auditor requires practise, perserverance and constant application. ISO auditing cannot be a part time job unless the auditor is a retiree. Even then, the auditor needs to keep current in his/her qualifications. Secondly, when you are a highly qualified ISO auditor you are typically in high demand and hence very busy. What this means is that you will have a very rigid schedule of audits which can quite often be back to back or week to week. A typical audit can last anywhere from 1 to 5 days depending on the requirements. This means that a typical auditor will always be traveling and living in a hotel and eating at restaurants al...

ISO Audit Training is performed by a number of companies worldwide. Over the years, training has become an additional business line to Certification auditing, certifying and consulting business's.Training has become the logical adjunct. The quality of ISO Audit Training is predicated on some basic facts. Firstly, this type of training is done in a classroom setting at a pre-designated offsite location. The advantage of this type of training is: a) the student is away from work or home and therefore does not have the typical distractions,  b) person to person mentoring and training is improved which can overcome speech and language barriers.  c) improved synergy through the interactions of class participants as everyone comes to the class with different levels of knowledge and experience. This type of networking is advantageous to participants on a a number of levels. Secondly, ISO Audit Training is only as good as the training literature and knowledge and experience of the lec...

  Much has been written on the ISO Audit Process. This article will break down the items which must be considered by an organization when engaging an auditor. In a previous article," Inside the mind of an auditor " we delved into how an auditor thinks. This article will give the actual "nuts and bolts" of how an ISO Auditor should navigate himself/herself through the ISO Audit Process. The two major activities of an auditor will consist of: 1. Review of an organizations current documents. This consists of verification of the organization's documentation. The goal is to gage how the documentation adheres to the relevant tenets of the ISO Standard. 2. Process Review: This is the main part of the physical audit. This is the activity whereby the ISO Auditor physically examines the organization's adherence to the ISO Standard. An auditor will sample operations in an organization looking for evidence of conformity to relevant tenets of the ISO Standard. This is w...

 Having your organization audited can be daunting, stressful and a generally anxious event. Whether this is your first audit or you've been part of many audits before, it's still not something which generates excitement.(At least not the kind we look forward too) Here's some helpful tips to help you negotiate your next audit. Firstly, there's no guarantee of a flawless audit where the ISO auditor finds no non-conformances. It's not uncommon that he/she will find at least one or more minor non-conformances or one or more major non-conformances. In fact it's typically normal that an organization has non-conformances after an audit. Preparation is key: The more prepared you are the better. An internal pre-audit should be performed many weeks before the audit date. This can be done with your own staff or you can contact a third party certification group such as ISO Certification Consultants Inc . In any case, its advisable to assess your readiness by honestly answe...