ISO 9001:2015 QMS Awareness – ISO 9001 QMS Certification - Cost of Certification and Selection of Certification Body
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Implementing ISO 9001:2015 QMS confers long term
benefits to the organization. However, an immediate goal for most organizations
is to achieve ISO 9001certification. Certification is commonly considered as a
useful tool to add credibility of the organization, by demonstrating that organization’s
product / service meets the expectations of the customers. An organization
achieves ISO 9001 certification, because the certification assures its
customers that the organization has a suitable, adequate and effective quality
management system in place. For some industries, certification is mandatory or
contractual requirement. Many customers / users of product require their
supplier to have ISO 9001 certification.
People generally ask – What would be the tentative
cost of ISO 9001:2015 certification? Answer to this question is not straight,
as the cost of certification varies due to various factors. Cost of
certification include the certification fee, government taxes, other expenses. A
few of these factors are –
(1)
Certification bodies do not have common certification
fee structure.
(2)
The size and complexity of organizations are generally
not same, so the size and complexity of organization impact certification cost.
Large organizations with multiple locations or complex operations need more
extensive audits, resulting higher certification fees and expenses.
(3)
The type of industry in which the organization
operates and also the scope of the certification also affects the certification
cost due to specific / additional requirements to comply with that increases
the certification fee and expenses.
(4)
The cost of certification may also depend upon the current
maturity level of the quality management system of the organization. If an organization
has implemented the quality management system for quite some time, it may have
well-established quality management system with proper processes and
documentation, then the cost of certification may be less in comparison of a
new organization implementing the system.
(5)
The cost of certification may also depend on the
competence of personnel of the organization. If an organization is having
competent and experienced staff that can handle the documentation and
implementation process independently then the cost will be less in comparison
to an organization that has to incur additional amount on training of staff or
hiring external consultants.
There are many certification bodies operating that
provide ISO 9001 QMS certification and the organization has a wide selection of
certification bodies to choose from. The organization, seeking certification,
should contact certification bodies with brief description about the
organization, nature of business, size of the organization and assessment
requirements. Also find out whether the certification body is having the
accreditation to provide certification in the area of the business of the
organization. In India, National Accreditation Board of Certification (NABCB)
grants accreditation to certification bodies. Many foreign accreditation bodies
have also granted accreditation to certification bodies operating in India. A
few of the foreign accreditation bodes are – United Kingdom Accreditation
Services (UKAS of UK), The Dutch Council of Accreditation (RvA of The Netherlands),
The ANSI Accreditation National Accreditation Board (ANAB of USA), Joint
Accreditation System of Australia and New Zealand (JAS-ANZ), The Standards
Council of Canada (SCC), etc. Now a days many countries have their own national
accreditation system. Names of a few more accreditation bodies that grant accreditation
to certification bodies providing ISO 9001 certification are – Deutshe Akkreditierungsstelle
GmbH (DAkkS, Germany), Comite Francais d’Accreditation (COFRAC, France), Japan
Accreditation Board (JAB, Japan), Singapore Accreditation Council (SAC),
Pakistan National Accreditation Council (PNAC), Bangladesh Accreditation Board (BAB), Emirates International
Accreditation Centre (UAE).
Selection of a relevant certification body is an
important task, so the organization should write letters or email to various
certification bodies. Upon receipt of the organization’s communication,
certification body will advise its organization details and its certification
process as well as quotation for certification fee and other cost. After
receipt of quotations from various certification bodies, the organization will
be in a position to select a particular certification body. Please note that
while deciding a certification body, the organization should not go for cheap
or non-accredited certification. Quotations from certification bodies will
normally include a one-time certification fee (covering a period of three
years), cost on audit work (before, during and after certification), travel and
other expenses. The number of workdays required for certification audit will
depend on the size of the organization and the complexity of its operation.
Think of
the following Questions
(1)
What factors influence cost of ISO 9001
certification?
(2)
How will you select a particular certification
body?
Best wishes,
Keshav Ram Singhal
Please have your comments /
reaction.
To train your employees with ISO
9001:2015 QMS Awareness, please supply them “TRAINING HANDBOOK ON ISO 9001:2015QMS AWARENESS” (ASIN:
B093YFFY7Z), which is available worldwide at Amazon. Please
search this Training Handbook in Amazon Website of your country.
You may also supply your
employees following eBooks - (i) A Concise Guide on Creating and Updating Documented Information
(eBook) https://store.pothi.com/book/ebook-keshav-ram-singhal-concise-guide-creating-and-updating-documented-information/
(ii) Applying Risk-based Thinking in an Organization Implementing ISO
9001:2015 QMS (eBook) https://store.pothi.com/book/ebook-keshav-ram-singhal-applying-risk-based-thinking-organization-implementing-iso-9001-2015-q/
Thanks.
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