ISO 9001 consultants offer various services to help companies implement and maintain ISO 9001 quality management systems. These services include interpreting the ISO 9001 standard, conducting gap audits, planning and organizing implementation projects, documenting business processes, developing and implementing the quality management system, providing training, assisting with internal audits, and helping with continual improvement efforts. Using ISO 9001 consulting services can help speed up implementation and increase the effectiveness and payback of establishing an ISO 9001 system.

1. Iso 9001 consultant
ISO 9001 Consulting has been available ever since the ISO 9001 quality management
system standards were first published in 1979.. At present, nearly a million companies
worldwide have been certified to one ISO business management standard or another.
These include ISO 9001, ISO 14001, AS9100, ISO/TS 16949, etc. The stats that have
been accumulated to date indicate that while a number of companies went about
implementing ISO standards using internal resources, those that used outside ISO 9001
consulting services benefited the most in terms of speed of implementation, effectiveness
and payback.
ISO 9001 Consulting firms offer a number of services. Let us check out some of these so
that you can determine what selection of services would best suit your company:
ISO 9001 Standard Interpretation
The ISO 9001 quality management system standard can be a hard document to
understand. It is written in quasi-legal language and points out requirements in very
general terms. This is deliberately so, as it is meant to be applicable to all types of
business activity. Quite a few companies have issues interpreting it to their specific
business processes. An experienced ISO 9001 consultant can help you apply the standard
to your specific business activities.
ISO 9001 Gap Audit
Before applying the ISO 9001 standard to your business, you need to know whats
missing between your existing business practices and controls relative to ISO 9001.
Engaging ISO 9001 consulting services, you can have a review done of your current
management system practices, controls and documentation, to establish the extent to
which you conform to ISO 9001 requirements. The consultant will give you a detailed
audit report indicating the gaps in your company, along with their recommendations. This
will help in putting together your ISO 9001 project implementation plan to achieve full
conformity.
ISO 9001 Project Planning and Organization
Depending on the size and complexity of your company, an ISO 9001 implementation
project can take anywhere from six to eighteen months to complete. Your ISO project
needs to be well-planned in terms of how much time and resources needed, specific
activities to be carried out, who will be responsible for each activity, milestone reviews,
authorizations, training, dealing with problems, etc. A good ISO 9001 consultant can be a
valuable aid in assisting your business deal with this important activity.

2. ISO 9001 Business Process Identification and Documentation
ISO 9001 looks at business processes as the key point of control. These include internal
as well as outsourced processes. Some companies have concerns distinguishing between
processes, departments and functional activities. ISO 9001 consulting experts can help
you identify and properly document all organizational processes pertaining to your
quality management system. These include customer-oriented, management, product
realization, resource planning, measurement, support and outsourced processes.
ISO 9001 System Development and Implementation
The main emphasis of the ISO 9001 standard is on effective planning, operation and
control of thrust all relevant quality management system processes. This is likely the
most time-consuming and difficult part of any ISO implementation project. Many issues
may arise as to what processes should be be controlled, what makes for an effective
control, how best to communicate and implement it, interaction between processes, how
to set process goals and objectives and what records to keep. Here is where using external
ISO 9001 consulting will significantly help in answering these questions, provide
required focus and facilitate implementation.
ISO 9001 Management System Documentation
The latest ISO 9001:2008 standard reduces the attention on documentation and
maximizes its attention on effective planning and control. Sufficient documentation is
however needed for many business processes in order to ensure consistent application of
effective controls. Many organizations have either too much or too little documentation.
An experienced consultant can help your organization determine where it is needed, how
much and how it should be documented.
ISO 9001 Pre-assessment
ISO 9001 Registrars (also referred to as Certification Bodies) perform their certification
audit in two stages. In stage 1, they review how ready your business is (which includes
your planning, documentation and internal review activities) and in stage 2 they audit
your management system for effective implementation of planned controls, in both cases
the review is done against the ISO 9001 standard. After spending several months of
implementation, you consider your company ready for the certification audit, it might be
useful to use external consulting to do a once-over to determine if you are truly ready,
identify any shortcomings and help you take appropriate corrective action, prior to the
Registrar audit.
ISO 9001 Training
ISO 9001 consultancy services often offer a variety of training options. These include
- ISO 9001 awareness training to employees at all levels

3. - An executive overview of the ISO standard for top management
- Process identification, mapping, analysis and improvement
- ISO project management
- ISO documentation and implementation
- Internal audit
- Use of problem-solving tools
Based on the extent of internal expertise within your organization, you may wish to have
an external ISO 9001 consulting service provide some or all of this training.
Develop and Maintain your ISO 9001 Internal Audit Program
To be certified and remain so, the ISO 9001 Standard requires your organization to plan
and conduct an internal audit program of its quality management system. In these days,
many organizations are short on resources, internal audit expertise and employee
availability, so they outsource the upkeep of their internal audit programs to ISO 9001
consulting firms, who do it far more effectively than most internal auditors.
ISO 9001 Continual Improvement Process
The ISO 9001 standard expects your quality management system to be dynamic and work
towards continually improving the effectiveness and efficiency of your organization and
also enhance customer satisfaction. Many ISO 9001 consulting firms have diversified
skills and experience in continual improvement strategies and methods. These could
include problem-solving, six sigma, lean manufacturing, use of various business software
and tools, etc. They can greatly increase your pace at gaining further operational
efficiency, customer satisfaction and increased business profitability.
If you want to download over free 50 ebook for iso 9001 standard, you can visit:
http://iso9001ebooks.info
Best regards