ISO Standards and Its Importance

Standards make market access easier, in particular for SMEs. They can enhance brand recognition and give customers the guarantee that the technology is tested and reliable.

Jens Albens CEO, Nanotron Technologies Ltd, Germany

ISO standards and Its Importance

About ISO

ISO is an independent, non-governmental international organization with a membership of 167 national standards bodies. Through its members, it brings together experts to share knowledge and develop voluntary, consensus-based, market relevant International Standards that support innovation and provide solutions to global challenges.

Why to have ISO Certification?

Having an international standard means that consumers can have confidence that their products are safe, reliable and good quality. ISO's standards on road safety, toy safety and secure medical packaging are just a few of those that help make the world a safer place.

Developed through the consensus of globally established experts, regulators and governments count on ISO standards to help develop better regulation. ISO standards provide a strong basis that can be applied in the development of national and international regulation.

Not only ISO's standards do on road safety, toy safety and secure medical packaging are just a few of those that help make the world a safer place. It helps to save time and are essential tools for reducing barriers to international trade

Applications

ISO International Standards touch everyone. From enabling us to use our bank card overseas to ensuring our child's toys don't have sharp edges, they are used everywhere. Followed by companies all over the world, ISO standards provide specifications to ensure products and services work the way we expect them to.

How ISO standards had helped small to medium sized enterprises (SMEs) like Associated Rubber Chemicals,

• Build customer confidence that your products are safe and reliable
• Meet regulation requirements, at a lower cost
• Reduce costs across all aspects of your business
• Gain market access across the world

What topics does ISO 9001:2015 cover?

ISO 9001 is based on the plan-do-check-act methodology and provides a process-oriented approach to documenting and reviewing the structure, responsibilities, and procedures required to achieve effective quality management in an organization. Specific sections of the standard contain information on many topics, such as:

1. Requirements for a QMS, including documented information, planning and determining process interactions
2. Responsibilities of management
3. Management of resources, including human resources and an organization’s work environment
4. Product realization, including the steps from design to delivery
5. Measurement, analysis, and improvement of the QMS through activities like internal audits and corrective and preventive action

Changes introduced in the 2015 ISO 9001 revision are intended to ensure that ISO 9001 continues to adapt to the changing environments in which organizations operate. Some of the key updates in ISO 9001:2015 include:

• The introduction of new terminology
• Restructuring some of the information
• An emphasis on risk-based thinking to enhance the application of the process approach
• Improved applicability for services
• Increased leadership requirements

The most popular ISO standards are

1. ISO 9000 – Quality Management

The ISO 9000 family is the quality management standard, and comprises of some of ISO’s best-known standards. ISO 9001:2015 is the only standard in the category that you can be certified to. There are over one million organizations in over 170 countries that are certified to ISO 9001.

2. ISO / IEC 27000 – Information Security Management Systems

The 27000 category of standards ensures the safety of information assets. These standards help organizations manage the security of assets such as intellectual property, financial and employee data. There are 33,290 certificates issued for this certification.

3. ISO 14000 – Environmental Management

The standards in this category lay emphasis on environmental systems and use tools such as audits, communications, life-cycle analysis and environmental challenges. More than 300,000 ISO 14001 certifications have been issued in 171 countries.

4. ISO 31000: 2018 – Risk Management

This standard cannot be used for certification purposes, but it provides a framework for managing risks and enables organizations to achieve objectives in an uncertain environment by helping companies to identify opportunities and threats.

5. ISO 50001: 2018 – Energy Management

ISO 50001: 2018 provides guidance for companies in implementing an Energy Management System (EnMS) that aims at improving efficiency in the use of energy by reducing companies’ energy footprint by and greenhouse gas emissions.

6. ISO 26000: 2010 – Social Responsibility

Organizations cannot be certified to ISO 26000, however, this standard provides guidance on how businesses can embrace social responsibility.

7. ISO 28000: 2007 – Specifications for Security Management Systems for the Supply Chain

This standard provides the requirements for a security management system in respect to a supply chain.

8. ISO 37001: 2016 Anti-Bribery Management Systems

This standard provides guidance in establishing, implementing and improving anti-bribery management system. This standard is applicable to all types of organizations with respect to bribery and helps prevent, detect and respond to bribery.

9. ISO 45001 – Occupational Health and Safety

It provides a framework for employee safety, reducing workplace hazards and provide safer working environments.

Advantages of ISO standards certification

1. Reliability - Reliability means quality, safety and durability of products and/or services. With an ISO standard, companies demonstrate that they meet the requirements of international legislation and regulation and adhere to these.

2. Improved performance - ISO standards improve performance by giving organizations the knowledge they need to optimize their operations in order to be able to perform at their best.

3. Better quality - Better quality services, products, helps in entry to new markets globally and domestic. Increased consumer confidence as they see the International Standard logo as a trusting sign and as a synonymous of good quality.

4. Increased revenue – ISO helps in increase of sales and revenue by opening up global and domestic markets.

5. Risk reduction - it prepares organizations in advance to deal with risks and turn them into opportunities, to manage and mitigate risks. Therefore, if problems arise, organizations are better equipped to survive them and then recover faster.

6. Sustainability – it helps to prove that organisations are committed to deal with environmental and social challenges.

7. Innovation - ISO Standards benefit organizations that want to commercialize emerging technologies. By implementing ISO standards, we can demonstrate our credentials to our customers, our employees, and other stakeholders.

To conclude

ISO standards and certification help us to have satisfied customers and more efficient ways to work, as well as, the ability to implement new working practices more efficiently and faster. ISO standards help to improve our reputation, providing our customers greater confidence on our products and services.

Being an ISO certified organisation, we Associated Rubber chemicals are committed and ensure safety, quality, showing consumers that businesses they buy from are operating in a safe way, producing reliable goods without unduly harming the environment.

Reference:

1. https://www.iso.org/home.html

2. Wikipedia

3. Various websites like Vakilsearch,asq.org.