ISO 9001 (Quality Management)

ISO (International Organisation for Standardization) is a worldwide association of national standardizations bodies, established in 1946 in Geneva, Switzerland.

ISO-work is published as international standards. Throughout the 1990’s ISO was particularly acknowledged due to its ISO-9000 series of standards for quality management of production companies. ISO works decentralized in more than 250 technical committees amongst the 162 member countries. Denmark is represented in ISO by Dansk Standard.

The ISO 9001 for quality management is a powerful management tool for business development and optimization. The standard has been implemented by more than one million businesses and organizations in more than 170 countries. The standard was first developed in 1987 and was last revised in 2015.

Advantages of an ISO9001 certification

ISO 9001 has requirements for all processes within a company and specifies requirements for establishing, implementing, maintaining and continuous improvement of the quality management system (QMS) in a company. This makes ISO 9001 a management tool that ensures that the organization builds a solid fundament for quality management and directs constant focus on improvements and maintaining competitiveness.

With the publication of ISO 9001:2015, the biggest changes were in the adjusted focus on leadership rather than control. Besides this, the standard comprises risk thinking and handling risks (as well as opportunities). Another focus area in the updated standard is stakeholder interests, organizational knowledge, and employee competencies.

The shared structure and texts which will now be included in all ISO’s management system standards, are based on the ISO 9001 standards, which thereby becomes the fundament for all the standards, such as ISO 140001 environmental management andISO 45001 work environment management.

ISO 9001 and Aller Aqua

Aller Aqua A/S (Denmark) was certified to ISO 9001 standards in 2019 with certificate nr. 0086703.

Internally

The certification is implemented in terms of a larger degree of structure in the organization and systematic procedures for work. Already described and defined processes have been improved, and there has been a significant change in the management system throughout the organization.

Roles and responsibilities have been clearly defined, also across departments. Long term the standard will help us improve the level of quality in terms of fewer mistakes made and fewer registrations of deviations, fewer claims from customers and elimination of repeat errors.

Externally

The certification will ensure Aller Aqua’s ability to deliver products that fulfill customer and regulatory requirements. With the certification, Aller Aqua is audited by a third-party certification body and thereby shows serious commitment to working with quality.

A certification to ISO 9001 demonstrates the ability and commitment of an organization to fulfill customer requirements and needs, as well as to put the customer in focus, resulting in improved customer satisfaction and trust. A certification within quality is a significant competitive advantage required by several suppliers and partners in a modern and global value chain.