Abstract 9001

ISO (the International Organization for Standardization) is a worldwide federation of national standards bodies (ISO member bodies). The work of preparing International Standards is normally carried out through ISO technical committees. Each member body interested in a subject for which a technical committee has been established has the right to be represented on that committee. International organizations, governmental and non-governmental, in liaison with ISO, also take part in the work. ISO collaborates closely with the International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC) on all matters of electrotechnical standardization.

The procedures used to develop this document and those intended for its further maintenance are described in the ISO/IEC Directives, Part 1. In particular the different approval criteria needed for the different types of ISO documents should be noted. This document was drafted in accordance with the editorial rules of the ISO/IEC Directives, Part 2 (see www.iso.org/directives).

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Any trade name used in this document is information given for the convenience of users and does not constitute an endorsement.

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The committee responsible for this document is Technical Committee ISO/TC 176, Quality management and quality assurance, Subcommittee SC 2, Quality systems.

This fifth edition cancels and replaces the fourth edition (ISO 9001:2008), which has been technically revised, through the adoption of a revised clause sequence and the adaptation of the revised quality management principles and of new concepts. It also cancels and replaces the Technical Corrigendum ISO 9001:2008/Cor.1:2009.

The adoption of a quality management system is a strategic decision for an organization that can help to improve its overall performance and provide a sound basis for sustainable development initiatives.

The potential benefits to an organization of implementing a quality management system based on this International Standard are:

This International Standard can be used by internal and external parties.

It is not the intent of this International Standard to imply the need for:

The quality management system requirements specified in this International Standard are complementary to requirements for products and services.

This International Standard employs the process approach, which incorporates the Plan-Do-Check-Act (PDCA) cycle and risk-based thinking.

The process approach enables an organization to plan its processes and their interactions.

The PDCA cycle enables an organization to ensure that its processes are adequately resourced and managed, and that opportunities for improvement are determined and acted on.

Risk-based thinking enables an organization to determine the factors that could cause its processes and its quality management system to deviate from the planned results, to put in place preventive controls to minimize negative effects and to make maximum use of opportunities as they arise (see Clause A.).

Consistently meeting requirements and addressing future needs and expectations poses a challenge for organizations in an increasingly dynamic and complex environment. To achieve this objective, the organization might find it necessary to adopt various forms of improvement in addition to correction and continual improvement, such as breakthrough change, innovation and re-organization.

In this International Standard, the following verbal forms are used:

Information marked as “NOTE” is for guidance in understanding or clarifying the associated requirement.

This International Standard is based on the quality management principles described in ISO 9000. The descriptions include a statement of each principle, a rationale of why the principle is important for the organization, some examples of benefits associated with the principle and examples of typical actions to improve the organization’s performance when applying the principle.

The quality management principles are:

This International Standard promotes the adoption of a process approach when developing, implementing and improving the effectiveness of a quality management system, to enhance customer satisfaction by meeting customer requirements. Specific requirements considered essential to the adoption of a process approach are included in 4.4.

Understanding and managing interrelated processes as a system contributes to the organization’s effectiveness and efficiency in achieving its intended results. This approach enables the organization to control the interrelationships and interdependencies among the processes of the system, so that the overall performance of the organization can be enhanced.

The process approach involves the systematic definition and management of processes, and their interactions, so as to achieve the intended results in accordance with the quality policy and strategic direction of the organization. Management of the processes and the system as a whole can be achieved using the PDCA cycle (see 0.3.2) with an overall focus on risk-based thinking (see 0.3.3) aimed at taking advantage of opportunities and preventing undesirable results.

The application of the process approach in a quality management system enables:

Figure 1 gives a schematic representation of any process and shows the interaction of its elements. The monitoring and measuring check points, which are necessary for control, are specific to each process and will vary depending on the related risks.

The PDCA cycle can be applied to all processes and to the quality management system as a whole. Figure 2 illustrates how Clauses 4 to 10 can be grouped in relation to the PDCA cycle.

The PDCA cycle can be briefly described as follows:

Risk-based thinking (see Clause A.4) is essential for achieving an effective quality management system. The concept of risk-based thinking has been implicit in previous editions of this International Standard including, for example, carrying out preventive action to eliminate potential nonconformities, analysing any nonconformities that do occur, and taking action to prevent recurrence that is appropriate for the effects of the nonconformity.

To conform to the requirements of this International Standard, an organization needs to plan and implement actions to address risks and opportunities. Addressing both risks and opportunities establishes a basis for increasing the effectiveness of the quality management system, achieving improved results and preventing negative effects.

Opportunities can arise as a result of a situation favourable to achieving an intended result, for example, a set of circumstances that allow the organization to attract customers, develop new products and services, reduce waste or improve productivity. Actions to address opportunities can also include consideration of associated risks. Risk is the effect of uncertainty and any such uncertainty can have positive or negative effects. A positive deviation arising from a risk can provide an opportunity, but not all positive effects of risk result in opportunities.

This International Standard applies the framework developed by ISO to improve alignment among its International Standards for management systems (see Clause A.1).

This International Standard enables an organization to use the process approach, coupled with the PDCA cycle and risk-based thinking, to align or integrate its quality management system with the requirements of other management system standards.

This International Standard relates to ISO 9000 and ISO 9004 as follows:

Annex B provides details of other International Standards on quality management and quality management systems that have been developed by ISO/TC 176.

This International Standard does not include requirements specific to other management systems, such as those for environmental management, occupational health and safety management, or financial management.

Sector-specific quality management system standards based on the requirements of this International Standard have been developed for a number of sectors. Some of these standards specify additional quality management system requirements, while others are limited to providing guidance to the application of this International Standard within the particular sector.

A matrix showing the correlation between the clauses of this edition of this International Standard and the previous edition (ISO 9001:2008) can be found on the ISO/TC 176/SC 2 open access web site at: www.iso.org/tc176/sc02/public.

This International Standard specifies requirements for a quality management system when an organization:

All the requirements of this International Standard are generic and are intended to be applicable to any organization, regardless of its type or size, or the products and services it provides.

The following documents, in whole or in part, are normatively referenced in this document and are indispensable for its application. For dated references, only the edition cited applies. For undated references, the latest edition of the referenced document (including any amendments) applies.

For the purposes of this document, the terms and definitions given in ISO 9000:2015 apply.