KFS Starts ISO 9001:2008 Quality Management Systems Certification Process

Senior Staff undergoing the ISO 9001:2008 Awareness course on 14th June, 2010 

AfriAviation Solutions Lead Consultant Raymond Rimba takes Senior Management through the basic tenets of ISO certification.

KFS has embarked on the journey towards ISO Certification by engaging a consultant to lead  the process.  The process starts by awareness training throughout the organization, this is followed by mapping of all processes and how they inter-relate.  

The purpose of all this is to ensure the organization adheres to the basics of good business practice by setting quality goals, ensuring customer service, trainning employees, controlling service and production processes,  purchasing from suppliers that guarantee quality, correct problems and ensure they do not happen again.

Quality which is defined as “degree to which a set of inherent characteristics fulfills requirements” is the bedrock for ISO Standards. Standards have always been with mankind. For instance the pyramids of Egypt are an epitome of high standards of building qualities and QMS is a mechanism through which organizations can satisfy their customers and stakeholders on the standards that they adhere to.

According to online encyclopedia -Wikipedia, ISO 9000 is a family of standards for quality management systems. ISO 9000 is maintained by ISO, the International Organization for Standardization and is administered by accreditation and certification bodies. The rules are updated, as the requirements motivate changes over time. Some of the requirements in ISO 9001:2008 (which is one of the standards in the ISO 9000 family) include

• a set of procedures that cover all key processes in the business;
• monitoring processes to ensure they are effective;
• keeping adequate records;
• checking output for defects, with appropriate and corrective action where necessary;
• regularly reviewing individual processes and the quality system itself for effectiveness; and
• facilitating continual improvement

A company or organization that has been independently audited and certified to be in conformance with ISO 9001 may publicly state that it is "ISO 9001 certified" or "ISO 9001 registered". Certification to an ISO 9001 standard does not guarantee any quality of end products and services; rather, it certifies that formalized business processes are being applied.

Although the standards originated in manufacturing, they are now employed across several types of organizations. A "product", in ISO vocabulary, can mean a physical object, services, or software.

KFS will start by training Senior Management to achieve buy in and creating awareness, that will be followed by establishing an ISO Steering  Team, ISO Implementation Team before  rolling out to all field stations.

The benefits of the certification include increased productivity, less rework and scrap, less waste, employee satisfaction, continual improvement, increased profit. Internationally the certification is recognized  and also increases customer satisfaction. 

Report Courtesy Raphael Mworia