What are the quality objectives of ISO 9001

One of the first steps of implementing a Quality Management System (QMS) in using the recommendations of the ISO 9001 standard is to write a quality policy for your company. The quality policy is fundamental as it is a reflection of the goals of the organisation, which would be further used as a filter for business decisions.

Quality objectives are the best method to spotlight the key elements of any quality policy. Additionally, quality objectives are used to find a focal point for the efforts of the people within the organisation. Finding a focal point helps the company work together and towards improvement.

Continual improvement, after all, is the key reason for an organisation to implement an ISO 9001-based QMS. In this article, we will discuss what are the quality objectives of ISO 9001, how to make the quality objectives work for you and the process for their establishment. You can get help from ISO consulting in Australia whenever you need more information.

What are quality objectives?

As mentioned above, quality objectives are the main method used by companies to practically implement the goals defined in the quality policy. There is a bi-directional relation between the quality policy and quality objectives. Quality policies are created with the customer requirements in mind, whereas quality objectives link the customer requirements to the quality policy with the help of actionable steps.

These quality objectives take the goals stated in the quality policy and turn them into statements for improvement against which concrete plans can be made. With the help of ISO 9001 consulting, you can define your goals and plan to achieve them.

Example of quality objectives in ISO 9001

This can be better explained with the help of an example. Let us imagine, quality policy of a widget/ small gadget manufacturer has identified a customer need for in-time delivery with no defect as the priority requirement. Hence, the quality policy might read “to deliver products to our customers when they need them, with no defect, every single time.”

This company might have two quality objectives. The first might be to address the defective parts being shipped to the customer and the second, to improve on-time delivery. Therefore, the first quality objective would be “to improve on-time delivery to 95% within the next six months,” and the second objective might be, “to minimise field escapes to the customer to 3% within the next year.”  We suggest you check the ISO 9001 PDCA to learn more about how to set goals for ISO implementation.

ISO 9001 objectives linked customer and the quality policy

As you can understand, by doing so, the improvement derived from the quality objective is directly linked to the needs of the customer and the quality policy itself.

Furthermore, these quality policies must be communicated to each level of the organisation with corresponding objectives and plans to help in combining efforts so that the overall planned goal can be achieved. Here, a recommendation is to use a balanced scorecard, a format that involves measuring the four aspects of a business including:

• Learning
• Business processes
• Customers
• Finance

The benefit of using the balanced scorecard is that it allows organisations to pool information in a single report to help employees across all levels receive the guidance in one document so that efficiencies can be improved.

Set objectives for different levels of the organisation

It is also important to set objectives for different levels of the organisation, including specificities such as objectives for the product. These specificities of product/process objectives are often referred to as Key Performance Indicators (KPI). The advantage of using KPIs is to determine if an organisation is meeting the requirements of ISO 9001. KPIs also help to measure the overall functioning of the processes and the efficiency of the QMS.

Creating Quality Objectives in ISO 9001

After selecting the processes or the products that you need to monitor, measure and improve, it is important to make the quality objectives effective in addressing the needs that should be improved. The quality objectives should be designed as Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Realistic and Time based (SMART) and must have relevance at all levels of the organisation.

What are SMART objectives in ISO 9001?

In simpler words, this means that each employee should understand how their job supports meeting the quality objectives.
In order to achieve this, the following should be addressed:

1. Specific: For the best outcome, an objective needs to be clear and specific. This can be done by describing the knowledge and skills required to fulfil the objective.
2. Measurable: In order to make a quality objective effective, it needs to be measurable. This can be done by describing how the results of the objective will be measured and monitored along the way, including who will be responsible for the required updates and communication.
3. Achievable: For an objective to be achievable, it needs to be agreed upon and approved by top level management. Once the management agrees upon an objective, it needs to be communicated at each level of the organisation. To enhance achievability, it is beneficial to plan what your organisation wants to achieve and provide resources that will help to meet the expectations.
4. Realistic: It is important to consider team competence, allocated resources and time restrictions when creating a quality objective.
5. Time based: In order to be truly effective, an objective needs to have a time limit associated with it.

Establishing the  ISO 9001 quality objectives

The last step in the implementation of the quality objectives is to make sure that they are communicated to the relevant individuals, and each individual understands their own level of involvement. Improvement can only be accomplished by engaging the employees while improving the processes.