ISO 9004 Sustained Success
ISO 9004:2018 Quality Management – Quality of an Organisation – Guidance to achieve sustained success. Trips off the tongue, doesn’t it? Maybe not, but a closer look might tell us more. ISO 9001 Lead Auditor courses mention it and often considered a next step for organisations with a mature effective management system.
First published in 2018 and reviewed in 2023 (A standard is reviewed every 5 years) the current version of ISO 9004 offers guidance to organisations looking to take things a bit further. Included is a self-assessment tool, something to assist an organisation in determining the extent to which it has adopted the concepts included in the standard. The guidance in ISO 9004 is of course consistent with quality management principles given in ISO 9001 and like the core quality standard is applicable to any organisation, regardless of its size, type, and activity.
So, what’s included in ISO9004:2018?
While ISO 9001:2015 focuses on providing confidence in the organisation’s products and services, ISO 9004:2018 is focused on providing confidence in the organisation’s
ability to achieve sustained success. Whilst there’s no doubt that businesses and other organisations should focus on process control and customer satisfaction there’s a competitive edge to be gained by taking things a bit further. Moving on from thinking just about product and service quality, next level if you like.
The main concept of ISO 9004 is: “To achieve sustained success the organisation should go
beyond the quality of its products and services and focus on anticipating and meeting the needs and expectations of its interested parties and not just those of its customers
alone, with the intent of enhancing their satisfaction and overall experience.”
Our interpretation is further assisted by the inclusion of PDCA (Plan Do Check Act) in ISO 9004, beginning with plan we can consider context, identity, and leadership. Hint a stakeholder map may be useful here, if we’re to be successful and stay successful we need to disregard quick wins and focus on longer term goals. It’s about a much more holistic approach, something like customer satisfaction vs customer experience (included in a piece we wrote last month). We may provide a great service but to keep customers coming back we need to provide a great experience. Or looking at it another way, the product may be great now but have we considered emerging regulatory compliance or trends in AI?
Change and clear direction (mission, vision, value) are key, as are our internal and external stakeholders leading to strategy, policy development and objectives.
Do, elements of PDCA are addressed in 8 and 9, process and resource management.
Robust processes support how we do things and appropriate resources.
Check, is section 10, addressing analysis and performance. Performance linked to our processes and finally, Act, section 11, deals with improvement.
At all times self-assessment is key and is included in Annex A, scoring 1-5 against a given criteria, the organisation can record current scores, revisit and identify progress being made in improvement activities. It does take time; it is a step beyond achieving certification to ISO 9001 but if your organisation is truly looking at the big picture then ‘sustained success’ may be the next step in your improvement journey.