Should You Be Certified to ISO Standards?

That depends on your intentions and perception of value

In an article published by Quality Digest, Julias DeSilva addresses recent declines in ISO certification and poses the question, “Does quality matter anymore?” His conclusion is that even if you don’t get certified, you will still gain from a well-implemented management system. But what do manufacturing companies think?

Many certifications are never seen by consumers. Compliance with standards like UL, ENERGY STAR, and USDA Organic are routinely displayed on consumer products, but ISO/IEC 17025, ISO 45001, and NSF/ANSI 173 standards... not so much. These might be considered B2B standards.

So, what’s the ROI for the considerable investment of time and money to certify to these standards? Let’s look at what it means for one of the world’s leading nutritional product manufacturers in the world.

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Certify to ISO Standards???

The article by Julias DiSilva summarizing an interview/story about Herbalife was textbook rationale FOR registration.....right out of a registrar's PR manual, or in this case, someone who must reenforce the 'vast value' it brings to the company at a significant and real expenditure of time, labor and dollars. It seemed, however, to miss the target it promised to take aim at in the opening paragraph.... "But what do manufacturing companies think?" I have 'driven' ISO regestration in several comapnies since the 9000:1987 standard. I am a proponent of standardized registrations for numerous reasons including helping to keep an organization on 'the straight and narrow' of good quality, customer focused service, and cost savings by reducing waste in manufacturing and duplicated/redundant auditing of suppliers. So what do real companies think????? Sales/Marketing sees registration as an advertising checkmark that someone else is responsible for. Engineering sees it as a potential list of hard rules that should apply to those 'sloppy' production operations. Manufactuing sees it as another program to endure, thrown at them by a CEO and enforced by the Quality department. The Quality department is saddled with 'making registration happen' but wonders why other departments feel they are exempt just because the word 'quality' isn't in their title. Administration just wants it to 'happen' without any added resources or distractions. Finance....what's ISO?

For almost 35 of my 45 years in industry, I have led companies (kicking and screaming) into registration with the added burden of trying to educate them on the real value. Though still generally misunderstood and constantly abused, ISO and similar registrations can have a net positive effect to a company's bottom line as well as its culture. Some of us know that it supports Business 101

Should You be Certified to ISO?

Nice interview Ryan Day.

The comment that ISO certification is more common among 'business to business' suppliers, rather than 'manufacturers to consumers' is revealing. If a provider of products direct to consumers performs poorly, the customers disqualify the provider; they don't require a third party auditor to measure the suppier's quality. Since the origin of ISO 9001 in 1987, very few consumer products companies have embraced ISO 9001 certification. Interesting that the Herbalife executive did not reference ISO 9001 during your interview.

In the past several year's, 'business to business' suppliers have also recognized that their customers' evaluation of their performance is demonstrated by the consistent quality of products provided- independent of whether or not the supplier holds ISO 9001 certification.

Currently, only 21,000 US manucturers hold ISO certification, representing only 8% of the approximately 250,000 manufacturers in the US. The 'customers' have spoken; ISO 9001 certification is losing its relevance.

I was pleased to see Herbalife certified to ISO 45001 to support their employees' safety. I believe both ISO 45001 (OH&S) and ISO 14001 (environmental) certification can be important components of the business management system of companies of all types.

Note: I have been a third party auditor, trainer, and consultant for over twenty years for ISO 9001; ISO 14001 and OHSAS 18001.

Should you be certified to ISO standards?

You should make the distinction between certification and accreditation. ISO/IEC 17025:2017 laboratories are accredited. This particular standard is standard where the accredited laboratory is required to demonstrate competence not merely compliance.