The UK manufacturing industry faces many new challenges and opportunities in rapidly changing market conditions. Product safety, waste disposal and reclamation procedures are always under high scrutiny and subject to strict industry standards.
In addition, regulations are updated frequently, and costs can rise and fall with changing regulations, which can cause a range of issues. As a result, keeping up to date with the latest changes and manually updating your systems accordingly is a complex challenge.
ISO standards were created to offer guidance, coordination, simplification and unification of criteria to companies and organisations in order to reduce costs and increase effectiveness, as well as to standardise product and service standards for international organisations.
ISO standards have been developed and adopted by many companies in many countries out of a need and willingness to standardise quality parameters.
Management systems are used by organisations to manage interrelated parts of their business in order to achieve their objectives. These can relate to several different topics, including product or service quality, operational efficiency, environmental performance and health and safety. ISO management system standards are internationally agreed by experts and widely respected around the world.
The most well-known standards include:
- Quality management – ISO 9001
- Environmental management – ISO 14001
- Occupational health and safety management – ISO 45001
- Energy management – ISO 50001
- Information security management – ISO/IEC 27001
Certification of a management system is critical to the success of your business. It’s an essential tool which will help you meet requirements (customer, regulatory and legal), minimise risks, strengthen your market position, protect your brand, focus on your customer requirements, improve organisational efficiency and reduce costs.
International standards mean that consumers can have confidence that the products are reliable and of good quality. Companies with an ISO label use this to improve their image and show the rest of the world that they work in conformity with international standards. For many buyers and customers, this is a sign that companies offer excellent products and services. ISO certification is important for any business, irrespective of its size.
By achieving ISO status, a business is sending a clear message to its current customer base, potential trade partners and to its competitors.
Here at SGS, we’re a UKAS-accredited organisation, meaning that we’re independently assessed. Having accredited certification decreases the risk for businesses. One of our strengths is that as an international organisation we have local offices and local auditors, that know and understand the environment within their region.
Our people are the very heart of our organisation. Having local knowledge, and understanding the needs of those local to us, is at the very core of how we do business..
For more information, email uk.nowisthetime@sgs.com or call 01276 697715.
