Lessons learned from quality management system ISO 9001:2015 certification: practices and barrier identification from Brazilian industrial companies

Abstract

PurposeThis study used a qualitative approach on five case studies in Brazilian industrial companies. The research used interviews, document analysis and on-site visits to collect and analyze data. The companies were selected based on the following criteria: operating in the industrial sector, updating their quality management system (QMS) process to ISO 9001: 2015 and agreeing to participate in this study.Design/methodology/approachThis article aims to investigate the strategies of industrial companies adopted for ISO-9001:2015 certification in light of the six major advances concerning the previous version. Thus, QMS of other organizations can incorporate identified lessons learned, whether certified or not.FindingsThe main finding of the research is the systematization of a set of lessons learned in the experiences of implementing the six significant advances of ISO 9001 concerning the previous version by industrial companies in the State of São Paulo in Brazil. These lessons can and should be used by other organizations to improve their QMSs.Practical implicationsThe practices identified in this empirical research can serve as benchmarking to assist quality managers from other companies in QMS certification based on ISO 9001: 2015 or even those not certified but interested in updating their QMSs. Therefore, lessons learned can significantly minimize efforts to improve your projects, processes, products and services. These findings can also help industrial companies improve their production efficiency and effectiveness through quality improvement.Originality/valueThe main novelty of the research is the consolidation of theoretical and practical analysis of the main changes in the latest version of the ISO 9001 standards. The efforts to fulfill those changes result in lessons learned. The “lessons learned” will form a new block of knowledge that will subsidize theoretical (new research) and practical (formulation of a new ISO 9001 standard and helps quality managers improve their systems).

The Main Benefits of Application of Six Sigma for Productive Excellence

“…Starting from the premise of what constitutes quality, companies must adopt a quality management policy that is efficient and effective in continuously improving processes, thus achieving better results, customer loyalty, and improved business strategy, taking into account environmental issues (Bravi, Murmura and Santos, 2019;Barbosa et al, 2020;Carvalho, Santos and Gonçalves, 2020;Silva et al, 2020;de Araujo et al, 2021). The demand for quality has given rise to a series of technical standards, such as ISO 9001, which is a tool to document the culture of organizations consisting of requirements for managing the production of products and services (Fonseca and Domingues, 2018;Chen and Li, 2019;Barbosa et al, 2021), where new skills are nedeed (Doiro et al, 2017;Sá et al, 2019;Santos et al, 2021). Therefore, to fulfill requirements in certain processes requires the adoption of working methods aimed at standardization and control, the Six Sigma model is one such example (Fonseca and Domingues, 2018;Bravi, Murmura and Santos, 2019;Costa et al, 2019).…”

Guidelines to build the bridge between sustainability and integrated management systems: A way to increase stakeholder engagement toward sustainable development

“…MSs are composed of a set of objectives and procedures for managing a certain element, for example, quality, environment, CS, health, and safety of workers, innovation, information security, etc. (Barbosa et al, 2021;Costa et al, 2019;Pechancová et al, 2019;Rebelo et al, 2014;Sá et al, 2019). However, as there is a need to implement an increasing number of management systems to meet the expectations of their stakeholders, many companies have faced problems keeping several MSs separate (Mubushar et al, 2021;Nunhes et al, 2017;Sá et al, 2020;.…”

The Importance of Fab Labs in the Development of New Products toward Mass Customization

“…The Fab Lab project was created from an experimental course at MIT launched by Gershenfeld in 1998 called "How to Make (Almost) Anything", whose intention was to bring together personal and digital fabrication, individual creativity, and group collaboration. The name illustrates the idea that inspired the Fab Labs: the creation of places where information technology serves the productive activity with a good quality [54][55][56]. Thus, Fab Labs provide people with the right tools, so they can design and build the most extraordinary things [57], where it exists a bridge from the idea to new product development [58].…”