Courtesy: ISO 9001 2015 Certification
Dytz argues that ISO 9001 certification is based on 7 management principles and that companies are free to develop their internal tools and working methods, however, the model adopted to audit and certify companies does not evaluate the effectiveness of these methods. Even when there is still a superficial analysis of this effectiveness, mainly due to the time available to audit these companies, the certifications do not distinguish two companies with the same business model, with regard to their internal capacity and quality of management.
Pickrell argues that ISO systems merely gauge whether the processes are being followed. It does not gauge how good the processes are or whether the correct parameters are being measured and controlled to ensure quality. Furthermore, when unique technical solutions are involved in the creation of a new part, ISO does not validate the robustness of the technical solution—a key part of advanced quality planning. It is not unheard of for an ISO-certified plant to display poor quality performance due to poor process selection and/or poor technical solutions.
Lastly, the standard itself is proprietary, and not open to inspection by the general public.
ISO 9000 Withdrawal
ISO 9001 certification has a three-year validity period. At the end of this period, every certified organization must renew its certificate. Unfortunately, not all organizations are successful in their renewal. Some organizations are not able to renew the certificate, because they do not conform to all requirements, and others simply decide not to renew the certificate. There are several reasons why an organization may lose or decide not to renew its ISO 9000 certification:
- Some companies may think that the total cost outweighs the certification benefits. This is the most cited reason for voluntary decertification, but some research suggests that economic underperformance is not the reason why firms lose the certification.
- In some industries, there may be too many competitors already certified which may create the sensation that the potential for competitive advantage gained from (re)certification is lower.
- Some companies may believe that they have internalized the certification benefits into their processes and do not feel the need for formal certification as they can continue to conform to the ISO 9001 standard without formal registration within a certification body.
- Some of the customers may no longer demand certification.
- Some companies may have considered their ISO 9001 certification as a first step into quality management and now want to evolve their quality management systems by advancing to other alternative certifications (e.g., IATF 16949:2016, in the automobile industry) or towards other more demanding quality management systems (e.g., TQM, six sigma, lean).
- Financial distress.
- Expected performance after decertification.
- Improper ISO 9001 implementation.
- and other reasons.
- Propensity for ISO 9000 withdrawal
- According to the latest data made available by ISO, approximately 60,000 organizations lose the certification every year. Given that there are approximately 1,000,000 certified organizations worldwide, and that 1/3 of these (approx. 333,333) must renew the certificate every year, the yearly average propensity for ISO 9001 withdrawal can be estimated roughly at 18% (60,000/333,333). The propensity of a given organization to lose its certification can be estimated, depending on several factors specific to the organization: