One Year to Go...

BY: ANDY NICHOLS

If your organization is certified to ISO 9001:2008 (or ISO/TS 16949 or AS9100C) you have approximately 365 days left to upgrade your Quality Management System (QMS) and have your Registrar audit it. In fact, you should aim to be done and have your certificate in hand by the end of August 2018 at the latest.

Meeting the Deadline
To be exact, ISO 9001:2008 expires at midnight on September 14, 2018. A question I am often asked is: What if an organization wasn’t able to prepare and successfully complete their audit? The simple answer is that the Registrar would request their certificate be returned, the organization would not be able to post their certificate on their website (for example) and they would not be able to use the Registrar’s logos, etc. Simply put, you'll have to start again.

New Audit Process Certification
For organizations that received their ISO 9001 certification before 2011, the new audit process according to ISO/IEC 17021 involves:

1. Submitting an application to a Registrar
2. Scheduling a “Stage 1” Audit
3. Scheduling the “Stage 2” Audit
4. Responding to Any Non-Conformities
5. Obtaining a New ISO 9001:2015 Certificate

Costs of a New Certification
Significant consideration should be given to the cost of going through the certification process. If you miss the September 14, 2018 deadline, it will not matter that you had a fully functioning and compliant QMS the day before expiration. The Registrar is required to treat it as a new certification. This new certification will cost you:

• Money - At an industry average of $1,300-$1,400 per audit day for your organization (view details of audit duration), plus various additional fees, travel costs, etc., certification can get costly. It makes better sense to do what it takes to maintain your certification.
• Delays - From start to certification in hand, the whole process could take 150 days (or more). During this period, the organization is at risk of losing existing customers and missing out on acquiring new business. 
• Availability of Auditors - If a significant majority of organizations leave their upgrade audits until 2018, there may not be sufficient, qualified auditors to do the work. Schedules come under pressure, and this can trickle down to clients seeking to squeak in their audit before the September 2018 deadline.

Preparation is Key - Contact The Center 
Upgrading from ISO 9001:2008 to ISO 9001:2015 does not need to be a difficult task. Contact the Michigan Manufacturing Technology Center at ISO@the-center.org for assistance. Our ISO 9001:2015 Transition program can be accomplished in four visits and will expertly guide companies through the process. One recent participant shared the following with us after their audit:

Andy Nichols, Quality Program Manager