NPT Management Systems now offers a one-stop shop for businesses seeking UKAS-accredited ISO certification.

Historically, ISO consultants have only provided a consulting service, leaving clients to find a third-party certified body (such as BSI, LRQA, SGS, et cetera) on their own. This approach can often be time-consuming and confusing for business owners.

We at NPT can now help you to implement an ISO-compliant management system and have it certified by a UKAS-accredited certification under a single contract. This means that we do all the work for you, giving you more time to concentrate on your business itself.

We have helped many companies in places like Portsmouth, Southampton, Bournemouth and Basingstoke to achieve ISO certification (sometimes known as ISO accreditation). Look at our customer reviews to find out more about our services and why we're so highly recommended throughout the South of England.

If you would like to save time and money, please contact us now to find out more about our one-stop certification shop.

Neil Peattie, our Principal Consultant, attended a two-day ISO 9001:2015 auditor transition course this week. This IRCA-certified course was designed to bring qualified ISO 9001 consultants up to speed with the latest revision of the global standard, and it culminated in a written examination, which we're pleased to announce that Neil passed with flying colours!

All of which is just another example of our commitment to training and advancement here at NPT Management Systems. We know that our industry is always changing, and we make it a priority to ensure that our knowledge and skills are totally up-to-date at all times. As you may be aware, ISO 9001 is just one of our many specialist areas; we also help businesses to implement ISO 14001-compliant environmental management systems, ISO 27001-compliant information security management systems, continual improvement programmes, and so on. In order to provide each of these services, our consultants are required to be aware of the latest developments and in possession of any relevant qualifications.

This is a big part of makes NPT Management Systems stand out from the competition. When you look for a consultant, it's important to check their professional qualifications - many consultants in our industry have few or no qualifications with any relevance to ISO 9001:2008 or ISO 9001:2015 auditing at all. We at NPT, on the other hand, are fully qualified to design and implement a wide variety of high-quality management systems.

Furthermore, we are exceptionally quick to familiarise ourselves with new areas of expertise as soon as they arise; for example, Neil is actually one of the very first people to have passed the aforementioned ISO 9001:2015 course, a fact of which we’re rightly proud!

Click here to learn more about our qualifications and credentials, or contact us to let us know what we can do for you.

We helped Fish Guidance Systems to develop a QMS and achieve ISO 9001 certification.

From time to time, we at NPT Management Systems enjoy sharing our success stories, and that's exactly what we'd like to do today. Fish Guidance Systems are based in Lower Swanwick, Southampton, and they specialise in behavioural systems that deflect or guide fish away from water intakes, usually through the use of acoustic equipment or lighting. The company boasts a global network of local agents and representatives, and achieving ISO 9001 certification was a key part of their overall business strategy.

In order to demonstrate the company's continuing commitment to quality and reliability, Dr David Lambert - the Managing Director of Fish Guidance Systems - approached NPT Management Systems to request our assistance with pursuing ISO 9001 certification. Fish Guidance Systems already had a number of quality assurance procedures in place, but the ISO 9001 standard sets out some very specific guidelines, and so our Principal Consultant Neil Peattie worked with Dr Lambert and his team of engineers and scientists to ensure that these standards were met in a single, all-encompassing quality management system.

Once this had been accomplished, we helped the company to apply to a UKAS-accredited body for certification. Happily,the UKAS assessment went swimmingly, and Fish Guidance Systems achieved ISO 9001 certification.

Here's what Dr Lambert had to say about the services we provided:

"Achieving ISO 9001 certification was made considerably easier with the invaluable help of NPT Management Systems.The assessor from our UKAS-accredited certification body summarised the audit by saying, 'This is a very well-written quality management system, with excellent documentation and good traceability throughout.' We wouldn't have achieved this without Neil's constant enthusiasm, commitment, and support."

Would you like to achieve ISO 9001 certification for your business? Click here to get in touch with NPT Management Systems.

The family of standards known as ISO 9001 was recently revised for the first time since 2008 (read our blog about it here). The new version, dubbed ISO 9001:2015, is now in effect, meaning that your quality management system will need to meet the updated standards for your business to retain its ISO 9001 certification.

As of ISO 9001:2015's introduction three weeks ago, ISO 9001-certified businesses have three years to update their practices and migrate their quality management systems to ensure that they are in full compliance with the new set of standards. Failure to do this within the allotted time period will result in the expiration of your business's ISO-certified status, so it's a good idea to make any necessary changes and get re-certified sooner rather than later (just to be on the safe side!)

If you're ready to review your quality management system and bring it into line with ISO 9001:2015 standards, we at NPT Management Systems are the people to call. Our qualified ISO 9001 consultants will help you to identify and implement any necessary changes; we will also assist with the re-certification process, ensuring that your business retains its ISO certification for the forseeable future.

Click here to get in touch with NPT Management Systems, or visit our ISO 9001:2015 page to learn more about the new set of standards.

Following on from last week's big news (the ISO 14001 standard receiving its first update in over a decade), we're excited to announce that the latest edition of ISO 9001, the international standard for quality management systems, has now been published as well. This new revision, dubbed ISO 9001:2015, was released earlier today, and standards experts the world over are already poring over the changes that have been made.

What's new in ISO 9001:2015?

Here are some of the differences between ISO 9001:2015 and the previous version of this standard:

• Enhanced compatibility with other management systems. One of the main aims of this revision is to make ISO 9001 more compatible with ISO 14001 and other management systems such as ISO 27001. The new version of ISO 9001 has a higher-level structure than its predecessor, making it easier for businesses to use multiple ISO management systems in conjunction with one another.
  
  
• Stronger emphasis on "risk-based thinking". Official ISO literature highlights this as one of ISO 9001:2015's core concepts. A risk-conscious approach, the organisation has suggested, will help businesses to prevent "undesirable outcomes".
  
  
• Less prescriptive, more performance-based. ISO 9001 has been growing less prescriptive with each new update; over the years, focus has gradually shifted away from rigorous documentation and towards the management process itself. ISO 9001:2015 continues in this tradition, with the revision touted as being less prescriptive than ever.

If you would like to learn more about the ISO 9001 update and what it might mean for your business, please get in touch with NPT Management Systems - we can help you to make sure that your management systems remain fully certified in the wake of this revision.

Image Credit: Isaac Bowen