Quality Standards explained!

Why should YOUR company comply with quality standards? 

Quality standards serve as the basis for creating a relationship of trust between companies and customers, as they make it clear that products and services meet certain specifications and are constantly being improved. By defining best practices and benchmarks, they promote innovation and efficiency in a globally competitive environment. 

Quality standards play a central role in ensuring the competitiveness of companies and the safety of consumers. They ensure that products meet applicable legal requirements and customer expectations. By implementing such standards, the consistency and efficiency of processes can be improved, productivity increased, and the risk of errors, recalls and reputational damage minimised. 

In addition, quality standards offer companies the opportunity to establish themselves in global markets by ensuring that their products meet internationally recognised requirements. This can be particularly crucial in highly regulated sectors such as the automotive, medical or food industries. Ultimately, quality standards help to build long-term business relationships and ensure the sustainable success of a company. 

Types of quality standards 

Industry standards and sector-specific standards 

Industry standards are not defined by standardization organisations, but by industrial companies and provide certain specifications, benchmarks and procedures that are generally accepted and widely used within an industry. They serve as guidelines to standardise processes and make them comparable. The aims are to increase efficiency, reduce costs and achieve interoperability. One example of this is the PDF format or the Ethernet. Industry standards can subsequently be defined as committee standards by standardization bodies such as ISO. The specifications for PDF, for example, are set out in ISO 32000-1. 

In addition to industry standards, there are also sector-specific standards. One example of this is IATF 16949, which is a sector-specific standard that was developed specifically for the automotive industry and is based on ISO 9001, which is described in the next paragraph. It ensures that automotive manufacturers and their suppliers comply with the industry’s high-quality requirements. In addition, the German Association of the Automotive Industry (Verband der Automobilindustrie, VDA) has developed the VDA 6.3 standard specifically for process audits in the automotive industry. It evaluates and audits processes along the entire supply chain to ensure that quality requirements are consistently implemented. Another sector-specific standard is the ISO 22000 standard. It creates clearly defined requirements for all players within the food chain and serves to ensure safe products for consumers.

International, national and regional standards 

There are standards that apply internationally, nationally and regionally. The International Organization for Standardization (ISO) defines internationally valid specifications. A good example is ISO 9001, a globally recognised standard for quality management systems that focuses on continuous improvement and customer satisfaction. It helps companies to optimise internal processes and minimise risks. Another example is ISO/IEC 27001, which defines guidelines for information security (details can be found here). Another example are the standards published by the German Institute for Standardisation (Deutsches Institut für Normung, DIN), such as DIN 743, which defines load capacity verifications for axles and shafts and is used in mechanical engineering. There are also standards that apply specifically to the EU, which can be recognised by the letters ‘EN’ in DIN EN 15224, for example. This standard defines a Europe-wide standard for quality management systems in the healthcare sector. In China, for example, proof of conformity is carried out using different standards. The GB-Standards are the most important group. They are issued by the Standardisation Administration of the People’s Republic of China, which is comparable to DIN. One example is GB-14166, which defines the specifications for seat belts in vehicles. 

Internal company Quality Standards 

A basic distinction is made between external and internal quality standards. External standards are published by international and national organisations. Internal quality standards, on the other hand, are individually tailored to the respective company and are developed internally to fulfil specific operational requirements and objectives. ISO 45001, which is based on ISO 9001, is a management system for health and safety at work and defines the requirements with instructions for application. Although it is an external quality standard, it serves, for example, as the basis for defining an internal quality standard for health and safety in the workplace. In addition, internal quality control is the systematic process that ensures that products, services and processes within an organisation meet the defined quality standards and requirements. Internal quality control is used in laboratory medicine, for example. 

Why are quality standards crucial for every company? 

In principle, all companies and organisations should adhere to quality standards to ensure that their products and services meet the applicable requirements. This is particularly true for industries where safety and reliability are of paramount importance, such as the automotive, aviation and medical sectors.  However, quality standards also create trust and increase competitiveness outside of these sectors. Companies that consistently adhere to these standards position themselves as reputable partners and enjoy the trust of their customers in the long term. A lack of quality assurance, on the other hand, can not only lead to a poor image, but also to companies not being considered by potential customers in the first place. Adhering to quality standards is therefore not an optional extra, but an essential basis for sustainable success in a highly competitive market. 

Conclusion  

Quality standards not only offer a competitive advantage but also serve as a foundation for a company’s credibility and trust. They often serve as a prerequisite for collaboration with other global companies and ensure that products and services not only meet legal and industry requirements but also fulfil or even exceed customer expectations. Quality standards are relevant for companies of all sizes and industries that focus on consistent performance, customer satisfaction and risk minimisation.