Fundamentals of Management Systems Integration
Integrated Management System (IMS) brings together all of an organization’s systems and processes into one complete framework, enabling the organization to work as a single unit with unified objectives.
The concept of integrated management systems applies to corporate organizations that are trying to combine multiple management standards, such as for quality, environment, occupational health & safety, and other requirements that are often bolted together with resulting inefficiencies coming from duplication of efforts and conflicting approaches.
Adopting an integrated approach towards the operation of different management systems enable organizations save valuable resources contributing to the maintenance and efficiency of business processes.
What is Integrated Management System?
Integrated Management System refers to a single structure for management system utilized by organizations to manage their organization's processes that converts certain inputs into a product or service which comply the organization's objectives and equitably satisfy the interested party's requirements including quality, health & safety, environmental, security, ethical requirements etc. It refers to the integration of quality (QMS), environment (EMS) and occupational health, safety (OH&SMS) and/or where necessary, any other management systems. Interested parties in this context include the customers, regulatory bodies and others.
Determining the Levels of Integration
The key variables that determine the levels of integration within an organization include the following:
- Operations of the organization,
- Size of the organization,
- Competition,
- Institutional setting and,
- Type of system.
These variables depend on the needs of the organization. Companies can attain numerous management systems, ranging from the Quality Management System (QMS – ISO 9001), Environmental Management Systems (EMS - ISO 14001), and Occupational Health and Safety (OH&SMS - ISO 45001), Social Accountability (SA 8000) or other industry specific systems including Energy Management System (ISO 50001), Food Safety Management Systems (ISO 22000) and Medical devices sector (ISO 13485) with the primary goal of enhancing profit and go towards a more sustainable development.
Learn more about Integrated Management Systems here:
- eBook - Integrated Management Systems
- Toolkit - Integrated Management Systems
- eCourse - Integrated Management Systems (IMS)
About the Author
Adebayo is a thought leader in continuous process improvement and manufacturing excellence. He is a Certified Six Sigma Master Black Belt (CSSMBB) Professional and Management Systems Lead Auditor (ISO 9001, 45001, ISO 22000/FSSC 22000 etc.) with strong experience leading various continuous improvement initiative in top manufacturing organizations.
You can reach him here.
