Top 4 Benefits of Integrated ISO Management Systems (IMS)
Integrated Management System can be defined as a single structure for management system utilized by companies to manage their organization's processes or activities that converts inputs into a product or service which comply the organization's objectives and equitably satisfy the interested party's quality, health & safety, environmental, security, ethical etc.
It refers to the integration of quality (QMS), environment (EMS) and occupational health, safety (OH&SMS) and where necessary, any other management systems. Common practice is, companies integrating three systems such as QMS, EMS, OH&SMS. However, no defined rule restricts a company from integrating as many systems they want as per their needs. The key variables that determine the levels of integration include the operations, size, competition, institutional setting and type of system.
These depend on the needs of the organization. Companies can attain numerous management systems the following that are classified as commonly used and industry-specific standards.
- Common and Widely Used MSS
Some widely used management system standards include the following:
- ISO 45001 (Occupational Health and Safety Management System)
- ISO 14001 (Environmental Management System)
- ISO 9001 (Quality Management System)
- ISO 50001 (Energy Management System) etc.
- Industry-Specific or Application-Specific MSS
Other management system standards (MSS) which are industry-specific or application based include:
- ISO 22000 (Food Safety)
- ISO 13485 (Medical devices)
- ISO 21001 (Education)
- ISO 27001 (Information Security)
- ISO 37001 (Anti-bribery Management Systems) etc.
Benefits of Integrated Management Systems
Increased Management System Requirement
Many organizations often adopt more than one international management system standards as a result of intense pressure and presence of some sector-specific standards and, some other organizations, as a result of enforcement by their group headquarters, mother company or customer standards. The organization may then also be exposed with the quest to be competitive complying with all the system requirements. The only way to respond to all these challenges is to have a single integrated management system.
Improved Effectiveness
IMS enhances a system to be more logical from a complete assessment of economy, functionality and transparency for the management system users. Here, the standards are comprehended more clearly in a manner that the company complies with both the system requirements and the organization’s need. The company-wide missions, goals and objectives are developed through one management system. As a result of a single well designed management system, company can manage all requirements with improved effectiveness.
Cost Reduction
A highly integrated management system will avoid the repetitive costs, additional cost or resources, external audits etc. If the company is managing various management systems separately, it will have separate system for Quality Management System likewise a separate system for health and safety and environment. Also all internal audits, document control, management review, and other common functions of management system will be managed separately. This means that there will be more resources required to manage these systems individually, more processes, more interactions, more external audits, more paper work, more document reviews etc.
Less Redundancy and Conflicting Elements
Integration manages the extensive business needs of a company by eradicating redundancies and conflicting processes that are usually present when multiple separate management systems are utilized individually. Environmental department can take advantage of developed QMS core systems like calibration, document control, roles and responsibilities, and record management.
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), Digital Manufacturing Professional and Management Systems Lead Auditor (ISO 9001, 45001 & ISO 22000) with strong experience leading various continuous improvement initiative in top manufacturing organizations.
You can reach him here.
