ISO stands for the International Organization for Standardization, an organization that sets and develops standards of quality for the international market. Without any standards in places, it would be difficult to maintain quality and consistency across nations and industries and set a level playing field.
Every manufacturing process, management system, documentation procedure, or process requires certification to ensure it meets the requirements for quality assurance and standardization.
Being an autonomous international entity, its task is to develop standards to ensure the efficiency and safety of products and services, systems, and products. You will find certifications across industries, including energy management, medical devices, and social responsibility. It is in place to foster consistency and required standards for fair and safe use of products and services.
ISO Certification
You may not sell to certain industries without this certification, such as 9001. The certification defines the requirements for meeting certain quality management principles. This certification helps businesses to improve customer satisfaction by becoming more efficient. It is usually followed by another number representing the version of the standards that need to be met.
For example, an organization could be certified as ISO 9001: 2015. This final number (2015) is the calendar year when this version of standards came into operation. Therefore, a business with 9001 certification would be an entity that meets the requisite standards of quality for both the local and international markets.
ISO standards related to our industry
ISO/IEC 14443
ISO/IEC 14443 is a four-part international standard for Contactless Smart Cards operating at 13.56 MHz in close proximity with a reader antenna. Proximity Integrated Circuit Cards (PICC) are intended to operate within approximately 10cm of the reader antenna.
Application example :
Due to its high security, NFC tags related to the ISO code 14443 allows the identification of persons or objects. This feature is widely used in the transportation industry.
ISO/IEC 15693
ISO/IEC 15693 is an ISO standard that operates at the 13.56 MHz High Frequency. This ISO Code is related to the NFC tags of type 5.
This ISO standard is used for RFID card or contactless vicinity objects.
Vicinity cards are RFID cards at high frequency 13.56 MHz whereas proximity cards refer to low frequency RFID cards.
Application examples :
- Books in a library
- Tickets like ski pass
- Health sector (drug packaging)
Finding new ISO standards
If you want to learn about the new, updated, or revised standards, the best place to look is the ISO themselves since it is the organization responsible for setting standards. Alternatively, you may find outlets that provide summaries of the updates to enable individuals and organizations to grasp any changes better.
Updates may include more clauses to requirements of safety and quality, different terminologies, and more emphasis on the inputs and outputs needed in the production or process of a given product or service.
Certification changes may also include risk-based thinking, leadership and commitment roles, better integration with other standards, and a process approach. Businesses and organizations require the latest certification to keep up with the trends at the market and to ensure they maintain the highest levels of safety and quality in their production processes.