Today’s marketplace demands higher quality products, and many manufacturers have adopted a corporate quality culture to elevate the quality recognition of their brands. Today’s top-tier manufacturers are also more dependent on their supplier networks and, therefore, more interested in standardizing quality management practices in the entire industry. These factors have led to a heightened awareness of the importance of quality management systems and to the enhanced development and enforcement of industry standards and regulations.

This paper reviews the requirements of the ISO 9001 standards with a perspective on how modern software applications and information technology can be used to ensure compliance in different areas of the QMS standard. The QMS should be an integral part of the enterprise systems landscape architecture.

Instead of treating QMS compliance as a side initiative, organizations can take a new look at improving their business processes and enterprise systems to assure QMS compliance while optimizing the entire information flow in the organization. Filling gaps where necessary and integrating systems with risk management, process control and quality management in mind. The improved procedures and processes will not only satisfy compliance, but will also reduce cost, improve product quality, and ultimately improve customer satisfaction and the bottom line.