ISO 9001 quality objectives: examples by department and how to set them
By Evin Lim, Founder and Managing Director, AA Alive Sdn Bhd · Published
Key points
- Clause 6.2 requires quality objectives for relevant functions, levels and processes that are consistent with the quality policy and measurable.
- Objectives must be monitored, communicated and updated, and each needs a plan: what will be done, resources, who is responsible, when it will be completed and how results will be evaluated.
- Good objectives come from customer requirements, past problems and business goals, not from a template.
- Quality objectives must be kept as documented information.
What clause 6.2 requires
Your quality objectives must:
- Be consistent with the quality policy.
- Be measurable.
- Take applicable requirements into account.
- Be relevant to conformity of products and services and to customer satisfaction.
- Be monitored, communicated, and updated as appropriate.
For each objective you also plan what will be done, what resources are needed, who is responsible, when it will be completed and how results will be evaluated (clause 6.2.2).
Examples of quality objectives by department
The targets below are placeholders. Set yours from your own baseline data, because an objective that is too easy or impossible to reach will not help you improve.
| Department | Objective | Measure |
|---|---|---|
| Sales / customer service | Respond to customer enquiries within one working day | Share of enquiries answered on time |
| Sales / customer service | Improve customer satisfaction | Average survey score; number of complaints per quarter |
| Production | Reduce internal rejects and rework | Reject rate per month |
| Production / logistics | Deliver orders on time and in full | On-time-in-full (OTIF) rate |
| Quality | Close corrective actions on time | Share of CARs closed by due date |
| Purchasing | Improve supplier quality | Supplier reject rate; late deliveries per supplier |
| Service companies | Complete jobs without rework | Jobs needing a return visit per month |
| HR / training | Keep staff competent for their roles | Share of planned training completed; competence gaps closed |
| Maintenance | Reduce unplanned downtime | Hours of breakdown per month |
A simple objectives plan
| Objective | Action | Resources | Owner | Due | How evaluated |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Reduce reject rate from baseline | Add first-article check at machine set-up | Checklist, gauge, 1 hour of training | Production supervisor | End of quarter | Monthly reject report reviewed at management review |
How to choose the right objectives
- Start with what your customers complain about or measure you on.
- Look at your biggest internal costs of poor quality: rework, scrap, returns, repeat visits.
- Pick a small number of objectives that people can influence. Too many objectives and none get attention.
- Cascade: a company objective such as on-time delivery becomes a target for purchasing, production and dispatch.
- Review them at every management review and change them when they are achieved or no longer relevant.
Mistakes auditors often see
- "Make every customer happy" with no way to measure it.
- Objectives copied from a template that nobody in the company tracks.
- No action plan: the objective exists but nothing was done to reach it.
- Objectives never updated, even after being met every month for years.
- Staff who cannot say which objective relates to their work.
Quality objectives are one of the documents ISO 9001 requires. See the full list in ISO 9001 mandatory documents and records.
Frequently asked questions
How many quality objectives should a company have?
ISO 9001 does not set a number. Small companies often manage well with a handful of company-level objectives, broken down into targets for the departments that affect them.
What is the difference between a quality objective and a KPI?
A KPI is a measure you track. A quality objective is a target you commit to, with a plan to reach it. Many quality objectives use a KPI as their measure.
Is it a nonconformity if we miss a quality objective?
Not by itself. Auditors look at whether you monitored the objective, analysed why it was missed and took action. Ignoring a missed objective is more likely to lead to a finding.
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