ISO 9001 Clause 5.4.1 Quality objectives

Management by objective works - if you know the objectives. Ninety percent of the time you don't.”

Peter F. Drucker
Management consultant, Writer,1909-2005

While the quality policy is a generic statement indicating what is important for the organization in terms of quality, the quality objectives are specific goals to be achieved within a certain time frame.

Examples of specific goals are:

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  Reduce scrap by 10% within 6 months;


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  Increase customer satisfaction by 10% in next year;


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  Reduce number of nonconforming products by 15% within a year;


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  Reduce the number of key vendors from 100 to 25 in the next three years etc.


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  Increase Inventory Turnover Ratio


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  Reduce Machine Breakdown by 20% every year


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  Maintained Machine Breakdown to its current level for next year

ISO 9001 specifically requires quality objectives at the relevant functions and levels within the organization. This means, for example, that an organization with sales, design, purchasing, and production departments (functions) needs to have quality objectives for each department, in addition to quality objectives for the organization as a whole.

An organization is free in choosing the quality objectives, as long as they are relevant to the products/services of the organization and the quality policy. Quality objectives must be measurable and must include objectives directly related to the products or services of the organization.

For example: Objectives like "Increasing market share" may be measurable for one company and may not be for other based on the type and size of the company.

In 1994 edition the quality objectives were required only for the organization as a whole, while in 2008 (and 2000) edition the quality objectives are required for relevant functions and for product, project or contract.

The standard also requires:

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  Measurement of status of achievement of all the objectives set by you and provide the evidence of continual improvement (clause 8.5.1). 


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  Initiate actions when negative trends are observed. That is taking corrective (clause 8.5.2) and preventive (clause 8.5.3) actions.

Quality objectives of the product (see clause 7.1 a) should also be established. In some cases quality objectives of the product may be established by the customer.

Click here to see ISO/TC 176 Approved Interpretation

External Document Reference: Documentation Kit

Quality Objectives - Sample 1
Quality Objectives - Sample 2 (Sample 2 is better than Sample 1 and provide single page vision of entire company)