Inventory control means maintaining your inventory in a way that will maintain consistent production quality. This is one area that is not applicable to organizations that do not maintain inventory (like pure service organizations). If the organization maintains any components or finished goods, then this portion of the standard is required.

These articles will give you some information about how to create your own inventory control processes and procedures. Most organizations have a central computer system that controls inventory including purchasing and shipping. For this reason, the examples on this site are very basic. Most organizations already have a standard operation procedure for inventory control that is based on their specific software.

 

It is the goal of the ISO 9001 standard to promote best practices in inventory control because poor inventory control can:

  • Waste resources
  • Create delivery problems
  • Contribute to failures in the final product
  • Reduce customer satisfaction

ISO 9001 has some special requirement for maintaining stock under proper conditions. This includes stock rotation (FIFO) and marking any special inventory. Marking and controlling the inventory includes specific systems for:

  • Part numbers or identifier for every component
  • Non-conforming materials
  • Marking the status of products in process (WIP)
  • Products with special handling requirement (like fragile or ESD sensitive components)
  • Part with a limited lifespan (like glue, solder, batteries, etc.)

The Inventory Control system must also integrate with a corrective and preventive actions system that includes the engineering change process. Some high level statements about inventory control are included in the quality manual so inventory is one of the most highly integrated requirements of the standard. During a certification audit, the auditors typically will try to find every possible type of inventory and confirm that it is controlled properly.


ISO 9001 Inventory Control Summary
This is a concise summary of the ISO 9001 inventory control requirement with some highlights of key areas.

Sample ISO 9001 Inventory Control Procedure
This is a sample of an ISO 9001 Inventory Control Procedure.