Problem

In 2024, the company made a strategic decision to transition from a site-level certification under our parent organization to fully independent ISO certifications—ISO 9001 and ISO 27001. The first phase required building a standalone Quality Management System from the ground up and preparing the entire organization for an external audit within a tight timeline and establishing the framework necessary to establish an Information Security Management System for future certification.

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Action

As the project lead for the ISO 9001 initiative, I guided the development, documentation, and readiness activities needed for certification:

Understanding and Scoping the Work

• Immersed myself in the ISO 9001 standard to clarify requirements and define the full project scope.
• Built a detailed project timeline and established documentation, review, and approval workflows.

System and Process Development

• Created and implemented our change management and risk management processes.
• Collaborated with subject matter experts across departments to draft, refine, and validate procedures, work instructions, and supporting documentation.

Project and Workflow Management

• Leveraged Asana and ThinkCell to structure timelines, automate task assignments, and maintain transparency across the project team.
• Used a Kanban approach to track document creation, reviews, and approvals.
• Learned Visio to map and redesign processes, ensuring clarity and alignment with company branding.

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Result

We successfully passed the external audit, and our newly established Quality Management System earned ISO 9001 certification. This project strengthened organizational alignment around quality standards and sharpened my skills in process development, cross-functional leadership, and delivering compliance-driven initiatives under deadline.