Improvement — general
Changed in ISO 9001:2026
In ISO 9001:2026 this clause becomes 10.1 'Continual improvement', absorbing the 2015 clause 10.3. The substance carries over; the numbering does not — re-point your cross-references at transition.
Plain-language summary
Find and act on improvement opportunities deliberately — better products, fewer future failures, better QMS results — covering correction, corrective action, continual improvement, breakthrough change, innovation and reorganisation.
What the clause is really asking
Determine and select improvement opportunities and implement actions to meet customer requirements and enhance satisfaction: improving products/services (current and future needs), correcting/preventing/reducing undesired effects, improving QMS performance and effectiveness.
What auditors look for
Auditors look for improvement happening on all three fronts (product, problem prevention, system) and for selection logic — why these improvements? Evidence usually lives in objectives, projects and management review outputs.
Typical evidence
Improvement project records; before/after measures; selection rationale (links to 9.1.3.1 priorities).
How to comply — recommendations
Keep one visible improvement project list with measured baselines and results. Three completed, measured improvements a year says more to an auditor than a hundred-line ideas register.
Common nonconformities
No improvement activity beyond firefighting; projects without measured results; improvement effort uncoupled from the worst trends.
Related clauses
IATF 16949: see also 10.3.1; ISO 14001/45001 10.1
In the book
Chapter 10 — Improvement — Closing Loops for a Living treats this clause family in full: what it is really asking, what auditors look for, the evidence that satisfies, how to make it work on a real floor, and where companies stumble.
Resources for this clause
- Toolkit · $19AI Documentation PackWrite procedures people actually follow, check them clause by clause, and find exactly what ISO 9001:2026 changes for you — with AI that never copies the standard.
- Free trainingCI Academy — CI Culture & Scientific Thinking (PDCA)
- Course modulePractitioner course — Improvement, Annex A & Your Transition PlanClauses 10.1–10.2 + Annex A
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