Customer focus
Plain-language summary
Leadership must make sure customer requirements — including the legal ones — are understood and met, the risks to conformity are managed, and enhancing customer satisfaction stays the visible aim.
What the clause is really asking
Customer focus is a leadership duty, not a sales slogan: top management ensures requirements are determined and consistently met, risks and opportunities affecting conformity are addressed, and satisfaction is tracked and acted upon.
What auditors look for
Auditors check what reaches the top: customer scorecards reviewed by leadership, complaint trends with leadership-driven actions, awareness of delivery/quality performance against customer expectations, and whether deteriorating satisfaction triggered anything.
Typical evidence
Customer scorecards; complaint and satisfaction trend reviews in management meetings; actions arising; delivery performance data.
How to comply — recommendations
Put the customer scorecard on the monthly management agenda. When a metric slips, minute who does what by when — that thread of evidence is exactly what auditors (and customers) want to see.
Common nonconformities
Falling scorecard trends with no management response; leadership unaware of their own delivery performance; complaints handled clerically with no trend analysis.
Related clauses
IATF 16949: applies unchanged (see also 9.1.2.1); ISO 14001 5.1; ISO 45001 5.1
In the book
Chapter 5 — Leadership — The Desk Where Quality Lives 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.
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