ISO 9000 - QUALITY MANAGEMENT SYSTEMS

WHAT ARE ISO 9000 & ISO 9001?

International Standards for Quality Management Systems ISO 9000 is a series of standards for quality management systems that is accepted around the world. Currently more than 90 countries have adopted ISO 9000 as national standards. When you purchase a product or service from an organization that is registered to the appropriate ISO 9000 standard, you have important assurances that the quality of what you receive will be as you expect. In addition, with the year 2000 revision of the standard, quality objectives, continual improvement, and monitoring of customer satisfaction provide the customer with increased assurances that their needs and expectations will be met.

The standard intended for quality management system assessment and registration is ISO 9001. The standards apply uniformly to organizations of any size or description.

WHY ARE THE STANDARDS SO IMPORTANT?

Many companies require their suppliers to become registered to ISO 9001 and because of this, registered companies find that their market opportunities have increased. In addition, a company's compliance with ISO 9001 insures that it has a sound quality management system, and that's good business.

Registered companies have had dramatic reductions in customer complaints, significant reductions in operating costs and increased demand for their products and services. Other benefits can include better working conditions, increased market share, and increased profits.

ISO 9000 registration is rapidly becoming a must for any company that does business in Europe. Many industrial companies require registration by their own suppliers. There is a growing trend toward universal acceptance of ISO 9000 as an international standard.

WHY WERE THE STANDARDS REVISED?

The main reason for the year 2000 revision to the ISO 9000 standards is to give users the opportunity to add value to their activities and to improve their performance continually by focussing on the major processes within the organization.
Extensive surveys have been performed on a worldwide basis to understand the needs of all users of the quality management system standards. The new revisions took into account previous experience with quality management system standards (1987 and 1994 editions) and emerging insights into generic management systems. They resulted in a closer alignment of quality management systems with the needs of organizations and better reflected the way organizations run their business activities.

ISO directives also specify that standards be periodically revised to ensure that those standards are current and satisfy the needs of the global community.

The major reasons for the year 2000 revisions of the standards include emphasizing the need to monitor customer satisfaction, meeting the need for more user-friendly documents, assuring consistency between quality management system requirements and guidelines, promoting the use of generic quality management principles by organizations, and enhancement of their compatibility with ISO 14001.

WHO WAS RESPONSIBLE FOR REVISING THE STANDARDS?

The revision process was the responsibility of ISO Technical Committee (TC) 176 and is conducted on the basis of consensus among quality and industry experts nominated by ISO Member bodies, and representing all interested parties.

THE ISO REVISIONS

The ISO 9000 family of standards, originally adopted in 1987, was revised in 1994 and again in 2000. The new standards were adopted in December, 2000. These new standards cancel and replace the 1994 version of the standards. Organizations had until December, 2003 to complete the transition to the year 2000 version of the standard.

The 1994 standards were adopted in July 1994 and cancel and replace the 1987 version of the standards.