ISO 9000 The Story

In the language of ISO, the 9000 and the 14000 family of standards are called "generic management system standards". This differentiates them from the standards formulated for specific products, materials or processes. ISO 9000 was launched into the business world in 1987. Its sister ISO 14000 was introduced ten years later.

Whereas ISO 9000 is concerned with Quality Management, ISO 14000 focuses on Environmental Management. Because these standards are generic they can be used by any organization whether large or small. There is no bearing on the product produced or if that product in reality is a service. Organizations in every sector are seeking ISO 9000 certification.

Not only are businesses of all descriptions being registered but divisions within Governments and Public Administration as well. In the United States and Canada a number of educational institutions are seeking certification. Hospitals, Homes for Seniors, even law offices and insurance companies are realizing the benefits of ISO standards. Why?

The ISO 9000 Management System Standard represents a model for organizations to clearly monitor their processes. Time, money and resources are all used more efficiently. Any organization can benefit because these standards help it to manage processes systematically. ISO 9000 assures that each person is doing the right thing, at the right time, with the right resources.  Everyone within the organization knows the answer to who, what, when, where, why and how.

ISO 9000 Here to Stay

ISO 9000 is not a static system. It is dynamic and adaptive. When introduced in 1987 it carried its own change mechanism. By mandate the standards must be assessed for effectiveness every five years. Therefore, after minor revisions, a new set of ISO 9000 Management System Standards were released in 1994. And in the year 2000 the final touches were put in place on the latest major revisions.

"Why bother adjusting your way of doing things if someone is simply going to change the rules", you say.  When the standards are revised the sections that work are not rewritten. What is important is to modernize the management practices to reflect the changing marketplace. This family of standards must represent an international consensus of what comprises good management practices.

The goal of ISO 9000 is to ensure that the organization is able to produce, supply and deliver the product or service which meets the customers quality expectations. After all is said and done what you want to see is a happy customer. Essentially that is why so many are turning to ISO 9000; to make their customers happy. Not only does a satisfied customer come back to you for those goods or services but in all likelihood so will their customers and associates.

Being a certified ISO 9000 Organization says that you meet the customers expectations. It clearly states that you use a systematic approach to manage your business processes in order to consistently produce what your customer expects.

ISO 9000 Reinvented for 2000

The ISO 9000 standards changed dramatically in the later part of 2000 - changes driven by the market place. In less than a generation ISO 9000 has become the universally recognized Quality Management Standard. More than 300,000 companies in 130 countries take pride in their ISO certification.

Being certified has allowed companies to expand into new markets and be recognized as a preferred supplier. The older standards, introduced in 1987, revised in 1994, were severely criticized by a variety of organizations for being cumbersome, paper driven and difficult to fully implement. In recognition of these drawbacks the new standards reflect the business process and are clearly focused on bottom line results and increased customer satisfaction.

They capture the essential business processes needed to achieve success:

1. Plan - Define your vision, mission, purpose and leadership style. Clarify where you currently are in the marketplace and where you intend to be in the future. Make sure you communicate this with your staff so they can effectively carry out the organizations goals.
2. Do - Create your product and service, ensuring that resources are available and used effectively.
3. Check - Monitor the process to ensure that your product or service matches your customer's complete satisfaction.
4. Act - Use the knowledge gained from monitoring your system to improve your work flow and enhance your productivity and profitability.

The new standards will be a boon to smaller, customer focused organizations who need a simple but effective management system that doesn't impede the production of results. Those companies paying lip service to the standards and having become registered only because of customer pressure will be in for a rude awakening. Continual improvement is a big part of the new standards; not only will you have to improve but you will have to prove your are improving. Companies that use this system effectively will become the leaders and profit achievers within their industries. Everyone else will be left behind.

ISO 9000:2000 Revisions

The thrust behind the revised standards is to provide organizations the opportunity to add value to their activities by focussing on the major processes within their organization. Continual improvement and customer satisfaction are important concepts underlying the new standards.

Continual improvement is a process to continually increase the effectiveness and efficiency of the organization in the realization of its policies and objectives. The changing needs and expectations of the customer requires continual and progressive improvement of the quality management system.

No organization survives for long if their customer base becomes dissatisfied. ISO 9000:2000 calls for the monitoring and measuring of customer satisfaction as a key indicator of the effectiveness of the quality management system.

Clearly the revised standards address:

• the need to measure customer satisfaction
• meet the expressed need for more user-friendly documentation which has been considerably simplified and reduced
• assure consistency between quality management system requirements and their guidelines
• incorporate generic quality management principles into organizations.

The 9000:2000 standards follow a process oriented framework. The former 9001, 9002 and 9003 categories have been collapsed into a single 9001 designation. This standard is applicable to small, medium and large organizations and provides "permissible exclusions" for specific processes, such as design, which are not performed by the organization in the production of the product or service.

ISO 9000:2000 Specifically Speaking

ISO 9000 is a family of standards representing internationally recognized good management practices. The process of bringing this family of standards into being is based on the same processes required of any ISO standard. Initially published in 1987, the 9000 series of standards are subject to five year reviews with the year 2000 revisions having recently reached final publication.

ISO 9000 is a quality management system which can be applied to any organization regardless of size, sector, product or service. The standards provide a model for the organization to systematize its processes so that time, money and all other resources are utilized most efficiently. This systematic approach to managing business processes enables the organization to consistently produce a product or service conforming to the customers' expectations.

ISO 9000 establishes the requirements your quality system must meet without dictating how those requirements are to be met. The initial standards of ISO 9001, 9002 and 9003 have been consolidated with the 2000 revision into ISO 9001:2000. The term "permissible exclusions" allows certain clauses of the standards to be excluded if the related processes are not performed in that particular organization. It must be proven that they are not required to meet customer or regulatory requirements.

ISO 9000:2000 is a process management system. It involves the systematic identification and management of various processes and the interactions which occur between them. Processes are not static events and customers can be both internal and external to the organization.

ISO 9000:2000 Quality Management Principles

Important new or more clearly defined components require:

• monitoring customer satisfaction data
• continual improvement
• assessment of resource availability and alternative planning
• measurement of systems, processes and product, which now clearly includes services

as well as:

• the involvement of top management
• and the collection and analysis of data related to the performance of the quality management system.

ISO 9000:2000 is easily compatible with other management systems and incorporates current management philosophies and practices to facilitate the achievement of quality objectives. The standards are based on eight quality management principles derived from world recognized quality award programs.

1. Customer focussed organization: Organizations should understand their customers' needs for today and tomorrow and strive to exceed those expectations.
2. Leadership: It is the organization's leadership which establishes focus, purpose and direction. They create the internal environment where people are fully involved in the achievement of the organization's objectives.
3. Involvement of People: All levels of the organization are fully involved enabling their abilities to be used for the benefit of the organization.
4. Process approach: When resources and activities are managed as a process results are achieved more efficiently.
5. System approach to management: Effectiveness and efficiencies improve when interrelated processes are identified, understood and managed as a system.
6. Continual Improvement: This becomes a permanent objective of the organization.
7. Factual approach to decision making: Logical and intuitive analysis of data and information drive effective arrival at decisions.
8. Mutually beneficial supplier relationships: The ability of both organization and its suppliers is enhanced when their relationship is viewed as being mutually beneficial.

ISO 9000:2000 A New Structure

There are four categories, reflecting current business processes, which now provide the structure for the ISO 9000 Standards. These four elements must be addressed in the organization's procedures.

Management Responsibility:

Focus on the customers' requirements is of paramount importance to the standards. It is the responsibility of top management to create and maintain awareness of the importance of the customer to the organization. They must establish the quality policy and objectives and coordinate for their planning. They must establish a quality management system, perform management reviews and ensure the availability of resources for the effective and efficient realization of the product or service.

Resource Management:

In order for a quality management system to be established and maintained resources are required. The organization must determine what these resources are and arrange for their provision. Resources include people, infrastructure and work environment. It is important that all employees understand their role within the organization and their part in helping the organization achieve the desired quality objectives.

Product Realization:

Through quality planning certain requirements for the realization of the organization's product or service are identified. By establishing planned results, the necessary processes to achieve these results are determined. The sequence of, and interaction between these necessary processes must then be determined, planned and implemented.

Measurement, Analysis and Improvement:

The end result of the organization's efforts must be to meet or exceed critical customer requirements through the effective and efficient production of the product or service. To achieve this end the organization must ensure that the quality management system, processes and the resulting product or service conform to the established requirements. To this end the organization must define, plan and implement monitoring, measurement, analysis and improvement processes of all aspects of the system.

ISO 9000:2000 Revision Improvements

ISO 9000:2000 responds to the expressed needs of organizations world wide in order to enhance performance. Major improvements include:

The new process oriented structure has a more logical sequence of contents. Any activity which receives inputs and converts them to outputs is by definition a process. Therefore all products, service activities and operations are processes. The concept of "permissible exclusions" allows for the acceptance of all organizations and activities into the standard.

All elements of ISO 9000:2000 reflect the Continual Improvement philosophy which is regarded as an important step to enhance the quality management system. Processes are periodically evaluated and measured to check the effectiveness of such activities as operational decisions, objectives, training and outputs of processes. There is an increased emphasis on top management, its commitment to the development and improvement of the quality management system and their establishment of measurable objectives.

The standards focus on meeting or exceeding the needs of the customer whether they be internal or external to the organization. It is required that the organization monitor information on customer satisfaction as a measure of system performance. As part of continual improvement it is expected that effective corrective action be made and that preventive action be established.

To address perhaps the greatest concern there has been a significant reduction in the amount of required documentation. Terminology improvements allow for easier interpretation and there are specific references to quality management principles.

At the core of the revision process is the concept of a "consistent pair" of standards. ISO 9004:2000 aligns with ISO 9000:2000 to encourage the organization to look beyond certification to create a system which is truly oriented towards self assessment and improvement of operational performance. The "consistent pair" are identical in structure and sequence and relate modern quality management principles, continual improvement and customer satisfaction to the processes and activities of organizations of all sizes and product or service category.

ISO 9000:2000 What Are The Benefits?

The revised standards of ISO 9000:2000 and ISO 9004:2000 emphasize the relationship between quality management systems and processes. It is therefore expected that profitable business outcomes through customer satisfaction will result. The emphasis on continual improvement is expected to result in efficiencies throughout the organization. Consideration for the needs of and benefits to all parties to the organization is inherent to the revised standards.

The organization's customers and users will benefit from a product or service that conforms to their critical requirements. They will be able to depend on its reliability, availability when needed and its maintainability, should that be required.

Within the organization all members will experience better working conditions. It follows that there will be an increase in job satisfaction because each person will recognize that their contribution to the organization is valued. There will be improvement in morale, health and safety. Together these benefits lead to a more stable work force and a greater ability to train towards improvement rather than retrain to replace workers lost to the organization.

The owners and investors of the the organization will see an increase return on their investment. This will follow from improvement in operational results, an increased market share and therefore profits.

The suppliers and partners to the organization will mutually benefit. They can expect at the least a stability in orders and even growth, which in turn mutually benefits their suppliers and partners.

Even the larger community will benefit through the improved health and safety of the work force and stability of a secure employment base. The environmental impact of certain organizations will be lessened through the fulfillment of regulatory and statutory requirements. With the amount of scrap and rework reduced, whether it be for product or service provision mistakes, scarce resources are preserved.