ISO 9000

Sign on a wholesaler at the Tsukiji fish market indicates ISO 9001 certification.

ISO 9000 is a family of standards for quality management systems. ISO 9000 is maintained by ISO, the International Organization for Standardization and is administered by accreditation and certification bodies. For a manufacturer, some of the requirements in ISO 9001 (which is one of the standards in the ISO 9000 family) would include:

• a set of procedures that cover all key processes in the business;
• monitoring manufacturing processes to ensure they are producing quality products;
• keeping records;
• checking outgoing product for defects, with appropriate corrective action where necessary;
• regularly reviewing individual processes and the quality system itself for effectiveness; and
• facilitating continual improvement

A company or organization that has been independently audited and certified to be in conformance with ISO 9001 may publicly state that it is "ISO 9001 certified" or "ISO 9001 registered." Certification to an ISO 9000 standard does not guarantee the compliance (and therefore the quality) of end products and services; rather, it certifies that consistent business processes are being applied. Certification body is URS Certification Ltd in India and Europe which accredited by NABCB and UKAS http://www.ursindia.com Although the standards originated in manufacturing, they are now employed across a wide range of other types of organizations, including colleges and universities. A "product", in ISO vocabulary, can mean a physical object, or services, or software. In fact, according to ISO in 2004, "service sectors now account by far for the highest number of ISO 9001:2000 certificates - about 31% of the total" - source: the ISO Survey 2004

ISO 9000 family

ISO 9000 includes the following standards:

• ISO 9000:2000, Quality management systems - Fundamentals and vocabulary. covers the basics of what quality management systems are and also contains the core language of the ISO 9000 series of standards.
• ISO 9001:2000 Quality management systems - Requirements is intended for use in any organization which designs, develops, manufactures, installs and/or services any product or provides any form of service. It provides a number of requirements which an organization needs to fulfill if it is to achieve customer satisfaction through consistent products and services which meet customer expectations. This is the only implementation for which third-party auditors may grant certifications.
• ISO 9004:2000 Quality management systems - Guidelines for performance improvements. covers continual improvement. This gives you advice on what you could do to enhance a mature system. This standard very specifically states that it is not intended as a guide to implementation.

There are many more standards in the ISO 9001 family (see "List of ISO 9000 standards" from ISO), many of them not even carrying "ISO 900x" numbers. For example, some standards in the 10,000 range are considered part of the 9000 family: ISO 10007:1995 discusses Configuration management, which for most organizations is just one element of a complete management system. ISO notes: "The emphasis on certification tends to overshadow the fact that there is an entire family of ISO 9000 standards ... Organizations stand to obtain the greatest value when the standards in the new core series are used in an integrated manner, both with each other and with the other standards making up the ISO 9000 family as a whole".

Note that the previous members of the ISO 9000 family, 9001, 9002 and 9003, have all been integrated into 9001. In most cases, an organization claiming to be "ISO 9000 registered" is referring to ISO 9001.

Contents of ISO 9001

ISO 9001:2000 Quality management systems — Requirements is a document of approximately 30 pages which is available from the national standards organization in each country. Outline contents are as follows:

• Page iv: Foreword
• Pages v to vii: Introduction
• Pages 1 to 14: Requirements
  • Section 4: General Requirements
  • Section 5: Management Responsibility
  • Section 6: Resource Management
  • Section 7: Product Realization
  • Section 8: Measurement, analysis and improvement
• Pages 15 to 22: Tables of Correspondence between ISO 9001 and other standards
• Page 23: Bibliography

The standard specifies six compulsory documents:

• Control of Documents (4.2.3)
• Control of Records (4.2.4)
• Internal Audits (8.2.2)
• Control of Nonconforming Product / Service (8.3)
• Corrective Action (8.5.2)
• Preventive Action (8.5.3)

In addition to these, ISO 9001:2000 requires a Quality Policy and Quality Manual (which may or may not include the above documents).

Summary of ISO 9001:2000 in informal language

• The quality manual is a formal statement from management, closely linked to the business and marketing plan and to customer needs. The quality manual is understood and followed at all levels and by all employees. Each employee needs measurable objectives to work towards.
• Decisions about the quality system are made based on recorded data and the system is regularly audited and evaluated for conformance and effectiveness.
• You need a documented procedure to control quality documents in your company. Everyone must have access to up-to-date documents and be aware of how to use them.
• To maintain the quality system and produce conforming product, you need to provide suitable infrastructure, resources, information, equipment, measuring and monitoring devices, and environmental conditions.
• You need to map out all key processes in your company; control them by monitoring, measurement and analysis; and ensure that product quality objectives are met. If you can’t monitor a process by measurement, then make sure the process is well enough defined that you can make adjustments if the product does not meet user needs.
• For each product your company makes, you need to establish quality objectives; plan processes; and document and measure results to use as a tool for improvement. For each process, determine what kind of procedural documentation is required. (Note: a “product” is hardware, software, services, processed materials, or a combination of these.)
• You need to determine key points where each process requires monitoring and measurement, and ensure that all monitoring and measuring devices are properly maintained and calibrated.
• You need to have clear requirements for purchased product. Select suppliers appropriately and check that incoming product meets requirements.
• You need to determine the skills required for each job in your company, suitably train employees and evaluate the effectiveness of the training.
• You need to determine customer requirements and create systems for communicating with customers about product information, inquiries, contracts, orders, feedback and complaints.
• When developing new products, you need to plan the stages of development, with appropriate testing at each stage. You need to test and document whether the product meets design requirements, regulatory requirements and user needs.
• You need to regularly review performance through internal audits and meetings. Determine whether the quality system is working and what improvements can be made. Deal with past problems and potential problems. Keep records of these activities and the resulting decisions, and monitor their effectiveness. (Note: you need a documented procedure for internal audits.)
• You need documented procedures for dealing with actual and potential nonconformances (problems involving suppliers or customers, or internal problems). Make sure no one uses bad product, determine what to do with bad product, deal with the root cause of the problem and keep records to use as a tool to improve the system.

History of ISO 9000

Pre ISO 9000

During WWII, there were quality problems in many British high-tech industries such as munitions, where bombs were going off in factories. The adopted solution was to require factories to document their manufacturing procedures and to prove by record-keeping that the procedures were being followed. The name of the standard was BS 5750, and it was known as a management standard because it did not specify what to manufacture, but how to manage the manufacturing process. According to Seddon, "In 1987, the British Government persuaded the International Organisation for Standardization to adopt BS 5750 as an international standard. BS 5750 became ISO 9000."

1987 version

ISO 9000:1987 had the same structure as the UK Standard BS 5750, with three 'models' for quality management systems, the selection of which was based on the scope of activities of the organization:

• ISO 9001:1987 Model for quality assurance in design, development, production, installation, and servicing was for companies and organizations whose activities included the creation of new products.
• ISO 9002:1987 Model for quality assurance in production, installation, and servicing had basically the same material as ISO 9001 but without covering the creation of new products.
• ISO 9003:1987 Model for quality assurance in final inspection and test covered only the final inspection of finished product, with no concern for how the product was produced.

ISO 9000:1987 was also influenced by existing U.S. and other Defense Standards ("MIL SPECS"), and so was well-suited to manufacturing. The emphasis tended to be placed on conformance with procedures rather than the overall process of management — which was likely the actual intent.

1994 version

ISO 9000:1994 emphasized quality assurance via preventative actions, instead of just checking final product, and continued to require evidence of compliance with documented procedures. As with the first edition, the down-side was that companies tended to implement its requirements by creating shelf-loads of procedure manuals, and becoming burdened with an ISO bureaucracy. In some companies, adapting and improving processes could actually be impeded by the quality system.

2000 version

ISO 9001:2000 combines the three standards 9001, 9002, and 9003 into one, now called 9001. Design and development procedures are required only if a company does in fact engage in the creation of new products. The 2000 version sought to make a radical change in thinking by actually placing the concept of process management front and centre. ("Process management" was the monitoring and optimizing of a company's tasks and activities, instead of just inspecting the final product.) The 2000 version also demands involvement by upper executives, in order to integrate quality into the business system and avoid delegation of quality functions to junior administrators. Another goal is to improve effectiveness via process performance metrics — numerical measurement of the effectiveness of tasks and activities. Expectations of continual process improvement and tracking customer satisfaction were made explicit.

Future Version :- 2008

ISO technical committee started its review on ISO 9001: 2000 standard. New Version may be expected mid of 2008. It may be only “Amendment” rather than the “Revision “. Only few clauses will be updated to suit the organization need for continual improvement. Like emphasis on the design ( 7.3) and measurement and Monitoring ( 8.2.3) , Quality Management System Requirement (4) etc.

Certification

ISO does not itself certify organizations. Many countries have formed accreditation bodies to authorize certification bodies, which audit organizations applying for ISO 9001 compliance certification. Although commonly referred to as ISO 9000:2000 certification, the actual standard to which an organization's quality management can be certified is ISO 9001:2000. Both the accreditation bodies and the certification bodies charge fees for their services. The various accreditation bodies have mutual agreements with each other to ensure that certificates issued by one of the Accredited Certification Bodies (CB) are accepted world-wide. URS Certification Limited http://www.ursindia.com is an accredited Certification body in India and Europe.

The applying organization is assessed based on an extensive sample of its sites, functions, products, services and processes; a list of problems ("action requests" or "non-compliances") is made known to the management. If there are no major problems on this list, the certification body will issue an ISO 9001 certificate for each geographical site it has visited, once it receives a satisfactory improvement plan from the management showing how any problems will be resolved.

An ISO certificate is not a once-and-for-all award, but must be renewed at regular intervals recommended by the certification body, usually around three years. In contrast to the Capability Maturity Model there are no grades of competence within ISO 9001.

Auditing

Two types of auditing are required to become registered to the standard: auditing by an external certification body (external audit) and audits by internal staff trained for this process (internal audits). The aim is a continual process of review and assessment, to verify that the system is working as it's supposed to, find out where it can improve and to correct or prevent problems identified. It is considered healthier for internal auditors to audit outside their usual management line, so as to bring a degree of independence to their judgements.

Under the 1994 standard, the auditing process could be adequately addressed by performing "compliance auditing":

• Tell me what you do (describe the business process)
• Show me where it says that (reference the procedure manuals)
• Prove that that is what happened (exhibit evidence in documented records)

How this led to preventive actions was not clear.

The 2000 standard uses the process approach. While auditors perform similar functions, they are expected to go beyond mere auditing for rote "compliance" by focusing on risk, status and importance. This means they are expected to make more judgements on what is effective, rather than merely adhering to what is formally prescribed. The difference from the previous standard can be explained thus:

Under the 1994 version, the question was broadly "Are you doing what the manual says you should be doing?", whereas under the 2000 version, the question is more "Will this process help you achieve your stated objectives? Is it a good process or is there a way to do it better?".

The ISO 19011 standard for auditing applies to ISO 9000.

Industry-specific interpretations

The ISO 9001 standard is generalized and abstract. Its parts must be carefully interpreted, to make sense within a particular organization. Developing software is not like making cheese or offering counseling services; yet the ISO 9001 guidelines, because they are business management guidelines, can be applied to each of these. Diverse organizations—police departments (US), professional soccer teams (Mexico) and city councils (UK)—have successfully implemented ISO 9001:2000 systems.

Over time, various industry sectors have wanted to standardize their interpretations of the guidelines within their own marketplace. This is partly to ensure that their versions of ISO 9000 have their specific requirements, but also to try and ensure that more appropriately trained and experienced auditors are sent to assess them.

• The TickIT guidelines are an interpretation of ISO 9000 produced by the UK Board of Trade to suit the processes of the information technology industry, especially software development.
• AS 9000 is the Aerospace Basic Quality System Standard, an interpretation developed by major aerospace manufacturers. The current version is AS 9100.
• PS 9000 is an application of the standard for Pharmaceutical Packaging Materials.
• QS 9000 is an interpretation agreed upon by major automotive manufacturers (GM, Ford, Chrysler). It includes techniques such as FMEA and APQP. QS 9000 is now replaced by ISO/TS 16949.
• ISO/TS 16949:2002 is an interpretation agreed upon by major automotive manufacturers (American and European manufacturers); the latest version is based on ISO 9001:2000. The emphasis on a process approach is stronger than in ISO 9001:2000. ISO/TS 16949:2002 contains the full text of ISO 9001:2000 and automotive industry-specific requirements.
• TL 9000 is the Telecom Quality Management and Measurement System Standard, an interpretation developed by the telecom consortium, QuEST Forum. The current version is 4.0 and unlike ISO 9001 or the above sector standards, TL 9000 includes standardized product measurements that can be benchmarked.
• ISO 13485:2003 is the medical industry's equivalent of ISO 9001:2000. Whereas the standards it replaces were interpretations of how to apply ISO 9001 and ISO 9002 to medical devices, ISO 13485:2003 is a stand-alone standard. Compliance with ISO 13485 does not necessarily mean compliance with IS0 9001:2000.

Debate on the effectiveness of ISO 9000

The debate on the effectiveness of ISO 9000 commonly centres on the following questions:

1. Are the quality principles in ISO 9000:2000 of value? (Note that the version date is important: in the 2000 version ISO attempted to address many concerns and criticisms of ISO 9000:1994.)
2. Does it help to implement ISO 9000:2000?
3. Does it help to obtain ISO 9000:2000 certification?

Advantages

It is widely acknowledged that proper quality management improves business, often having a positive effect on investment, market share, sales growth, sales margins, competitive advantage, and avoidance of litigation. The quality principles in ISO 9000:2000 are also sound, according to Wade, and Barnes, who says "ISO 9000 guidelines provide a comprehensive model for quality management systems that can make any company competitive." Barnes also cites a survey by Lloyd's Register Quality Assurance that indicated ISO 9000 increased net profit, and another by Deloitte-Touche that reported that the costs of registration were recovered in three years. According to the Providence Business News , implementing ISO often gives the following advantages:

1. Create a more efficient, effective operation
2. Increase customer satisfaction and retention
3. Reduce audits
4. Enhance marketing
5. Improve employee motivation, awareness, and morale
6. Promote international trade

However, a broad statistical study of 800 Spanish companies found that ISO registration in itself creates little improvement because companies interested in ISO have usually already made some type of commitment to quality and were performing just as well before registration.

Problems

A common criticism of ISO 9000 is the amount of money, time and paperwork required for registration. According to Barnes, "Opponents claim that it is only for documentation. Proponents believe that if a company has documented its quality systems, then most of the paperwork has already been completed."

According to Seddon, ISO 9000 promotes specification, control, and procedures rather than understanding and improvement. Wade argues that ISO 9000 is effective as a guideline, but that promoting it as a standard "helps to mislead companies into thinking that certification means better quality, ... [undermining] the need for an organization to set its own quality standards." Paraphrased, Wade's argument is that total, blind reliance on the specifications of ISO 9000 does not guarantee a successful quality system.

The standard is seen as especially prone to failure when a company is interested in certification before quality. Certifications are in fact often based on customer contractual requirements rather than a desire to actually improve quality. "If you just want the certificate on the wall, chances are, you will create a paper system that doesn't have much to do with the way you actually run your business," said ISO's Roger Frost. Certification by an independent auditor is often seen as the problem area, and according to Barnes, "has become a vehicle to increase consulting services." In fact, ISO itself advises that ISO 9000 can be implemented without certification, simply for the quality benefits that can be achieved.

Summary

A good overview for effective use of ISO 9000 is provided by Barnes:

"Good business judgment is needed to determine its proper role for a company... Is certification itself important to the marketing plans of the company? If not, do not rush to certification... Even without certification, companies should utilize the ISO 9000 model as a benchmark to assess the adequacy of its quality programs."

See also

• ISO 10006 Quality management - Guidelines to quality management in projects
• ISO 14000 - Environmental management standards
• ISO 19011 - Guidelines for quality management systems auditing and environmental management systems auditing
• ISO/TS 16949 - Quality management system requirements for automotive-related products suppliers

External links

• ISO (International Organization for Standardization)
  • Introduction to ISO 9000 and ISO 14000
  • Articles on ISO 9000, ISO 14000 and related topics
  • List of national ISO member organizations.
• ISO's Technical Committee 176 on Quality Management and Quality Assurance
  • Basic info on ISO 9000 development
  • ISO 9000 FAQs
• Technical Committee No. 176, Sub-committee No. 2, which is responsible for developing ISO 9000 standards.
• Introduction to ISO 9000:2000 from The British Standards Institution
• Overview of ISO 9001:2000 from ISO 9000 Council
• ISO 9000 Registration Bodies by country
• ISO 9000 Registration Body

Further reading

Naveh. E., Marcus, A. (2004). "When does ISO 9000 Quality Assurance standard lead to performance improvement?", IEEE Transactions on Engineering Management, 51(3), 352-363.