Document what you do, do what you document - is a proven path to disciplined success in the business industry.

ISO (International Standards Organization) - They do not create standards but provide a means of verifying that a proposed standard has met certain requirements for due process, consensus, and other criteria by those developing the standard.

What is ISO9000?

ISO 9000 began in 1979 when the British Standards Institute Technical Committee 176 began the creation of a standard for generic quality principles for manufacturing. This led to the ISO 9000 standard that was finally issued in 1987. ISO 9000 is the most widely known, most widely adopted, and best selling standard of any that ISO has published.

The language and apparent assumptions of ISO 9000 are targeted to the manufacturer. Nevertheless, ISO 9000 is being applied to quality systems of many organizations, whether they be manufacturing or not (Voehl et al, 1994). One theme of this column is that further ISO standards ought to be developed to support quality management.

The term 'ISO 9000' is usually used to refer to a set of intimately related standards. One standard is a roadmap for the others. These standards cover quality design, quality management, and quality assurance for different kinds of companies depending on the extent to which they design as well as manufacture products. Another one of the standards covers risks, costs and benefits, management responsibility, quality system principles, and other building blocks that help users customize quality standards to conform to real-life situations. In the rest of this column the term ISO 9000 will be used to refer to this set of quality-related standards.

Qualitative path
Being competitive in any industry requires that you do business with high-caliber companies based on management systems with highest quality. ISO 9001 is the pre-eminent standard in the area of management and is a widely recognized measure of quality. A customer who chooses to do business with an ISO 9001:2000-certified supplier knows that quality is a mainstay of the organization. Perhaps that is why ISO certification is rapidly becoming one of the most important criteria for one business to partner with another.

ISO certification is an important step to maintain relationships with customers that are increasingly quality-conscious. Many stress the importance of receiving ISO registration-whether to meet international customers' requirements or to employ as a method to improve quality. For companies wanting to do business in other countries, certification is something you must have to succeed in the global marketplace. It's an instantly recognizable standard of quality around the world, and in many European countries it's nearly a necessity for doing business.

Benefits ISO 9000
Most organisations want ISO 9000 certification to qualify for a tender or to achieve preferred supplier status: typically for a Local Authority. However, there are many other benefits that can be added to these, including:-

    Improved internal working leading to less errors and re-work.
    Improved customer satisfaction and loyalty.
    Improved morale and motivation.
    Preferential insurance premiums.
    Competitive advantage.
    Increased profitability.
    Enhanced status.

Is this the end?
Receiving ISO 9001:2000 certification is not an end, but it's really just the beginning of the story. Companies are required to go through regular audits to retain their certification. Continuous improvement is key to the entire ISO 9001:2000 process, and companies should be committed to optimizing its operations to provide customers with the highest level of service and support.

ISO does not itself audit or assess the management systems of organizations to verify that they have been implemented in conformity with the requirements of ISO 9001:2000 and ISO does not issue ISO 9001:2000 certificates. The auditing and certification of management systems is carried out independently of ISO. The ISO 9001:2000 issued by certification bodies are issued under their own responsibility and not under ISO's name.