What is ISO? What are the benefits of international standardization?
ISO 9000 family is a set of standards that represent an international agreement on the quality management systems. It is developed by the International Organization for Standardization and was first published in 1987. However, the International Organization for Standardization does not provide certification itself, but relies on numerous certification bodies that monitor the compliance of companies to the principles developed in ISO standards. ISO certification is not permanent and requires renewal by certification bodies at regular time intervals.
The benefits of standardization can be divided into customer-related, internal and supplier benefits. The benefits related to the customer marketing are associated with faster product development due to standardization in documentation worldwide. They also provide market access due to the compliance to international regulations and create the possibility to communicate commitment to quality and excellence to international customers. Internal benefits of ISO 9000 international standardization include the emphasis on self-assessment, continuous improvement, and help to communicate business practices and process requirements across borders, which is especially important for multinational companies. On the supplier side, international standardization opens new international markets and suppliers due to the common understanding of quality and operations. ISO 9000 helps not only to select, but also to monitor suppliers and their adherence to quality standards. Moreover, common framework of documentation and quality assurance facilitate seamless transactions and contribute to lean practices in operations (Hutchins, 1997). In general, international standardization significantly improves process efficiency, reduces cost and simplifies business relations. The only major drawback of such a system is the significant amount of money and paperwork required for certification and further successful implementation of ISO standards.
How have the ISO 9000 standards been received worldwide?
Originally, the standards were developed to achieve compliance and a common understanding of the quality concept in Europe. That is why American companies were quite slow in adopting the standard. However, today the biggest companies in America, such as the Big Three automobile manufacturers are ISO certified. The rapid growth of certification has been observed after the introduction of ISO 9001. Nowadays companies in the emerging economies are increasingly adopting ISO certification for their operations.
What are the latest changes in ISO 9000 (2000)?
ISO 9000 (2000) is the version of ISO 9000 standard that was released in the year 2000. This version emphasizes the concept of process management, without changing the main goal of the standard as a documented system of quality control. Furthermore, continuous process improvement and monitoring of customer satisfaction were explicitly stressed in this version of the standard. The main aim of ISO 9000 (2000) was to enhance the effectiveness of the management by monitoring process metrics. Moreover, ISO 9000 (2000) reduces the need to document procedures in case sufficient evidence can be provided that the processes are functional. Unfortunately, many companies strictly follow the general structure of ISO without considering the peculiarities of their organization, thus producing a lot of unnecessary documentation.
What are the basic principles of the latest revision to the ISO 9000 standard?
The latest version of the ISO 9000 standard was released in November 2008. It does not introduce major changes to the already existing requirements, but clarifies some of the points developed in the 2000 version, in particular by reemphasize the process orientation. However, the latest ISO 9000 standard aims to enhance consistency with ISO 14001:2004 Environmental Management System Standard. It also defines the scope of monitoring the compliance with the standard by internal and external parties (Charantimath, 2011).
References
Charantimath, P. M. (2011). Total quality management. (2nd ed.). New Delhi, India: Dorling
Kindersley.
Hutchins, G. (1997). Iso 9000: A comprehensive guide to registration, audit guidelines, and
successful certification. Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley& Sons, Inc.
