ISO 9000 quality management standards overview

¶ … International Organization for Standardization is the spearhead organization for a network of national standards institutes worldwide. The ISO is a non-governmental organization with a representing member from each of the 162 current world countries in the ISO network. Its central operations are located in Geneva, Switzerland where a Secretary General coordinates the entire system. The ISO 9000 is an international business set of quality standards used by all different types of industries around the world.

Having some form of uniformity in business practices benefits the global society as a whole, which is the primary goal of the ISO 9000. This set of management system guidelines does not define specific requirements of a business, but rather is a generic standard for quality systems which any business can modify to fit its own operations, whether it be a service or a product-based company. Furthermore, the ISO serves as a link between both private and public business sectors, having many members represented from each sector. This enables a consensus to be reached on solutions that meet both the requirements of businesses and the broader needs of society in general.

Companies can obtain ISO certification through accreditation auditing firms. These certification third-parties review and offer ISO 9000 compliance approval to businesses who meet global quality standards. 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 and have mutual agreements with each other to ensure that certificates issued by one of the Accredited Certification Bodies (CB) are accepted worldwide. When an organization applies for ISO certification, it is audited based on an extensive review of sample sites, functions, products, services and processes. The accreditation body then informs company management of any problems or "non-compliances." If no major problems are found, or an improvement plan from the management showing how any problems will be resolved is received, the certification body will issue an ISO 9001 certificate for each geographical site of the company it has visited. Certification is offered on a "pass/fail" basis only and must be renewed at regular intervals, usually every three years.

The ISO 9001:2000 is a revised version of the quality standard management system which incorporates three previous versions used by the ISO. The 2000 revision brought to light the importance of a company's process management, especially in those companies who produce a physical final product. The 2000 version also specifically requires involvement by upper executives to maintain quality, the numerical measurements for the effectiveness of tasks and activities, planning of continual process improvement and customer satisfaction tracking. Future revisions of the ISO 9000 are also expected since feedback between certification bodies and implementing companies are thoroughly and continuously reviewed.