Quality Management Certification is now a common prerequisite of many institutes and companies as independently assessed proof of a management system conforming to ISO 9000 series, customers can feel confident that their services or goods will be delivered as anticipated.
ISO 9000: 2000 Series
Originally created as a purchasing standard for the defense contracts, it has developed into a standard designed to assure customers that quality will be achieved while assisting organisations in achieving consistent quality. Whatever definition is chosen to describe quality, and there are many, it is essential that your customers are happy with the product/service being supplied. ISO 9000 is intended to assist that aim by helping to ensure that the product/service is right - for both the organisation itself and its customers.
The ISO 9000:2000 family of standards comprises 3 elements:
- ISO 9000:2005 - Fundamentals and vocabulary
- ISO 9001:2000 - Requirements
- ISO 9004:2000 - Guidelines for performance improvement
This standard provides general guidance on the philosophy of quality management and also contains the definitions most commonly used in relation to the subject of quality management. It also contains the 8 management principles which provide the foundation for the ISO 9000 series of standards.
These are:
- Customer focus
- Leadership
- The involvement of people
- Process approach
- System approach to management
- Continual improvement
- A factual approach to decision making
- Mutually beneficial supplier relationships
It is a requirement that all elements of ISO 9001 must be addressed by the organisation. However, there are specific circumstances under which certain requirements of the standard can be excluded, yet compliance with ISO 9001 still claimed. These circumstances occur where:
- any excluded requirements do not affect the ability of the organisation to meet customer and regulatory requirements
- any excluded requirements do not affect the ability of the organisation to provide conforming products or services
- any excluded requirements must only come from section
7 (Product realisation) of ISO 9001. An example may
be customer property. Clearly if a company never deals
with such property then the requirement would not be
applicable
The company's quality manual must also clearly identify why specific requirements of ISO 9001 have been excluded and the justification for that exclusion.
