ISOtec - Business, Process and Project Management Consultants

The new ISO 9000:2000 – the revised Quality Management Standard

ISOtec is ready to assist you with all your needs in connection with the new fully revised ISO 9000:2000. Since we act as sub-contract trainers for some of the major registrars, we have a solid background knowledge of the standard. And as examiners for the Florida business excellence award, we can provide good direction for the continuous improvement of your business. Our services include:

Design and implementation of new ISO 9000:2000 quality management systems from large organizations to small businesses for any industry sector (manufacturing through to service)
Transition of your current management system to compliance with ISO 9000:2000
Integration of your quality management system (ISO 9000) and your environmental management system (ISO 14000)
ISO 9000:2000 training in: awareness, transition from 1994, internal auditor, tutored audits and guidance for Top Management (also see our sections on Training and About Us)
Development of your management system towards business excellence (particularly the Florida Sterling Award).

Please contact us to obtain more information and to arrange a free consultation. We will be happy to visit your offices to discuss how our processes can benefit you and the best method for achieving your goals.

Below is an article that ISOtec had published on the BusinessNewsNow.com website.

How good is your management system? Introducing the new ISO 9000:2000

ISO 9000 is an internationally recognized standard that provides a minimum but complete quality management system that has been successfully adopted by thousands of companies worldwide. ISO 9000 not only controls quality but also increases efficiency and effectiveness through improved communication and reduced errors towards the achievement of customer satisfaction.

ISO – the International Standards Organization (in the US, ISO is represented by ANSI) has recently re-issued their ISO 9000 Management standard after a lengthy review and revision process.

Driven by ISO’s requirement to review their standards every five years, ISO has practiced what they preach and sought extensive customer feedback through the internet and from country expert committees over a five-year review period. The result is a document that is a quantum leap forward from the old standard (ISO 9000:1994) and now embraces the needs of all industry from service through to manufacturing, from small businesses through to large companies.

The old standard, although having the best intentions of conveying a valuable management tool, had received much criticism including:

Bureaucratic
Confusing
Conflicting interpretations
Too introspective
Suitable only for manufacturers
Difficult to implement

Although ISOtec has assisted with many success stories, you may be one of the frustrated users who have condemned ISO 9000:1994 as an expensive mistake. So what has changed to make ISO 9000:2000 any different?

Gone is the proliferation of the former 27 documents and in is a single volume of three integrated standards and guidelines. These new documents have been completely rewritten using simple standard dictionary terminology. There is now only one standard (ISO 9001:2000) and one guideline document (ISO 9004:2000) which have similar structures so as to allow easy cross-referencing. And there is increased compatibility with the environmental management standard, ISO 14001 (which is also being revised), which will eventually lead to unified auditing of the two standards.

The requirements have been completely restructured using a process flow model instead of the previous 20 core tasks. All the important points of the 20 tasks are incorporated but now fit within the normal process flow that is adopted by most successful businesses.

Out is the bureaucratic interpretation of “document everything”. In is the need to communicate control of your processes to your personnel using documents (which can be of any form or medium, e.g. electronic, paper, optical, photos, samples, etc) that are relevant to your business, its size, complexity and the competence of your staff.

The new standard has strengthened three important areas:

The role of top management – Top management establishes the direction of the organization. They create and maintain the internal environment in which people can achieve the organization's objectives. This cannot be delegated to junior management or the QA department.
Customer focus - Organizations depend on their customers. They must understand their customers’ needs and strive to exceed customer expectations, i.e. provide what your customers need and not what you think they need; and then monitor your customers’ perceptions to see that you have achieved this. How can you claim to achieve customer satisfaction if you don’t ask?
Continual improvement – this should be the permanent objective of everyone in your organization.

The new ISO 9000 standard is based around eight management principles – and it is no mistake that these principles are very similar to the principles used by business excellence models such as Baldrige or the Florida Sterling Award. These eight ISO 9000 principles are:

Customer focus
Leadership
Involvement of people
Process approach
System approach to management
Continual improvement
Factual approach to decision making
Mutually beneficial supplier relationships

Whereas ISO 9001:2000 deals with the requirements of establishing an effective management system, the guideline document (ISO 9004:2000) proposes methods to improve management efficiency and effectiveness. These guidelines deliberately go way beyond the basic ISO management model in order to provide a stepping-stone towards business excellence.

Recent surveys have shown an enormous growth of the number of companies adopting the ISO 9000 management model – but still with large manufacturers as the biggest user sector. With the advent of ISO 9001:2000, there is a great opportunity for many more companies of all sizes and industry sectors to be able to benefit from this expert-developed management system.

More information is available from:

ISO at: www.iso.ch
The committee that managed the revisions at: www.tc176.org
The American Society for Quality: www.asq.org

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