Wednesday, June 20, 2012

Origin Of ISO 9000 Standards

Origin Of ISO 9000 Standards
The story of ISO 9000 Standards is a story of standards, methods and regulation. The brief history that follows is in no way comprehensive but is intended to illustrate four things:
1. that ISO 9000 standards are an ancient concept that survived several millennia; that a means of verifying compliance often follows the setting of
standards;
2. that the formalizing of working practices is centuries old and seen as a
means to consistently meet standards;
3. that market regulation (relative to the standard of goods and services) has
been around for centuries for the protection of both craftsmen and
traders.
4. ISO 9000 is a symptom of practices that were around centuries before anyone coined the term quality management. It is in some respects a natural
progression that will continue to evolve. The story is told from a British
viewpoint.
ISO 9000 grew out of BS 5750, a standard published by the British Standards Institution (BSI) in 1979. Initially, it was used only in manufacturing industries. ISO 9000 is now employed across a variety of other types of businesses. It is a set of international standards of quality management systems. ISO 9000 has been accepted by more than 100 countries as their national quality assurance standard by the end of 1997.
The history of ISO 9000 Standards dates back to Mil-Q-9858a, the first quality standard for military procurement established in 1959 by the US. By 1962, NASA (National Aeronautics and Space Administration) developed its quality system requirements for suppliers. In 1965, NATO (North Atlantic Treaty Organization) accepted the AQAP (allied quality assurance procedures) specifications for the procurement of equipments.
During the 1970s, BSI published BS 9000 (the first UK standard for quality assurance) and BS 5179 (guidelines for quality assurance) norms. In 1979, it created BS 5750, a series of standards for use by manufacturing companies. They were enforced through assessments and audits. In 1988, ISO (International Standards Organization) adopted the BS 5750 standard without changes and published it globally under the name ISO 9000. The ISO adopted this standard with a view to create an international definition of the necessary characteristics of a quality system for all businesses, regardless of industry. In 1994, the ISO revised the ISO 9000 standard and published it globally.
In the beginning, ISO 9000 was implemented exclusively by large companies. But by mid-1990s, small and mid-sized companies began to increasingly implement these standards. In the United States, the total number of registrations increased from a little more than 2,200 in 1993 to more than 17,000 in 1998. Of these 17,000 registrations, almost 60 percent were held by businesses with annual sales of $100 million or less.
ISO 9000 family of standards and SMEs
The ISO 9000 quality management system is generic in nature and applicable to all companies, regardless of the type and size of the business, including small and medium enterprises (SMEs), and they are applicable to all categories of products, whether hardware, software, processed materials or services. ISO 9001:2008 specifies what is required to be done by an organization but does not indicate how it should be done, thus giving the enterprise a lot of flexibility to run its business.
It is simple to use, clear in language and easily understandable. The new standard is also appropriate for small companies, as it does not demand the type of paper bureaucracy needed for the implementation of the 1994 version. Only six documented procedures are now required and need for other procedures/documents can be decided by the company. Companies will, however, be required to provide objective evidence that the QMS has been effectively implemented. A small company may find it appropriate to include the description of its entire QMS within a single Quality Manual, including all the documented procedures required by the standard.
The process-based approach given in the new standard will tend to ensure that systems are documented and implemented in a manner that suits a SME’s own way of doing business. This approach makes it easier for SMEs to implement, instead of just taking over an artificial structure of QMS imposed from outside. It will also be easier for SMEs managed by their owners to demonstrate “top management commitment” towards QMS. Furthermore, in a SME, it is easier to ensure effective internal communication, better utilization of resources, people clearly understanding their roles and responsibilities, etc.
The new standard has included a provision for deciding on the applicability of
certain product realization processes included in section 7 of the standard. For example, if the SME has no responsibility for the design and development of the product it provides, the SME may say so, giving the reasoning behind it, in the Quality Manual; the certification body, being satisfied that this corresponds, would then award it certification to ISO 9001:2008. Similarly, other product realization processes such as purchasing, product identification and traceability, control of measuring devices may also be excluded if these are not applicable for the type of products or services being provided by the company.
It is also possible that SMEs may not have adequate in-house expertise or there may be other constraints to perform all processes on their own. In such cases, the new standard also permits the outsourcing of any of the QMS processes, providing the company has control over such processes. The nature of this control will depend on the nature of the outsourced or subcontracted processes and the risk involved. For example, the design and development process may be subcontracted to an expert or a specialized agency, inspection/verification of goods purchased may be subcontracted to an inspection agency, internal audit of QMS can be outsourced, etc. However, overall responsibility for ensuring control on all outsourced processes as per requirements of the standard would remain with the company’s management.

Saturday, June 16, 2012

Scope Of The Quality Management System

Scope Of The Quality Management System
The ISO 9001 standard requires the quality manual to include the scope of the quality management system including details of justification for any exclusion. The standard addresses activities that may not be relevant or applicable to an organization. The permissible exclusions are explained in section 1.2 of ISO 9001. Here it states that the organization may only exclude requirements that neither affect the organization’s ability, nor its responsibility to provide product that meets customer and applicable regulatory requirements. The requirements for which exclusion is permitted are limited to those in section 7 of the standard.
Under ISO 9001:2008, it was possible for organizations to exclude functions and processes of their organization that may have been difficult to control or were not part of the order fulfilment cycle. Organizations that designed their own products but not for specific customers could escape bringing these operations into the management system. Marketing was omitted because it operated before placement of order. Accounting, Administration, Maintenance, Publicity, Public Relations and After Sales Support functions were often omitted because there were no requirements in the standard that specifically dealt with such activities. As there is no function in an organization that does not directly or indirectly serve the satisfaction of interested parties, it is unlikely that any function or process will now be excluded from the quality management system.
It is sensible to describe the scope of the quality management system so as to ensure effective communication. The scope of the quality management system is one area that generates a lot of misunderstanding particularly when dealing with auditors, consultants and customers. When you claim you have a management system that meets ISO 9001 it could imply that you design, develop, install and service the products you supply, when in fact you may only be a distributor. Why you need to justify specific exclusions is uncertain because it is more practical to justify inclusions.
The scope of the quality management system is the scope of the organization. There is no longer any reason to exclude locations, activities, functions or processes for which there is no requirement in the standard. The reason is because the ISO 9000 family now serves customer satisfaction and is not limited to quality assurance as were the 1994 versions of ISO 9001, ISO 9002 and ISO 9003.
It is not appropriate to address exclusions by inserting pages in the manual corresponding to the sections of the standard and adding justification if not within the scope of the management system – such as ‘We don’t do this!’.
It is much more appropriate to use an appendix as indicated previously in the manual contents list. By describing the nature of the business, you are establishing boundary conditions. If in doing so you do not mention that you design products, it will be interpreted that design is not applicable.
For exclusions relative to detail requirements, the Compliance Matrix may suffice but for an unambiguous solution, it is preferable to produce an exposition that addresses each requirement of the standard.

ISO 9000 Standards ..

What Is ISO 9000 Standards?
ISO 9000 is a set of interrelated ideas, principles and rules and could therefore be considered a system in the same way that we refer to the metric system or the imperial system of measurement. ISO 9000 is both an international standard and until year 2008, was a family of some 20 international standards. As a standard, ISO 9000 was divided into 4 parts with part 1 providing guidelines on the selection and use of the other standards in the family. The family of standards included requirements for quality assurance and guidelines on quality management. Some might argue that none
of these are in fact standards in the sense of being quantifiable. The critics argue that the standards are too open to interpretation to be standards anything that produces such a wide variation is surely an incapable process with one of its primary causes being a series of objectives that are not measurable. However, if we take a broader view of standards, any set of rules, rituals, requirements, quantities, targets or behaviours that have been agreed by a group of people could be deemed to be a standard. Therefore by this definition, ISO 9000 is a standard.

Saturday, April 3, 2010

What Is ISO 9000 Standards

What Is ISO 9000 Standards?

ISO 9000 is a set of interrelated ideas, principles and rules and could therefore be considered a system in the same way that we refer to the metric system or the imperial system of measurement. ISO 9000 is both an international standard and until year 2008, was a family of some 20 international standards. As a standard, ISO 9000 was divided into 4 parts with part 1 providing guidelines on the selection and use of the other standards in the family. The family of standards included requirements for quality assurance and guidelines on quality management. Some might argue that none
of these are in fact standards in the sense of being quantifiable. The critics argue that the standards are too open to interpretation to be standards anything that produces such a wide variation is surely an incapable process with one of its primary causes being a series of objectives that are not measurable. However, if we take a broader view of standards, any set of rules, rituals, requirements, quantities, targets or behaviours that have been agreed by a group of people could be deemed to be a standard. Therefore by this definition, ISO 9000 is a standard.

Origin Of ISO 9000 Standards Video

Origin Of ISO 9000 Standards

The story of ISO 9000 Standards is a story of standards, methods and regulation. The brief history that follows is in no way comprehensive but is intended to illustrate four things:
1. that ISO 9000 standards are an ancient concept that survived several millennia; that a means of verifying compliance often follows the setting of
standards;
2. that the formalizing of working practices is centuries old and seen as a
means to consistently meet standards;
3. that market regulation (relative to the standard of goods and services) has
been around for centuries for the protection of both craftsmen and
traders.
4. ISO 9000 is a symptom of practices that were around centuries before anyone coined the term quality management. It is in some respects a natural
progression that will continue to evolve. The story is told from a British
viewpoint.

ISO 9000 grew out of BS 5750, a standard published by the British Standards Institution (BSI) in 1979. Initially, it was used only in manufacturing industries. ISO 9000 is now employed across a variety of other types of businesses. It is a set of international standards of quality management systems. ISO 9000 has been accepted by more than 100 countries as their national quality assurance standard by the end of 1997.
The history of ISO 9000 Standards dates back to Mil-Q-9858a, the first quality standard for military procurement established in 1959 by the US. By 1962, NASA (National Aeronautics and Space Administration) developed its quality system requirements for suppliers. In 1965, NATO (North Atlantic Treaty Organization) accepted the AQAP (allied quality assurance procedures) specifications for the procurement of equipments.
During the 1970s, BSI published BS 9000 (the first UK standard for quality assurance) and BS 5179 (guidelines for quality assurance) norms. In 1979, it created BS 5750, a series of standards for use by manufacturing companies. They were enforced through assessments and audits. In 1988, ISO (International Standards Organization) adopted the BS 5750 standard without changes and published it globally under the name ISO 9000. The ISO adopted this standard with a view to create an international definition of the necessary characteristics of a quality system for all businesses, regardless of industry. In 1994, the ISO revised the ISO 9000 standard and published it globally.
In the beginning, ISO 9000 was implemented exclusively by large companies. But by mid-1990s, small and mid-sized companies began to increasingly implement these standards. In the United States, the total number of registrations increased from a little more than 2,200 in 1993 to more than 17,000 in 1998. Of these 17,000 registrations, almost 60 percent were held by businesses with annual sales of $100 million or less.