ISO 9000

ISO 9000 is a kind of "International Good Housekeeping Seal of Approval." It's actually part of a series of standards referred to by numbers--ISO 9001, 9002, 9003 refer to standards for quality management; ISO 14000s refer to standards for environmental management, and so forth. These and other international standards are administered via the International Organization for Standardization (commonly referred to as ISO^*), founded in 1947 and based in Geneva, Switzerland. (Several previous efforts at international standardization were halted due to WWII, and ISO took up where those left off.)

Early on, only engineers knew or cared about ISO standards. The national standards bodies from many countries got together to set up some common industrial standards to facilitate international trade and allow for mutually beneficial exchange of information, technology and science. Today there are 130 countries participating. Initially, they were focused on industrial topics such as temperature, weight, measures, material strength and other obsessions of the world's mechanical engineers.

In current times, you benefit every day from the ISO's work. For example, every time you swipe a credit card, load film into your camera, or run a ream of paper through your Xerox machine or printer, you are benefiting from an ISO standard. You can print your letters on any printer in the world thanks to ISO 256, which standardized paper sizes so manufacturers know how to build their printers and paper mills know how to cut their stock to fit. You can buy the right speed film for your fancy new camera in any country in the world. No need to pack a dozen rolls before you leave on vacation and risk running them through the airport X-ray machines. Your Visa card works fine in Toledo, Ohio or Toledo, Spain. And think of the standardization benefits for the computer and telecommunications industries . . . so necessary to our Global Village!

Your prospective customer wants to know if you're ISO 9000 certified so that he'll be confident he can rely on the conformity of your products or processes or services to ISO 9000 quality standards. Many industries require their suppliers to acquire this certification. It saves them time and money, and enhances quality and safety, regardless of the country of origin of the parts or products they may be using.

ISO 9000 is a set of five universal standards for a Quality Assurance system that is accepted around the world. Ninety countries have adopted ISO 9000 as national standards, and the federal government is moving closer to having ISO as the one, so to speak, standard to replace its major systems standard, MIL-Q-9858.

When a customer, such as the government, purchases a product or service from a company that is registered to the appropriate ISO 9000 standard, the customer has important assurances that the quality of what it receives will be as it expects.

ISO 9000 registration is rapidly becoming a must for any company that does business with the government or overseas involving complex or critical items. Many industrial companies require registration by their own subcontractors, so there is a growing trend toward universal acceptance of ISO 9000 as an international standard.

The most comprehensive of the 9000 set of standards is ISO 9001. It applies to industries involved in the design and development, manufacturing, installation and servicing of products or services. The standards apply uniformly to companies in any industry and of any size.

Many companies require their suppliers to become registered to ISO 9001, and because of this, registered companies have found that their market opportunities have increased. Registered companies have also had dramatic reductions in customer complaints, significant reductions in operating costs and increased demand for their products and services.

A company in compliance with ISO 9001 ensures that it has a sound Quality Assurance system, and that's good business. ISO 9002 is almost identical to ISO 9001, except that the provisions on "Design Control" are only applicable to 9001. Therefore, ISO 9001 is the appropriate standard if your organization carries out the innovative design of products or services; otherwise ISO 9002 is applicable.

ISO 9001 or ISO 9002?

ISO 9001, entitled "Quality System: Model for quality assurance in design/development, production, installation and servicing," applies in situations when:

• design is required and the product requirements are stated principally in performance terms, or they need to be established, and
• confidence in product conformance can be attained by adequate demonstration of a supplier's capabilities in design, development, production, installation and servicing.

ISO 9002, entitled "Quality System: Model for quality assurance in production, installation and servicing," applies in situations when:

• the specified requirements for the product are stated in terms of an established design or specification, and
• confidence in product conformance can be attained by adequate demonstration of a supplier's capabilities in production, installation, and servicing.

ISO recognizes the importance of small businesses in this chain of supply and manufacture, and even has a special page on its website pointing you to resources geared to firms of your size. There are also software products to help you step through this process. And, if you don't want to wade through this standardization, certification and audit process on your own, you can always hire a consultant to do it for you. Underwriters Labs (UL) is probably the most familiar provider of these services on that particular list of consultants.

*Now before you all bury us in email pointing out that ISO is not the proper acronym for International Organization for Standardization--which you would logically conclude would be IOS--be advised that ISO is not an acronym at all. ISO, according to its web site, is a Greek word meaning "equal." (A la the dreaded Isosceles triangle of your sophomore year in high school, remember?) Think of the word isometric, which means "equal measure." By using a word, ISO, instead of an acronym such as IOS, the organization avoids the confusion that would result from translating International Organization for Standardization into 130 different languages, creating a plethora of different acronyms for the same body. ISO is ISO in every language and nation of the world. How's that for standardization!