International Organisation for Standardization (ISO) Standards

The World Trade Organization’s agreement on technical barriers to trade emphasizes the vital role laid by International Standards in providing the technical foundation for global markets.

When this is done, conflicts are minimized and agreements are more. On this occasion it may be worthwhile to review the development of the new version of ISO 9000 Standards for Quality Management Systems, which have now become so essential for acceptance of products and services at the International level.

The ISO 9000 Standards originally evolved for Quality Management Systems for manufacturing units. The same formulation was then extended to service and software fields. There has been a need felt over the years for a generic system which is all comprehensive and at the same time easily applicable to the business of the user, whether it be in manufacturing or service or software fields. Also in the meantime the environment management standards have come in. Taking into account all this and the fact that the ISO 9000 Standards were last revised in 1994, ISO's Technical Committee TC 176 had taken up the task of bringing out "Year 2000" revision. This is expected to be announced at the end of year 2000, though by now the finalized draft has been circulated which contains all the essential features.

The changes
The current ISO 9000 family of Standards contains over 20 Standards and documents. The year 2000 ISO 9000 Quality Management Standards (QMS) on the other hand will have only three primary standards, which are 
1. ISO 9000 - Quality Management Systems -    Fundamentals and vocabulary
2. ISO 9001 - Quality Management Systems -     Requirements
3. ISO 9004 - Quality Management Systems -    Guidance for Performance

Improvement

The current ISO 9001, ISO 9002 and ISO 9003 Standards will be consolidated into a single ISO 9001 Standards. A reduction of scope of the ISO 9001 requirements will be permitted to omit clauses that do not apply to a particular organization. In addition to the three core standards, ISO 10011, the auditing standard will be consolidated with the ISO 14010, ISO 14011 and ISO 14012 environmental auditing standards.

Principles of revision
The principles driving the revision process are:

1. Applicability to all product and service sectors and to all sizes of organizations,
   
2. Simplicity to use, clear in language, readily translatable and easily understandable,
   
3. Ability to connect Quality Management Systems to organizational processes,
   
4. Provision of a natural stepping-stone towards performance improvement,
   
5. Greater orientation toward continual improvement and customer satisfaction,
   
6. Compatibility with other management systems, such as ISO 14000, for Environmental Management,
   
7. Need to provide a consistent basis and address the primary needs and interests of organizations in specific sectors such as aerospace, automotive, medical devices, telecommunications and others.

Process Model: The revision of the ISO 9000 QMS makes a radical change and repositions the 20 elements of the current ISO 9001 into four parts.

1. Management responsibility
   
2. Resource Management
   
3. Product and/or Service realization
   
4. Measurement, analysis and improvement

The process model is similar to the well-known Deming's PDCA (Plan, Do, Check and Act) cycle of quality improvement. This kind of a structuring permits the applicability of this model to any business or service. The concept of continuous improvement is intended to stimulate the efficiency of the organization, to increase its competitive advantage in the market and better respond to customers' needs and expectations.

Another new item that has been addressed is the measurements to evaluate customer satisfaction, providing key information for continuous improvement. In terms of resources, attention has been given for the need to provide and make available all necessary resources, which will now include elements such as information, communication, infrastructures and work environment protection. Changes have also occurred in terminology. Now the more natural term "organization" is used instead of "supplier" in the old standard. The expression "product and service" is used instead of only "product" as was in the old standard. These changes are friendlier with the normal use and meaning of the words. Also compatibility with ISO 14001 environmental standards is sought to be achieved through informative annexes correlating the clauses.

Transition

There is an ISO document on Transition Planning Guidance to help the change over. Further authentic information regarding revision can be obtained from the Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS), which has played a leading role in the deliberations of the ISO's Technical Committee. Since the new standards are integration and simplification of the older one, transition should be easy and also there is sufficient time given for the process.

The process model is well suited to really focus on the needs of customers and if genuinely implemented should help the growth of business. In fact this is the real essence of the change over. While the past standard no doubt implied this, there was no explicit requirement to measure customer satisfaction and initiate continuous improvements. On the other hand, in the new standard these are explicit and essential part of the elements. Also they include other interested parties (suppliers, owners, employees and society) under management responsibility.

Over 5,000 firms in India are estimated to have obtained ISO 9000 Certification so far. It is no more a luxury but has been considered commonplace for achieving standards of product or service. There has also been the unfortunate side, namely the creeping in of the "certificate culture". Once the certification is obtained, organizations tend to be complacent and do not effect continuous improvement. What the customer needs is not a certificate to be shown to him but provision of an improved product and service, which is by itself the best certificate that any organization can get. This has been the secret of the Japanese and Korean success. The new standards will help simplify the procedural part and invigorate the commitments of organizations to continuously provide better products and services to their customers.