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THE International Organization for Standardization (ISO) was founded in Europe in 1947 and is based in Geneva. Its purpose being to facilitate the world-wide trade through the development of international quality standards for products and services.
Among the activities of this organization and perhaps the most influential was the issuance of the 1987 bulletin that devised “a series of international standards dealing with quality systems that can be used for external quality assurance purposes”. The standards provided companies with a series of guidelines on how to establish systems for managing quality products and services.
The ISO 9000 standard sets out as to how companies can establish, document and maintain an effective quality management system. The system begins with the production of a high level document called, the “quality manual” that records the company’s quality policies and practices directed toward increasing customer satisfaction.
The ISO 9000 quality system standard appears to be much more than just the latest wave in the world-wide drive for quality. Unlike other quality programmes, practices, and procedures such as, Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award (MBNQA) in the US, the European Quality Award (EQA) in the Western Europe and the Australian Quality Award (AQA) in Australia, It is international in scope and impact.
An increasing number of companies have applied, or are applying for accreditation on this standard. Companies are yielding to pressure from their customers and competitors for better product quality and services. Applying for the ISO 9000 series standard is one of the means to obtain a competitive edge in product and service quality.
Standards: The origins of the ISO 9000 series of standards can be traced back to the military procurement standards around the World War II. This ultimately led to the publication of the first commercial quality management standard, BS 5750 by the British Standards Institute in 1979. The ISO 9000 standards were developed by the ISO Technical Committee (TC) 176 on the model of the BS 5750.
They were first published in 1987 and they are revised every five years. This resulted in the publication of a version on 20 June 1994 which aimed to reflect progress in the quality field since the previous version, and to facilitate the use of this reference in any type of organization, no matter what their size, activity sector or product offer. In this sense, the ISO 9000 standards are generic in their application scope, because their design makes them ready to fit to the needs of any organization, no matter, big or small, industrial or service.
The ISO 9000: 1994 series of standards consisted of five basic documents from the ISO 9000 to the ISO 9004. Briefly these are: ISO 9000: Quality management and assurance standards for selection and use, ISO 9001: quality systems model for quality assurance in design, development, production, installation, and servicing, the ISO 9002: quality systems model for quality assurance in production and installation. ISO 9003: quality systems model for quality assurance in final inspection and testing. the ISO 9004: quality management and quality system element guidelines.
The ISO 9001: 1994—the most comprehensive model for quality assurance in design/development, production and installation and servicing is used as the working standard. This standard is sub-divided into 20 major clauses:
Management responsibility; quality system; contract review; design and data control; document control; purchasing; purchaser supplied product; product identification and traceability; process control; inspection and testing; inspection, measuring and test equipment; inspection and test status; control of non-conforming products; corrective and preventive action; handling, storage, package and delivery; control of quality records; internal quality audits; training; servicing; statistical techniques.
The most commonly used quality system documentation structure is composed of four layers. Starting with the top level is the quality manual, then the operating procedures, then the work instructions, and finally the quality records.
In December 2000, the ISO 9000 series has undergone a major revision that resulted in a simplified version of the original standards. Now the revised series consists of four basic documents and these are the ISO 9000: quality fundamentals and vocabulary. the ISO 9001: quality management systems (consolidates the previous ISO 9001/9002/9003 standards into a single document); ISO 9004: quality management systems, guidelines for performance improvements. ISO 19011: guidelines on quality and/or environmental management systems auditing.
The 20 elements of the ISO 9001: 1994 has been regrouped into five main chapters: quality management system; management responsibility; resource management; product realization; measurement, analysis and improvement.
The revision also envisages the eight best practises of management and these are: customer focus; leadership; involvement of people; process approach; system approach to management; continual improvement or Kaizen; factual approach to decision making; mutually beneficial supplier relationships.
According to the ISO, the basic thrust of the recent revisions includes stakeholder orientation, continual improvement, and greater user-friendliness. These changes are expected to mollify those who believe that the ISO standards promotes merely consistency rather than quality.
14000 Series: Products that are environmentally friendly in production and in use may have greater appeal in the marketplace. The ISO 14000 is composed of two groups of standards which were launched in 1996. The first group includes the ISO 14001 and the ISO 14004 that are concerned with establishing guidelines and principles for the management of environmental matters by organizations through the establishment and operation of the environmental management systems (EMS). The remaining three standards (such as the ISO 14010, the ISO 14011 and the ISO 14012) are guidelines for environmental auditing dealing with analysis of the environmental attributes of products.
These standards are designed to help organizations develop and implement a formalised management process, and evaluate the effectiveness of their activities, operations, products and services to improve environmental and safety performance. The ISO 14001 EMS draws its core elements from proven management systems as that of the ISO 9000 series, such as management by objectives, organizational development models, and continuous improvement to measure, review, perform root-cause analysis and take corrective action. It provides a management framework for planning, developing and implementing strategies and related programmes in an organization. The ISO 14000 series stresses continual improvement and dynamic “plan-do-check-act”’ process, and requires companies to evaluate their current and potential environmental exposures in terms of impact and compliance with legislation.
Certification process: Briefly, the certification process is given here for its better understanding. Details may acquired from the Federation of Pakistan Chambers of Commerce and Industries and the ISO website: www.iso.ch.
1. Assessment: The initial assessment is a detailed review of the company’s quality systems and procedures compared to the ISO 9000 requirements. This process defines the scope of the ISO 9000 project.
2. Training: All employees must be trained in two areas. First, they must have an overall understanding of the ISO 9000 vocabulary requirements, the role of the quality manual, and the benefits that will be derived from the system. Secondly, they must understand the actual day-to-day process of upgrading and improving procedures.
3. Documentation: All procedures must be described and documented so that they can be understood prior to approval. Once completed, the documentation should outline every process a company undertakes that affects the quality of its finished products.
4. Manual: While the ISO 9000 standards do not require a quality assurance and policy manual, they do require that a company document everything it does and every system that affects the quality of the finished product. The manual is often used to assemble all documentation in one place.
N 5. Audit: The final step in certification is an audit by an organization chosen as external registrar, such as the SGS-ICS or Llyod, to see that the system is working as described in the quality manual and that it meets the ISO 9000 requirements.
Conclusion: According to a a report appearing in the daily Dawn(22 August 01), more than 2000 companies in Pakistan have acquired the ISO 9000 certificates. Every company in Pakistan is required to have the ISO certificate so that it can compete in the global market. The trade barriers and quotas will be lowered and eliminated by the year 2005 because of the WTO regime which will also bring a tough time for companies which cannot put up with the ubiquitous demand of quality.
The new Labour Policy (2001) also accentuates on the ISO 9000 and the 14000 framework of quality control and management. The government of Pakistan should extend its support and subsidy as it did in the trade policy of 1997-98.
If a company wishes to manage its products/services delivery processes effectively and wants to ensure the quality of provision, it must consider not only consider how to manage it, it must set an operational activity within a defined quality framework consisting of a formal policy, and an agreed quality programme.
