|
Background
The International Organization for Standardization (ISO) 9000 Standard Series is a set of international quality management standards and guidelines. Since their initial publication in 1987, they have earned a global reputation as the basis for establishing quality management systems (QMS). Since ISO protocols require that all standards be reviewed at least every five years to determine whether they should be confirmed, revised or withdrawn, the 1994 versions of the ISO 9000 Standard Series were revised by ISO's Technical Committee (TC) 176 and were published on December 15, 2000.
Restructuring
The revised ISO 9000 Family has been reduced to 3 quality management systems standards:
- ISO 9000: Fundamentals and vocabulary;
- ISO 9001: Requirements (which consolidates the current ISO 9001/2/3 into a single document)
- ISO 9004: Guidelines for performance improvement.
These three standards will be complemented by a small number of additional standards and/or technical reports to address specific issues.
The revised ISO 9000 standards have a new process-oriented structure. In addition, a number of other significant changes have been made including: greater emphasis on continual improvement and on the role of top management; new requirements on monitoring customer satisfaction; and reductions in amount of required documentation.
The revised ISO 9001 is intended to be generic, and independent of any specific industry or economic sector. It will be applicable to all types and sizes of organizations. ISO 9001's quality management system requirements are intended to be complementary to specified technical requirements for products and/or services. As noted above, the current ISO 9001, ISO 9002 and ISO 9003 standards have been consolidated into the revised ISO 9001 standard. Tailoring of the ISO 9001 requirements will only be permitted to omit requirements that do not apply to an organization.
Availability of Standards
The ISO 9000 standards are available through the American Society for Quality's (ASQ) customer service center. To order a set of the drafts, contact the customer service center at: 1-800-248-1946. The standards may also be purchased from the American National Standards Institute (ANSI) by calling: 212-642-4900.
Transition Guidance
The most recent ISO Survey (which is available on ISO's website at http://www.iso.ch ) showed that 226,349 quality systems in 129 countries had been registered as being in conformity with ISO 9001, 9002, or 9003 standards. In view of such widespread implementation, transition guidance has been developed to assist existing users of the ISO 9001, ISO 9002, ISO 9003 and ISO 9004 standards in making a smooth transition from the 1994 editions to the future revised versions. This Guidance takes into account the needs of all interested parties, with particular focus on those users whose quality management system is currently registered to either ISO 9001, ISO 9002 or ISO 900. Guidance documents available on ISO's web site ( http://www.iso.org/iso/en/iso9000-14000/index.html ) include:
- Selection and use of the ISO 9000:2000 family of standards
- The ISO 9000 family
- Examples of the ISO 9000 standards in use
- Implementing your ISO 9000:2000 quality management system
- Maintaining the benefits and continual improvement
- The future evolution of ISO 9000
- Sources for further information
- Quality management principles
- Transition to the ISO 9000:2000 series
- The ISO Survey of ISO 9000 and ISO 14000 certificates
The site also contains other reference documents including: information on ISO's and the International Accreditation Forum's (IAF) cooperative efforts to ease ISO 9000 transition and TC 176 surveys on ISO 9000 user requirements for Year 2000 revisions. | 
