Thursday, September 20, 2007

ISO 9001

What is ISO 9001:2000?

ISO or the International Organization of Standardization is a worldwide organization that develops many different kinds of standards.

ISO 9001 is a series of documents that define the requirement for the Quality Management System Standard. ISO 9001 is one of the documents in this set; it contains the actual requirements an organization must be in compliance with to become ISO 9001 Registered.

ISO 9001:2000 is the current version of the Standard. It was revised in the year 2000. Past version of ISO 9000 included ISO 9002 and ISO 9003, but those are no longer in use. Companies are now only registered to ISO 9001.

Why do Companies want ISO 9001:2000?

Market Pressure
Many organizations decide to Implement ISO 9001 and obtain registration because it assures customers that the company has a good Quality Management System [QMS] in place. An organization with an effective QMS will typically meet customer expectations better than an organization that does not have an effective QMS. Many organizations require their suppliers to have ISO 9001 Registration.

Internal effectiveness and productivity benefits
Other organizations implement an ISO 9001 QMS because it has proven over the years that it leads companies to better operations, improved performance and improved profitability.

For more detail about the ISO standards. please [click here]