This online presentation is intended to serve as an overview of ISO 9001:2000. The comments and guidance included in this overview are intended to assist an organization in implementing ISO 9001:2000 for purposes of ISO 9001:2000 certification / registration.
While ISO 9001:2000 contains some areas of improvement over previous
versions, these minor enhancements are greatly overshadowed by the
severe erosion of substantive requirements that had been contained in
earlier versions. No longer are all of the requirements
of
the standard required to be addressed in documented procedures.
Poorly structured with the intent of following the PDCA
cycle (Plan, Do, Check, Act), ISO 9001:2000 is a convoluted
document
filled with redundancies.
The fact that ISO 9001:2000 only requires 6 documented procedures and 18 records presents an interesting challenge to ISO 9000 auditors because an organization meeting the minimum requirements of the standard will have little objective documented evidence of compliance. An ISO 9000 auditor must necessarily spend more time interviewing workers and observing processes in order to verify compliance. This lack of requirements for objective documented evidence coupled with vague language and ambiguous requirements has naturally resulted in both users and ISO 9000 auditors adopting wildly varying interpretations of the standard. Desperate for guidance, many ISO 9000 auditors have incorrectly turned to ISO 9004:2000. However, the last paragraph of ISO 9004:2000, section 1.0, "Scope" clearly states: "This International Standard consists of guidance and recommendations and is not intended for certification, regulatory or contractual use, nor as a guide to the implementation of ISO 9001."
Why would ISO adopt such a weak and ambiguous standard? ISO is very concerned about including developing (third world) countries in the standardization process. This philosophy has resulted in ISO 9001:2000 being tailored for the lowest common denominator. For example, the primary reason for the fewer required documented procedures relates directly to the high illiteracy levels among workers in developing countries.
When first reviewing ISO 9001:2000, I was reminded of the children's book written by Hans Christian Andersen, "The Emperor's New Clothes". For those of you not familiar with the story, an emperor obsessed with having the finest clothes was one day visited by two swindlers, claiming to be weavers. They declared that they could make the most magnificent cloth that one could imagine; cloth of most beautiful colors and elaborate patterns. Not only was the material so beautiful, but the clothes made from it had the special power of being invisible to everyone who was stupid or not fit for his post. What a splendid idea," thought the Emperor. "What useful clothes to have. If I had such a suit of clothes I could know at once which of my people is stupid or unfit for his post." Needless to say, no one wanted to be thought stupid or unfit for their post, so everyone complemented the emperors new clothes... except for a small child who saw that the emperor was nude.
Contrary to its title, ISO 9001:2000 places very little emphasis on quality. In reality, ISO 9001 has always been a much better business management system standard than a quality management system standard. With this understanding, ISO 9001:2000 can be utilized as a basic template providing the minimum framework that an organization needs to develop a formalized business management system extending throughout its operations.
This overview is intended to provide understanding and guidance for implementing the requirements of ISO 9001:2000. However, the reader is strongly encouraged to move beyond the minimum requirements of ISO 9001:2000.
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Copyright © 2003 by Richard C. Randall This Page Last Revised: |
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