THE CRUX of this year for the
ISO 9000 quality management
standards is the November implementation of the 2000 revision.
This new version, according to Ian Day, UK-based president of the major certification body Bureau Veritas Quality International, will be more focused on the service industry. Since the original standards (first introduced in 1987 - with minor revisions in 1994) were primarily designed with the manufacturing industry in mind, he told FTW, very little account was taken of the service industries in drafting the standards.
To judge the quality of the industry's product - an ethereal rather than a physical entity - the ISO 9000:2000 standard requires proven focus on meeting customer requirements. Also, a measure to prove this client-acceptance.
According to Day, the changes are modifications, not major, and companies will have a three-year phase-in period from the November implementation to upgrade their current 1994 ISO standard.
Certification bodies around the world have made a commitment that the new standards won't impose additional audits on clients, he told FTW. In principle, the concept is one of no additional cost to the industry.
However, Day feels that the majority of companies in the ISO stable are actually operating ahead of the current requirements. A company that has a very simple quality system in place - to satisfy the minimum criteria - may have some problems, he said. But the majority of quality-
conscious companies can expect minimal changes.
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