Quality+System+Changes

This year will see the publication of ISO 9000: 2000. There are some significant changes and opportunities for improvement in the new version of the standard. Will this have a beneficial impact on companies who use it?

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Bruce Rees.
ISO 9000, the standard for Quality Systems first published in 1987, is about to be revised for the second time. About 250,000 companies worldwide are certified to ISO 9000 and many have seen the benefits of adopting and implementing the standard. However a significant number of these have failed to realise its full potential as they have tried to build paper-based systems to reflect the requirements (and satisfy external auditor requirements). Companies who have been certified for some time have lost the focus of continuous improvement of their systems, and have become disillusioned with the adoption of ISO 9000.

Many quality systems are bureaucratic, an unfortunate result of the 1994 requirement for a documented procedure to cover each clause of the standard. Fewer requirements for documented procedures will be required in the new version of ISO 9000, which encourages a process-based system approach.

User feedback has been that ISO 9000 quality systems implemented are too bureaucratic, lack simplicity and clarity, connect poorly to other standards, and most important do not fit in with modern business practice.

User-driven changes
Significant changes, user driven, are part of the evolutionary process of standards development, the move to quality management from quality systems, continuous improvement, competence rather than just training, process-based systems, and human factors approaches. Management will now have to identify and set objectives including:

  • Creating products that are superior to those of competitors in the same price bracket.
  • Consistently giving customers what they want and at the time they need it.
  • Giving best possible service to internal customers.
  • Linking quality costs to the quality management system: this means benchmarking.

A customer-focused organisation will be needed to give rise to sustained customer satisfaction, with success being measured. Top management will have to take greater interest in what the customer expects in the future, what the consumer perception of the company is regarding employees, and being a good neighbour. Those companies that source from the Third World will need to embrace social accountability standards such as SA 8000.

Internal communications will have to be addressed, with quantified objectives being set by management.

Planning future strategy
All this means that auditors must also change. They must now understand how businesses operate, concentrating more on processes and less on documentation (which is a small part of the process). The question will need to be asked: Is the process right for the business? Processes start and finish with the customer!

Companies must set objectives and begin to use process mapping as a tool to map all business processes, and then link these to ISO 9000:2000 and other standards such as ISO 14001 and OOHSAS 18001. This approach will aid companies who are integrating their management systems, and enable process improvement. Such companies must consider ways of measuring customer satisfaction, communication effectiveness and continuous improvement.

Date: 15 May 2000

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Bruce Rees is an independent consultant, who until recently was Manager of Operations, DNV London. He is a specialist in the application of continuous improvement tools, process mapping, management training, ISO 9000 and integrated management systems.

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