U3001

= Quality management: ISO 9000 STANDARDS = **By Guy Merlin Nuefelie** toc

= I**NTRODUCTION** = The term ISO 9000 can be understood in two different ways : It refers both to a single standard (ISO 9000) and to a family of three created [|standards] by the [|International Organization for Standardization] (ISO 9000, ISO 9001, ISO 9004) there are all refer to as Quality Management System Standards. ISO 9000 focuses more on definitions and terminology and is used to make concepts used by ISO 9001 and ISO 9004 understandable .The aim of ISO 9000 is to assure that businesses meet certain [|quality management systems] standards that would be recognized and respect by people all over the world. This standard is sweeping the world and I would not be exaggerating if I say its now the most important quality standard ; its currently used by thousands of companies in more than 100 countries and many more are already in the process of adopting it. It’s important to say that ISO 9000 applies to all kinds of organizations ( no matter what size there are or what they do ) operating in all kinds of areas : manufacturing, processing, servicing, printing, forestry, electronics, steel, computing, banking, telecommunications ,petrochemicals, financial services… =** Benefits of implementing ISO 9000 Standards **=

Implementing the ISO 9000 standards will help a company satisfy and expend his customer base! Because they are focused on customer needs and wants, it’s very well known in the business world that happy customers are one of the best marketing tools available, so it’s more than important to make the customer feel comfortable. in that sense, The ISO 9000 standards help to ensure that the customer’s needs are well satisfied without compromising the stability or integrity of your business.

ISO 9000 standards are mostly useful if you are in an area with many competitors. By assuring that your product responds to the needs of all customers seeking that product, you can move towards establishing yourself as a reputable company that detains the monopole in your area. For Example: You own a pottery shop that creates and sales shoes. By following predetermined quality standards, you can amake sure that the shoes you make and sale to your customers are the appropriate, comfortable and high quality. If you do not follow quality standards, and shoes are not good enough to satisfy your customer needs, you will probably lose business. Many industries use ISO 9000 standards, from manufacturers to service providers to government agencies. So coordinating with other organizations and businesses that are ISO 9000 standards users may help you establish important business connections and networks as well.

It’s necessary for each company to audit its management systems process as soon as ISO 9000 have been implemented to make sure that it is effective and meets its personal needs. The ISO 9000 family provides tools for this personal assessment. The company may also want to hire an outside consultant to help determining if the standards have been effectively implemented. It is more than important for a company to periodically audit its system to ensure that it is both ISO compliant and effective, it doesn’t matter which methods the company choose(personal or consultant) to audit.

Although it seems like a lot of work to implement ISO 9000 standards, most business owners are grateful that they organized their management system in the long run. Implementing the standards saves the company, the business owner, the stress of drawing up brand new management systems for its venture and assures that its product or service can compete in the market.

Some small business owners may find implementing ISO 9000 standards may seem so complicated for some small business owners, and they might not know where to start. The International Organization for Standardization offers many guides for implementing ISO 9000 standards, and publishes a handbook called ISO 9000 for Small Businesses that will help a small company get its standards system up and running. This handbook can be order and the ISO 9000 standards from the ISO member body in the company’s area or through the ISO General Consulate. = **ISO 9000 PRINCIPLES** = ISO 9000-2000 and ISO 9000-2008 quality management standards are based on eight major principles: Any Organization depends on its customers and its therefore very important for the company to very well understand current and future customer needs, to meet customer requirements and make sure it satisfies customer expectations. Advantages: - Increased revenue and market share obtained through flexible and fast responses to market opportunities. - Increased effectiveness in the use of the organization's resources in order to enhance customer satisfaction. - Improved customer loyalty leading to repeat business . **Applying the above principle leads to**: - Researching and understanding customer needs and expectations. - Making sure that the objectives of the organization are directly linked to customer needs and expectations. - Communicating customer needs and expectations throughout the organization. - Always Measuring customer satisfaction and acting accordingly. - managing customer relationships. - finding a right balance between satisfying customers and other interested parties (such as owners, employees, suppliers, financiers, local communities and society as a whole Leaders establish unity of purpose and direction of the organization. They have to create and maintain the internal adequate environment in which people can feel concerned about achieving the organization's objectives.  Advantages:  - People will understand and be motivated towards the organization's goals and objectives.  - Activities are evaluated, aligned and implemented in a unified way.  - There will be a Minimization of Miscommunication between levels of an organization  ** - Considering the needs of all interested parties including customers, owners, employees, suppliers, financiers, local communities and society as a whole.  - Establishing a clear vision of the organization's future.  - Setting challenging goals and targets. - Creating and sustaining shared values, fairness and ethical role models at all levels of the organization. - Establishing trust and eliminating fear. - Providing people with the required resources, training and freedom to act with responsibility and accountability. - Inspiring, encouraging and recognizing people's contributions. ** People are the base of any organization therefore, the fact that they are fully involved enables their abilities to be used to achieve organization's goals. **Advantages:** -Motivated, committed and involved people within the organization. - Innovation and creativity in furthering the organization's objectives. - People being accountable for their own performance. -People eager to participate in and contribute to continual improvement. **Applying the above principle leads to:** - People understanding the importance of their contribution and role in the organization. - People identifying constraints to their performance. - People accepting ownership of problems and their responsibility for solving them. - People evaluating their performance against their personal goals and objectives. - People actively seeking opportunities to enhance their competence, knowledge and experience. - People freely sharing knowledge and experience. - People openly discussing problems and issues. ** A desired result is achieved more efficiently when activities and related resources are managed as a process. **Advantages:** - Lower costs and shorter cycle times through effective use of resources. - Improved, consistent and predictable results. - Focused and prioritized improvement opportunities. - Applying the above principle typically leads to: - Systematically defining the activities necessary to obtain a desired result. - Establishing clear responsibility and accountability for managing key activities. - Analysing and measuring of the capability of key activities. - Identifying the interfaces of key activities within and between the functions of the organization. - Focusing on the factors such as resources, methods, and materials that will improve key activities of the organization. - Evaluating risks, consequences and impacts of activities on customers, suppliers and other interested parties. **Principle 5- System approach to management** Identifying, understanding and managing interrelated processes as a system contributes to the organization's effectiveness and efficiency in achieving its objectives. **Advantages:** - Integration and alignment of the processes that will best achieve the desired results. - Ability to focus effort on the key processes. - Providing confidence to interested parties as to the consistency, effectiveness and efficiency of the organization. **Applying this principle typically leads to**: -Structuring a system to achieve the organization's objectives in the most effective and efficient way. - Understanding the interdependencies between the processes of the system. - tructured approaches that harmonize and integrate processes. - Providing a better understanding of the roles and responsibilities necessary for achieving common objectives and thereby reducing cross-functional barriers. - Understanding organizational capabilities and establishing resource constraints prior to action. - Targeting and defining how specific activities within a system should operate. ** Continual improvement of the organization's overall performance should be a permanent objective of the organization. ** Performance advantage through improved organizational capabilities. Alignment of improvement activities at all levels to an organization’s strategic intent. Flexibility to react quickly to opportunities. **Applying this principle typically leads to**: - Employing a consistent organization-wide approach to continual improvement of the organization's performance. - Providing people with training in the methods and tools of continual improvement. -Making continual improvement of products, processes and systems an objective for every individual in the organization. - Establishing goals to guide, and measures to track, continual improvement. - Recognizing and acknowledging improvements. ** Effective decisions are based on the analysis of data and information Advantages: - Informed decisions. -An increased ability to demonstrate the effectiveness of past decisions through reference to factual records. -Increased ability to review, challenge and change opinions and decisions. ** - Ensuring that data and information are sufficiently accurate and reliable. - Making data accessible to those who need it. - Analysing data and information using valid methods. - Making decisions and taking action based on factual analysis, balanced with experience and intuition. Principle 8- Mutually beneficial supplier relationships An organization and its suppliers are interdependent and a mutually beneficial relationship enhances the ability of both to create value ** - Increased ability to create value for both parties. - Flexibility and speed of joint responses to changing market or customer needs and expectations. - Optimization of costs and resources. ** - Establishing relationships that balance short-term gains with long-term considerations. - Pooling of expertise and resources with partners. - Identifying and selecting key suppliers. - Clear and open communication. - Sharing information and future plans. - Establishing joint development and improvement activities. - Inspiring, encouraging and recognizing improvements and achievements by suppliers.
 * Principle 1- Customer focus **
 * Principle 2- Leadership **
 * Applying the above principle leads to:
 * Principle 3- Involvement of people
 * Principle 4- Process approach
 * Principle 6- Continually improving the system through measurement and evaluation
 * Advantages:
 * Principle 7- Factual approach to decision making
 * Applying this principle typically leads to:
 * Advantages:
 * Applying the above principle leads to:

=**References:**=

en.**wikipedia**.org/wiki/**ISO**_9001 - www.**iso**.org/**iso**/management_**standards**.htm - www.mbda.gov/?section_id=5&bucket_id=163&content_id=2479&well= entire_page