Chronology

• ISO 9001 quality management system built its foundation on an older set of standards, the BS 5750, which was developed by the British government during World War II. BS 5750 was intended to eliminate the risk of bomb explosions from munitions defects in military factories. The British government recommended that ISO expand the standards to cover nonmilitary applications. The ISO issued several rounds of guidelines that followed the spirit of BS 5750 and in 2000 came out with the ISO 9000 family of quality management standards.
  
  

International Organization for Standardization

• The International Organization for Standardization has issued more than 18,000 standards since 1947. Its platform has attracted 162 nations that actively participate in the technical committees. Each country receives one seat at the table and benefits from equal power of influence with its co-participants. These nations represent 97 percent of the world's population and guide 98 percent of the world's economy. 900,000 organizations in 170 countries have been ISO 9001-certified since 2000, according to David Levine, professor of business administration in the Haas School of Business at University of California, Berkeley. These organizations have renewed their certification every three years and follow the guidance of 2001:2008 today.
  
  

Philosophy

• The ISO 9001 philosophy asserts that quality stems from the commitment and attention of all employees and all layers of management. It promotes the idea that compliance to sound processes leads to error-free products. Therefore, it places great emphasis on the need to document all processes thoroughly so as to leave no room for interpretation. It further requests complete adherence to instructions listed in process documents. It overlays the implementation of monitoring systems, which generate an alert when actions result in outcomes that deviate from expectations.
  
  

Role of Management

• Upper management carries as much responsibility in complying with ISO 9001 as an employee. The involvement of leadership starts with designing corporate goals that include objectives covering quality expectations and quality improvement goals. Resources then must be lined up to facilitate the implementation of the objectives and to train personnel on the principles of ISO 9001. When auditors visit companies to establish ISO 9001 compliance, they interview the management team first to evaluate its endorsement and degree of commitment.
  
  

Certification

• ISO 9001 certification formally acknowledges that a company has deployed a successful ISO 9001 quality management system. The certification is granted by an accreditation agency contracted by the company seeking the certification. The accreditation agency arranges for a third party, an auditing firm, to independently assess the company's compliance to the standards. Auditors spend several days on site interviewing and auditing employees and issue a report that indicates deviations observed and whether such deviations pose an obstruction to the awarding of ISO 9001 certification.
  
  

Impact

• ISO 9001 certification indicates that the company focuses on customer satisfaction. It also conveys that it uses a set of quality standards compatible with other organizations that have received the certification. It establishes links among an elite group of companies with common quality values. The ISO 9001 platform facilitates new business partnerships. Some business-to-business contracts will request that all parties involve received ISO 9001 certification.