Iso 9000 Quality System Standard example essay topic

ISO 9000 Nowadays, the quality standards play a very important role in the international business. The movement towards standardization began changing the whole concept of managing business. The importance of quality awareness is accepted by a great number of companies in Europe and in the United States. It is recognized as an essential criteria for the sale of products and services all over the world. What should be remembered is that most companies will benefit from becoming registered to an ISO 9000 standard both in the short and long terms. In the short term, it will give companies a competitive edge because of the positive impact the quality assurance system will have on product / service quality, cost savings, access to markets, and overall efficiency of operations.

In the longer term, ISO registration will increasingly become a requirement to do business in areas such as the European Community, as well as other vital markets. (web). The global market becomes more competitive every day. Companies are looking for ways to obtain advantages over the competitors. One of the brilliant solutions to this situation is gaining ISO 9000 certification.

ISO 9000 standards are international quality standards. They are universal in the sense that they can be adopted to any kind of business. The ISO 9000 series is designed to be applicable to any manufacturing or service process. The series is revised and controlled by Technical Committee (TC) 176. It consists of international members from many areas of industry and science.

(Avery, 1995). The need to be ISO 9000 certified becomes so attractive that it captures the minds of all the levels of corporate management. It influences the organization from the top executives to clerks and process operators. The movement to the quality management transforms businesses. Why is ISO 9000 so important? At some point, it is a matter of resource allocation.

How does management allocate scarce resource such as time, energy and money? ISO 9000 becomes a marketing tool which shows customers that the company offers high quality products. While other companies do not have the certification, it is one step further to be more competitive at the market. (web) We can find out why the standardization is so important, if we look back to the history. During the 1970's and 1980's, the science of quality control changed from inspection-dominant to system-oriented organizations. The focus altered from the end result orientation to the process of production. The background of this theory was that if the process of production was well organized, then the final product would be of the appropriate quality.

Such approach served as the basis for quality improvement. Later, when the production process was maintained, and companies saw improvement in production size and the quality, everybody began realizing the importance of the orientation towards quality standards. But another problem appeared. Many of the existed standards could not make the transition from product orientation to process orientation. Some countries realized the need for making changes in their own requirements. As the companies entered the global market, the difference of standard requirements led the producers toward confusion.

To eliminate some of the confusion, the International Organization for Standardization, headquartered in Geneva, Switzerland, developed an international quality system standard, called ISO 9000. The first standards were published in 1987. (Greene, 1991). One of the objectives of ISO 9000 standards are business benefits. Thus the ISO 9000 standards aim at profitable increase of turnover and market share. In this case, such benefits are gained in the result of cost decreases.

ISO 9000 also increases stakeholder confidence and customers' reliance on the quality of the product. It adds value to the company which acquire ISO 9000 certification. Most companies have three overall goals to mix: minimize costs, maximize profits, and maximize customer satisfaction. This way, the benefits, expected from ISO certification, are both external and internal. The customers perceive the product as having superior product quality and willingly buy it. Having adopted ISO 9000, the company gains trust from the customers and suppliers.

The company, using this advantage, increases sales. Since the standards are considered to be universally accepted quality standards, the company also gets worldwide recognition. And finally, it increases its stock value. (web). Understanding and controlling all fields of the production process leads to reduction of costs. ISO 9000 gives an opportunity to reduces manufacturing lead times and work in process.

(Harrington, 2002). The documentation aspect of ISO is really very important: once the company starts documenting, it develops uniformity in different shift operations. A good documentation can also lead to reductions in training time. With the help of ISO 9000, more effective work instructions are created for employees. The company can reduce the amount of time required to train them. (Brown, 1997).

Another a very important factor is that the employees discuss their procedures within ISO standards. It leads to clarity of process documentation. Consequently, ISO 9000 leads to increase in productivity, meanwhile the inventories are decreased. It lowers costs, and increase sales. This way, it increases the material flow efficiency. The production and inventory control becomes more clear and transparent.

All uncertainty is minimized, while discipline increases. (Craft, 1994). Today, these ISO standards are the most widely recognized and accepted international standards. Quality is becoming increasingly important, therefore many companies are seeking registration to demonstrate to their customers that they are in control of their businesses.

There are currently about 40,000 organizations in the world registered under ISO 9003, 9002, or 9001 standards. By 1992, more than 20,000 companies in the EC had registered, compared to about 600 in the United States. The Japanese not only have adopted the standards, but also encourage registration among the companies. Many other countries are moving rapidly toward ISO 9000 registration. (Avery, 1995). In some situations, ISO standards become vital for a company to find the customer.

It can be very harmful not to have the standards, since ISO are required for products by European Community. (Bodinson, 1991). How does a company adopt ISO 9000? The involvement of top management is the most important element in preparing for ISO registration.

Senior management must drive the process, managing the time and expense connected with obtaining the registration. It is essential that every employee have a clear understanding of ISO 9000. Everyone must be aware of his role in the organization process. Once a company is sure that ISO implementation will be beneficial, it must select the ISO 9000 quality system standard. The preparation process demands a lot of time, and it depends how well the organization's current quality system meets the requirements of the chosen standards.

Usually, this process takes from eighteen to twenty four months. The purchase of ISO 9000 becomes a long strategy decision. Audit is the first thing to do. The first thing an auditor looks for is documentation. After examining the documentation, the auditor checks if the company production process follows the documentation. Such approach not only ensures quality of products, but also ensures confidence in the process of standardization.

ISO 9001 establishes a management system that provides confidence of the product to the generally accepted requirements. ISO 9000 is the only standard against whose requirements the quality system can be certified by an external agency. Senior management often questions the value of quality management systems for improving company performance connected with the costs. This same group also may view quality management as something separate from business management. The new ISO 9000: 2000 standards have been redesigned to address many of these issues, including requirements for a process-based orientation to business.

There are some criticisms about ISO 9000. ISO registration costs appear to be rather high. The price verify from four thousand dollars for small companies up to thirty thousand dollars for larger firms. These costs do not include the cost of preparing a firm for approval. It is said that, usually, it costs $500,000 to prepare a 250-person plant for an audit. But all these costs have to pay back!

The results of installation also depend on the companies involvement into a quality program before seeking to be ISO certified. If it is a marketing image improvement goal, the company will unlikely gain all the potential benefits from ISO certification. (Greene, 1991). There are some difficulties in implementing the standards. But the most significant criticism is that implementing ISO does not necessarily mean that the company provides a high-quality product. ISO is more about the consistency of quality procedures.

Some experts say ISO does nothing to guarantee continuous improvement in quality as well as in profits. Should a small service company pursue ISO 9000 certification? If your customers aren't well informed about the benefits of hiring a certified company, why invest the time and money to achieve the goal? If none of your competitors are ISO 9000 certified, is there a competitive advantage to being the only one? It is the time to ask the executives, who implemented ISO 9000, for there opinion:' I don't have an index that would show the marketing and the business after certification,' said Clarence Watts, quality manager for Ferrous Processing & Trading Co., Detroit, which received its certification in April 1995. 'But I can give you my opinion.

I think we were very well received by our customers after certification... ". (Burrows, 1998). V arco Industrial Sales increased sales for $11 million within four years of operations with ISO 9000. The cost to certify was $12,000. Jon Vary, the president of the company, said that it helped them in two areas.

ISO had decreased the number of incoming and outgoing shipping errors. It increased efficiency and saved a lot of money. AJ Kelly, Vice President of Hose & Fittings, Inc., says: 'As for whether you can put a dollar figure on sales improvement, it's more of an intangible kind of thing. It gave us better customer acceptance at certain accounts.

You can't charge more because you are ISO certified, but it gives your customers a warm cozy feeling that you are doing everything you can to make sure your products are good. ' (web ). Most of the companies will benefit from becoming registered to the ISO 9000 standard. It is very important that organization leaders become aware about ISO 9000. The time proven quality tools are essential in the improvement of the processes of an organization. Every day we are discovering ways to apply these tools and educate more people to improve individual processes.

What is more important for an organization than producing high quality products. Any approach to improvement of processes is expected to be part of a functioning quality management. The system must be designed in the way that any improvement could make the organization successful and meet customers' needs.

Bibliography

Bodinson, G.W. 'Warning: Ignoring ISO Standards May Be Harmful to Your Company's Future. ' Industrial Management, 1991.
Brown, J. Achieving Peak to Peak Performance Using QS 9000. IIE Solutions, 1997.
Burrows, P. 'Behind the Facade of ISO 9000. ' Electronic Business, 1998.
Craft, V. 'Quality Improvements Come Slower after ISO. ' Electronic Business Buyer, Special Report, 1994.
Greene, A.H. 'Globalizing Quality Standards. ' Production and Inventory Management (September 1991).
James Harrington, 'Managing Resistance to Change,' Quality Digest, September 2002.