The International Organization for Standardization has released its new revisions for ISO certification. Companies now have three years to get their operations in order to meet the new criteria and might have to work a little harder to meet the new standards.

On December 15, 2000, the International Organization for Standardization (ISO), Geneva, Switzerland released the final versions of the standard requirements for ISO certification. The requirements that were last revised in 1994, have been drastically reworked, and reworded, in favor of what ISO professionals are claiming to be a “process-based approach.” Two of the standards (ISO 9002 and ISO 9003) have been dropped altogether, and the others in the requirements tract are referred to as ISO 9000: 2000, ISO 9001: 2000 and ISO 9004: 2000.

By readjusting its focus, the ISO emphasizes the need of compliant companies to make customer satisfaction an ongoing goal in their daily operations. It also endeavors to encourage increased participation, at the executive level, from companies with ISO certification. Companies that have earned certification in the past, and maintained that certification by meeting the bare minimum requirements, will now have to rethink and readjust their modus operandi if they intend to keep their certification current. The new requirements make it difficult for officials at the higher levels, in particular, to get by without active participation in the process. According to Anthony Fletcher, Director of ISO 9000, Eagle Group USA, Inc., (Troy, Michigan), “Depending on the culture and management team that a company has, some will take [the changes] on board and make the transition. Others are going to struggle with it. It’s going to be against their culture and their style.”

The introduction of eight new Quality Management Principals, which replaced the previous twenty-element system, illustrates the ISO’s new approach. Reportedly culled from the collective experiences of international experts, the eight principals are:

• Customer Focus

• Leadership

• Involvement of People

• Process Approach

• System Approach to Management

• Continual Improvement

• Factual Approach to Decision-making

• Mutually Beneficial Supplier Relationships

The relevance of the Principals to companies seeking certification will be proportionate to their view of quality management. The Principals follow a process-based approach that attempt to speak to, and direct, the operations of the business itself. This approach emphasizes planning improvements, acting on the plans, analyzing the results, and making improvements, as they are needed. The framers of the new ISO standard see the implementation of the management Principals as a more effective means of managing quality than the periodic audit that, for the most part, focused on a checklist of procedures.

On the subject of audits to be undertaken using the revised ISO, companies seeking certification will undergo a more in-depth auditing process. The ISO auditor will put less emphasis on checking for specific procedures, and will focus more on interacting with all levels of the company to determine the company’s commitment to improving customer service. This will be achieved by not only verifying that improved programs have been implemented, but also by ensuring that the company has developed and deployed tools to measure the effectiveness of those programs. Most likely, the first stop for the auditor will be the executive offices rather than the shop floor. High level executives who, in the past, delegated ISO certification planning to management and gave it no further attention will find that they need to be equally involved if they are to meet the criteria of the ISO.

Companies wishing to maintain their ISO 9001 certification have three years in which to prepare for the audit. The deadline for compliance is specified as December 15, 2003. Whether or not as many companies will qualify for certification, as in the past, remains to be seen.

Sources: Standards Shake-Up
David Drickhamer
Industry Week, March 5, 2001
http://www.industryweek.com/CurrentArticles/Asp/articles.asp?ArticleId=986