Quality management standards

The ISO 9001:2000 standard

ISO 9001:2000 is the key internationally agreed standard for quality management systems. More than 60,000 UK businesses of all sizes already have ISO 9001 certification.

The ISO 9001 standard has four elements:

• management responsibility - ensuring top level management shows commitment to the quality system and develops it according to customers' needs and the business' objectives
• resource management - ensuring the people, infrastructure and work environment needed to implement and improve quality systems are in place
• product realisation - delivering what customers want, looking at areas such as sales processes, design and development, purchasing, production or service activities
• measurement, analysis and improvement - checking whether you've satisfied customers by carrying out other measurements of your system's effectiveness

The advantages of ISO 9001:2000 for your business can include:

• greater efficiency and less waste
• consistent control of major business processes
• regulation of successful working practices
• risk management
• increased customer satisfaction
• greater consistency in the quality of products and services through better control of processes
• differentiation of your business from its competitors
• increased profits
• exploitation of new markets, both in the UK and overseas

However, you should also be aware of some of the disadvantages to implementing the standard. These can include:

• the cost of getting and keeping the certification
• the time involved
• overcoming opposition to implementing change from within the business

The standard is adaptable to your business' needs and resources, though you may need the help of a consultant.

ISO 9001:2000 can also be used in conjunction with ISO 9004:2000 to improve your organisational efficiency

The ISO 9004:2000 standard

ISO 9004:2000 goes beyond ISO 9001:2000 and provides guidance on how you can continually improve your business' quality management system. This can benefit not only your customers but also:

• employees
• owners
• suppliers
• society in general

By measuring these groups' satisfaction with your business, you'll be able to assess whether you're continuing to improve.

Purchase guidelines about ISO 9004:2000 at the British Standards Institution (BSI) website - Opens in a new window.

The ISO 9000 series, which includes 9001 and 9004, is based around eight quality management principles that your senior managers should use as a framework for improvements to the business:

• Customer focus - they must understand and fulfil customer needs.
• Leadership - they should demonstrate strong leadership skills to increase employee motivation.
• Involvement of people - all levels of staff should be aware of their responsibilities within the business and the importance of providing what the customer requires.
• Process approach - identifying your essential business activities and considering each one as part of a process.
• System approach to management - managing your processes together as a system, leading to greater efficiency and focus. You could think of each process as a cog in a machine, helping it to run smoothly.
• Continual improvement - this should be a permanent business objective.
• Factual approach to decision-making - senior staff should base decisions on thorough analysis of data and information.
• Mutually beneficial supplier relationships - managers should recognise that your business and its suppliers depend on each other.