ISO 9000:2000 The New Kid On The Block

A revised ISO standard will force companies and organizations to redesign their quality-management systems. Customers and the bottom line should come out ahead. Field Consultant Eagle Group USA Inc. Since it was originally devised in 1987, some 250,000 organizations around the world have registered to ISO 9000, a series of international standards that establish quality-management-system (QMS) requirements. It is, far and away, the most influential initiative that grew from the quality movement of the early '90's. Beginning the fourth quarter of this year, ISO 9000 will be radically revised and all the organizations that had been ISO registered must update their current quality systems if they want to retain certification. National standards bodies, registrars, consultants, and the rest of the apparatus that has grown up around the standard now face a new set of challenges and opportunities. The revised standard, called ISO 9000:2000, is actually three interrelated documents: ISO 9000, which lays out the fundamentals and vocabulary; ISO 9001, which states system requirements; and ISO 9004, which provides guidance for implementation and fleshes out ISO 9001. In view of the impact of this revision and the costs it will entail, organizations understandably have many questions and concerns. How does ISO 9000:2000 compare to the original version? The previous standard defined quality using 20 key elements a company must use to produce goods and services. Its purpose was