This volume incorporates more than a decade of experience with ISO 9001, a standard created by committees of volunteers working under the aegis of the International Organization for Standardization (ISO). This volume is intended for individuals who are responsible for using ISO 9001 to implement or revitalize systematic process improvement in engineering organizations.

Since 1989, the authors of this volume have assisted organizations in implementing ISO 9001 based processes. Their clients range from start-up organizations with fewer than ten people to multinational corporations with thousands of employees. The authors have worked with organizations in a wide variety of industries, from sheet metal shops and processed materials manufacturers to developers of semiconductor manufacturing equipment and stand-alone, commercial software products.

Although their focus has been on software, hardware, and systems engineering practices, they have worked extensively in all of the functions that deliver or support the delivery of value to customers from sales, marketing, order processing, and legal, to engineering and manufacturing, to logistics and warehouse operations, to technical support, and to MIS, credit, finance and administration, and human resources.

This volume is based on the material in the authors' course, A Detailed Introduction to ISO 9001. This course, originally developed in 1990, based on the 1987 version of ISO 9001, reflects the authors' commitment to ensuring that client organizations develop the understanding necessary to maintain and improve their own processes. Based on their extensive experience with the no-nonsense Silicon Valley culture, without such systematic knowledge transfer, the authors' experience has been that...