ISO9001 – Quality

ISO 9000 was first published in 1987 by ISO “International Organisation for Standardization” It was based on the BS 5750 series of standards from “BSI Group” that were proposed to ISO in 1979.  However, its history can be traced back some twenty years before that, to the publication of government procurement standards, such as the “United States Department of Defense” MIL-Q-9858 standard in 1959, and the UK’s Def Stan 05-21 and 05-24. Large organizations which supplied government procurement agencies often had to comply with a variety of quality assurance requirements for each contract awarded which led the defence industry to adopt mutual recognition of NATO AQAP, MIL-Q and Def Stan standards. Eventually, ISO 9000 was adopted as a suitable option, instead of forcing contractors to adopt multiple – and often similar – requirements.

Reasons for use

The global adoption of ISO 9001 may be attributable to a number of factors. In the early days, the ISO 9001 (9002 and 9003) requirements were intended to be used by procuring organisations, as the basis of contractual arrangements with their suppliers. This helped reduce the need for “supplier development” by establishing basic requirements for a supplier to assure product quality. The ISO 9001 requirements could be tailored to meet specific contractual situations, depending on the complexity of product, business type (design responsibility, manufacture only, distribution, servicing etc.) and risk to the procurer. If a chosen supplier was weak on the controls of their measurement equipment (calibration), and hence QC/inspection results, that specific requirement would be invoked in the contract. The adoption of a single Quality Assurance requirement also lead to cost savings throughout the supply chain by reducing the administrative burden of maintaining multiple sets of quality manuals and procedures.

More information & Help

For further information please visit https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ISO_9000, or call us on 07970 375533 for a practical down to earth explanation on how it may benefit your business.