ISO 9001 The Process Model
ISO 9000 has achieved
global recognition, particularly amongst organisations who have
demonstrated their capability to meet stringent customer
expectations through quality assurance. Following a survey the
ISO Technical Committee (TC 176) issued a major update of the
standard. The good news is that the 2000 version of the
standard promises benefits that will apply equally to small
firms as to large organisations. These include the following :
- Written in clear
language; simple to use and less bureaucratic
- Applicable to all
sizes of organisation and all product sectors - including
service
- More emphasis on 'the
processes' of a business
- Ability to reduce the
scope, according to the type of organisation
- Compatible with
related standards, such as ISO 14001 (Environmental)
- Provides a pathway to
continual improvement
ISO 9002:1, ISO 9003 have
been incorporated into a single requirements standard; ISO
9001:2000. The standard was further amended in 2008
although the changes were fairly minor.
Any
activity or operation which receives inputs and converts them to
outputs is a process, which covers almost all product and/or
service activities and operations. For organisations to function
they have to define and manage numerous inter-linked processes.
The process model for ISO
9001 shows its four main elements following the
Plan-Do-Check-Act cycle. It is simply a way of representing an
organisation's quality management system in relation to
customer's requirements and the achievement of customer
satisfaction.
