Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
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What is ISO 9000?
The latest edition of ISO 9001:2008 has been published by ISO on 15 Nov 2008 and an introductory and support guidance package issued by ISO TC 176/SC2 is freely available for download - PDF, 160KB.
The ISO 9000 family of standards represents an international
consensus on good management practices with the aim of ensuring
that the organization can time and time again deliver the product or
services that: - Meet the customer's quality requirements, and -
applicable regulatory requirements, while aiming to - enhance
customer satisfaction, and - achieve continual improvement of its
performance in pursuit of these objectives. These good practices have
been distilled into a set of standardized requirements for a quality
management system, regardless of what your organization does, its
size, or whether it's in the private, or public sector.
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Why should my organization implement ISO 9000?
The existence of an organization without customers, or with
dissatisfied customers, is in peril! To keep customers - and to keep
them satisfied - your product (which may, in fact, be a service) needs to
meet their requirements. ISO 9000 provides a tried and tested
framework for taking a systematic approach to managing your
business processes (your organization's activities) so that they
consistently turn out product conforming to the customer's
expectations. And that means consistently happy customers!
How does the ISO 9000 model work? The requirements for a quality
system have been standardized - but most of us like to think our
business is unique. So how does ISO 9000 allow for the diversity of
say, on the one hand, a "Mr. and Mrs." enterprise, and on the other, to a
multinational manufacturing company with service components, or a
public utility, or a government administration? The answer is that
ISO 9000 lays down what requirements your quality system must meet,
but does not dictate how they should be met in your organization -
which leaves great scope and flexibility for implementation in different
business sectors and business cultures...as well as different national
cultures.
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How does the ISO 9000 model work?
The requirements for a quality system have been standardized - but
most of us like to think our business is unique. So how does ISO 9000
allow for the diversity of say, on the one hand, a "Mr. and Mrs."
enterprise, and on the other, to a multinational manufacturing company
with service components, or a public utility, or a government
administration? The answer is that ISO 9000 lays down what
requirements your quality system must meet, but does not dictate how
they should be met in your organization - which leaves great scope and
flexibility for implementation in different business sectors and
business cultures...as well as different national cultures.
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What if my organization implements ISO 9000?
The organization should itself audit its ISO 9000-based quality system
to verify that it is managing its processes effectively - or, to put it another
way, to check that it is fully in control of its activities. In addition, the
organization may invite its clients to audit the quality system in order to
give them confidence that the organization is capable of delivering
products or services that will meet their requirements.
Lastly, the organization may engage the services of an independent
quality system certification body to obtain an ISO 9000 certificate of
conformity. This last option has proved extremely popular in the market-place because of the perceived credibility of an independent
assessment. The organization may thus avoid multiple audits by its
clients, or reduce the frequency or duration of client audits. The
certificate can also serve as a business reference between the
organization and potential clients, especially when supplier and client
are new to each other, or far removed geographically, as in an export
context.
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Quality management principles
The eight quality management principles - PDF,48KB on which the
ISO 9000:2008 series is based. Benefits of applying them. Typical
actions to implement them.
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The comprehensive FAQs on ISO 9001:2008 prepared by ISO/TC176/SC2/ to support the publication of ISO 9001:2008 and the revision of ISO 9004 is downloadable - FAQs on ISO 9001:2008 - PDF, 90KB.
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For more information, please contact Tadesse Solomon, I-QUAS
Contact at: iquas@ethionet.et or (251-11)
662 3846 or (251-91) 161 3073, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.
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