ISO-9000: A Brief  Introduction

ISO-9000 is a Quality Management model comprised of 20 sets of quality system requirements known as elements. The model was initially designed for the manufacturing sector and affects virtually every aspect of a business.

ISO 9000 is actually divided into five standards:
ISO 9000-1 - Guidelines for Selection and Use
ISO 9001 - Model for Quality Assurance in Design/Development, Production, Installation, and Servicing
ISO 9002 - Model for Quality Assurance in Production, Servicing, and Installation
ISO 9003 - Model for Quality Assurance in Final Inspection and Test
ISO 9004-2 - Quality Management and Quality System Elements - Guidelines

Your company would be registered to 9001, 9002 or 9003 depending on your type of business. The others are, as they state, guidelines.

What you must remember is that ISO-9000 is a model for a management system of quality assurance. In other words, the emphasis is on your company's management, first and always. These are not standards about the quality assurance department.

It's premise is simple: SAY what you do, DO what you say.

The results are powerful: it changes any organization from a reactive, "respond to problems as they arise" system to a pro-active, preventative system.

Members of the service industry have recently discovered the benefits of ISO registration which the manufacturing world has enjoyed for over ten years. They have since adopted the standard and the list of over 450,000 registered "companies" now includes schools, hospitals, hotels, resorts, airlines, and even casinos.

Due to copyright laws, we cannot bring you the full standard. But we have included a simplified version of the elements for you.  If you would like a full copy of the standard, please contact the American Society for Quality at 1-800-248-1946.