D.

Marwa Abd Elghany

Lecture 7

ISO 9000
The word ISO comes from the Greek word “ISOS” meaning
"equal", referring to the International Organization for Standardization,
which was founded in 1946 and its management is located in Switzerland.
Its membership is composed of National organizations concerned with the
specifications in more than 90 countries.

ISO 9000 is a series of written specifications issued by the World

Organization for Standardization in 1987. This series identifies and
describes the key elements required for the quality management system to
be designed and adopted by the management of the organization. The
organization works to develop and review methods and administrative
procedures and ensure commitment of employees with the established
work procedures.

The ISO 9000 certification does not mean that its products are of the
required quality but guarantee the quality of the system that obtains the
certificate. The ISO 9000 certification means that the organization's quality
system is able to meet the requirements of customers in the products it
provides, and does not mean that it meets these requirements.

Standards of ISO 9000:

The structure of the ISO Standards includes several standards

starting with the standards no. 8402:

A Standard that defines definitions and terms used across the ISO
standards series, creating a common understanding through global
communications and transactions.

The ISO 8402 standard defines quality as “the totality of

characteristics of the product/service that reflect its ability to satisfy stated
and implied needs.”

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ISO 9001:Involves standards for design, development, production, installation and
.customer service
.ISO 9002:Involves standards for both production and installation processes
.ISO 9003:Are guidelines for final testing and inspection
ISO 9004:Services standards.
Fields of applying ISO 9000:

One of the most important strengths of the ISO standards series is

that any organization - whatever its activity - can seek to benefit from it.
While many quality systems tend to focus on industrial processes, ISO
standards apply not only to industrial organizations, but also to those that
provide services. Therefore, they are applied to industrial and service
organizations regardless of the size or location of the organization.

An organization may also apply for ISO certificate to one of its

sectors, factories or production lines, rather than on the scope of its activity
as a whole, or for one of the functions of the organization, such as financial
management, sales or administrative affairs.

How long does an organization take to get ISO certificate?

The duration of getting ISO 9000 certificate varies from one

organization to another, depending on the state of the quality system when
applying for registration. The duration of getting ISO certificate can be
divided as follows:

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 1- The implementation of ISO 9000 quality system.
2- Select the accredited organization which will be registered with
it, that will evaluate the quality system in the organization as the
basis for giving ISO 9000 certificate.
3- The period between submitting application to the accredited
organization and starting the review and evaluation of the quality
system.
4- Period between review and evaluation, and issuance of the
certificate.

The duration of getting the certificate depends on the degree of

compatibility of the organization's system with the standard. The lower the
degree of compatibility, the longer it takes to implement the development
steps. The accredited organization which will assess prefer that the quality
system be operated for at least six months before submitting the
application to it.

Is it necessary to get the certificate?

The answer to this question depends on the purpose of obtaining the

ISO 9000 certificate. If the purpose is to have permission to enter products
to European union countries or to gain competitive advantage in the global
market, obtaining the certificate becomes essential, but if the organization
works locally and has a good reputation, obtaining the certificate may not
represent any addition to the organization, all the advantages of ISO 9000
can be obtained except for external recognition. If the organization has a
good reputation in the market, external recognition may not add, and if the
organization does not have that good reputation, obtaining an ISO 9000
certificate may not work.

The ISO 9000 certification means that the organization's quality

system is able to meet customer requirements in the products it provides,
and does not mean that it already meets these requirements.

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The cost of obtaining the certificate:
The cost of obtaining ISO 9000 certificate can be divided into two
types of cost:
Internal cost:
This depends on the size of the organization, the nature of its
activity, and the degree of conformance of its quality systems to the
requirements of ISO 9000, including, for example:
1. Cost of improving quality systems to meet the requirements of
ISO 9000.
2. The cost of training the employees, who will give all or some of
their time to the activities of obtaining the certificate.
External cost:
The external cost depends on the efficiency of the qualified advisory
organization, the donor (the accredited organization), the size of the
organization, and depends on the strategy used to obtain the certificate,
including:
1. Cost of the qualified advisory organization.
2. Cost of matching with the donor.
3. The cost paid to the donor for the semi-annual periodic visits.
4. The cost of the ISO 9000 certificate after obtaining it, which is:
the cost of keeping the quality level required in the quality
systems, and the cost of improving them.

Advantages of ISO 9000:

1. Integrated performance all over the organization levels:

The design and implementation of the quality system leads to the
use of integrated work methods and effective quality control at the
organization level. This is especially important at the large or
multi-site organizations whose sites are suppliers to each other.

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2. Increase customer confidence and satisfaction:
Customer confidence increases when the organization getting
ISO 9000 certificate as customers need to confirm this quality
from an objective third party.
3. Better performance in decision-making process:
ISO provides the management with the information needed to
make the right decisions.
4. Less dependence on workers:
As a result of the so-called turnover rate, the ISO standard
emphasizes that the methods required for quality will be
practiced even if the employees differ.
5. Continuous improvement:
ISO 9000 sets a trend to prevent errors. This undoubtedly
contributes to the continuous improvement of quality.
6. Increase Value Added:
The quality system prevents errors and tracks them if occurred,
increases the added value generated by the operations
management.
7. Broader and stronger market presence:
Marketing in EU markets requires conformance with the ISO
standard. Markets that tend not to deal with organizations whose
management systems do not comply with ISO 9000 are expected
to increase.
8. Competitive advantage:
ISO certified organizations display a small structure of the
certificate next to the organization's logo, in addition to the
organization's name appearing in the list of organizations that have
the certificate. Quality is a competitive weapon and conformance
with ISO provides an objective certificate for the existence of an
active and effective quality system.
9. Increasing sales which subsequently increase profits.
10. Raise the morale of the workers.

11. Improving the market share of the organization:

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 Focusing on getting ISO 9000 certificate in the organization's
ads will improve the market share of the organization.
12. Improving the reputation of the organization:
The organization's retention of the certificate for 3 years confirms
to the customer the extent of its interest in quality and thus the
creation of a good image of the organization in the business
environment.

Who comes first: Total Quality management or ISO 9000?

1. The organization can obtain ISO certification without being
committed to the philosophy of total quality.
2. The organization can adopt the philosophy of total quality without
obtaining the ISO certificate.
3. The Organization may obtain the ISO certificate as a beginning to
continue its path towards applying the philosophy of TQM.
4. The Organization can adopt TQM as a beginning to continue its path
towards obtaining the ISO certificate and this is the best solution.

Difference between TQM and ISO:

TQM vs. ISO
TQM ISO 9000
Quality management from a holistic Quality system based on documented
perspective. standards.
works on the basis of continuous - Works on the functions and the actions
improvement that the organization needs to be able to
have the minimum standard of quality
systems in place. - continuous updating
according to the improvements made by
the TQM (if any)
It cares about the human social Focusing on operating methods and
dimension and combines it with the procedures i.e. mainly on the technical
technical system. dimension.
Including all sectors, departments, Can be applied to certain sectors,
sections and branches. departments or sections and not
necessarily at all the organizational
levels.
All sectors, departments, sections The quality control department is

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and branches are responsible for its responsible for its implementation.
implementation.
Need more than 3 years to be Getting a certificate requires 18 months
applied. to two years.

So TQM and ISO 9000 are complementary and not alternative.

TQM can be adopted without ISO, or TQM can be adopted as a

beginning to continue its path towards obtaining the ISO certificate,
which is better.