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Background
ISO 9000 has achieved global recognition, particularly amongst
organisations who have demonstrated their capability to meet
stringent customer expectations through quality assurance.
A major survey of these users was commissioned in 1997 by
an ISO Technical Committee (TC 176) which revealed criticism
of the 20 element model in terms of it being manufacturing biased,
too cumbersome and having too many guidelines. TC 176 published
a draft (CD1) of the new standard with a number of revisions
for public comment, and also issued the second Committee Draft
(CD2). A final draft was released in the Autumn of 2000 and the
standard itself was issued on 15 December 2000.
How the Standard is being changed ?
The good news is that the new standard promises benefits that
will apply equally to small firms as well as large organisations;
for manufacturing and service companies. These include the following
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- 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ISO 9002:1994 and ISO 9003:1994 have now been withdrawn and
incorporated into a single requirements standard, ISO 9000:2000.
Detailed Changes
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