ISO 9000:2000

Benefits and limitations of using   ISO 9000:2000  for quality and productivity improvement in manufacturing industry

Quality control is a process for maintaining Standards, but it doesn’t create them. It allows selection, measurement and correction of work, and prevents undesirable changes in the quality of the product. Some failures are not allowed to appear, so they must be prevented from happening through proper planning and design.

“There are several benefits to be gained from installing a quality system that meets ISO 9000…The ISO 9000 model of a quality system is built upon the principle of preventing nonconformity at all stages in the supply chain. If the right tasks are carried out right first time, then there will be no waste, costs will be at a minimum and profit a maximum. Profit is always the result of what you do so by reducing error, remedial action and waste, you save time, resources and materials and maximizes profits” Hoyle, D (1994)

There are several benefits in ISO 9000, as are mentioned in Hoyle, D (1994):

• Free management of intervention in the operations of the business, and giving the staff the means to control their own work/operations and performance.
• Identify the key tasks and specify how they should be faced for obtaining right results.
• Provide ways of planning these tasks in advance and set procedures for completing them.
• Provide the appropriate resources and training to the people, so that they can perform their tasks right
• Implementation of statistical tools that permit control and measurement for identifying problems and preventing their recurrence.
• Provide objective evidence that can be used to demonstrate the quality of your products and services and to demonstrate that your operations are under control.
• Increase net profit and reduction in costs, allowing the company to control risks and loses associated with defective products

Some elemental benefits of acquiring a quality system in the company are also there. Have the permit to advertise that the company has been registered with ISO 9000 and boost the marketing profile. The capability of the company for signing contracts only let to ISO 9000 registered organizations. As Barnes, F. mentions in his paper ISO 9000 myth and reality, reduced costs and quality improvement were the reasons for less than a quarter of the companies applying for ISO 9000 certification. One in 10 was driven by international issues.

There are also some problems or unhappy attitudes towards ISO 9000. Some arguments are that it focuses too much in the company and not enough on its costumers and that the directives are too general and fail to address the problems and issues correspondent to particular industries Barnes, F (1998). Other arguments are that quality by inspection is not quality, because increases errors, and undermines the moral of the workers, and that the standard relies too much in people and assessors interpretations of quality. Seddon, J. (1997)

Dale, G.B. mentions some other difficulties, like restrictions in creativity, high cost in application of ISO 9000 (documentation and training for staff may consume time, resources and budget), lack of relevance to the real needs of the customer, and the necessary bureaucracy involved is perceived as a barrier to provide results and flexible servide.

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References

• Seddon, J (1997) Ten arguments against ISO 9000 in Managing service quality Vol7, Num4 MCB University Press.
• Dale, B.G. (1999)  Managing Quality. Third Edition. Blackwell Publishers Ltd, Oxford, UK
• Hoyle, D. (1994), BS5750 Quality systems handbook. Butterworth-Heineman Ltd. Oxford, UK.