5 Standards of ISO 9000

The ISO 9000 series standards have been adopted by some 45 countries and its equivalent standard in the Indian context is the Bureau of Indian Standards' (BIS) 14000 series. In the United States, the series is known as the ANSI/ASQC Q 9000 series.

The ISO 9000 family addresses various aspects of quality management and contains some of ISOs best known standards. The standards provide guidance and tools for companies and organizations who want to ensure that their products and services consistently meet customers requirements, and that quality is consistently improved.
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What are the ISO standards? Developed by the ISO Technical Committee 176, published in 1987 and updated approximately every five years, the standards comprise five documents whose focus is Quality Assurance Systems. These five documents are: a) ISO 9000 Quality Management and Quality Assurance Standards - Guidelines for selection and use b) ISO 9001 Quality systems - Model for quality assurance in design, production, installation and servicing. This is the most comprehensive standard with 20 clauses. c) ISO 9002 Quality systems - model for quality assurance in production and installation. This standard has 18 clauses. d) ISO 9003 Quality systems - Model for quality assurance in final inspection and test. Requires conformity with 12 clauses. e) Quality management and quality system elements - Guidelines.

The ISO 9000 series standards provide the requirements to which organizations desirous of certification must conform. One very important aspect of the standards is that they were very generic in nature and ingenuity is required while interpreting the standards' applicability to the industry or firm in question.
An organization can be ISO 9000-certified if it successfully follows the ISO 9000 standards for its industry. In order to be certified, the organization must submit to an examination by an outside assessor. The assessor interviews staff members to ensure that they understand their part in complying with the ISO 9000 standard, and the assessor examines the organization's paperwork to ensure ISO 9000 compliance. The assessor then prepares a detailed report that describes the parts of the standard the organization missed. The organization then agrees to correct any problems within a specific time frame.

There are many standards in the ISO 9000 family, including: ISO 9001:2008 - sets out the requirements of a quality management system ISO 9000:2005 - covers the basic concepts and language ISO 9004:2009 - focuses on how to make a quality management system more efficient and effective ISO 19011:2011 - sets out guidance on internal and external audits of quality management systems.