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Quality Systems Improve Performance
And Provide Competitive Advantage
Organizations seeking to realize their mission and vision understand the importance of process management, pursuit of measurable objectives, and continual improvement. An increasing number have adopted ISO 9001:2000 as the cornerstone of their approach to quality management, and many build upon this foundation by using ISO 9004:2000 and state or national quality award criteria as the basis for further improvement.
Registration to ISO 9001 is increasingly a business requirement, especially in the automotive, aerospace, chemical, electronic, and transportation industries. And since the publication in December 2000 of the third edition of ISO 9001, organizations in diverse sectors, including health care, education, and other service areas, have realized the value of a formal quality management system.
Industry trade associations have responded to the special needs of their members by developing sector specific quality management standards. The automotive sector, which in the 1990s pioneered QS 9000, is in the process of migrating companies to ISO/TS 16949:2002, a standard that incorporates the requirements of ISO 9001:2000.
In the telecommunications sector, a drive for improved quality in the supply chain prompted the regional Bell operating companies to consolidate a number of competing standards in TL 9000, now in its third version.
More recently, the health care industry and educational establishments have forged new approaches to quality management under ISO's new International Workshop Agreement process. In each case, an international workshop drew representatives from their respective sectors to approve, on a fast-track basis, the initial version of a new sector-specific quality management document.
Management Systems and Compliance Assurance
In addition to their importance for organizational development and performance improvement, quality management systems play an increasingly important role in assuring compliance with laws and regulations. Since the enactment of the Sarbanes-Oxley legislation, corporate officers must certify that certain information they report to the government and to the public meets defined criteria for accuracy and completeness.
To comply with this new law, organizations must have in place business management systems that appropriately assign responsibilities; ensure that required information is gathered, recorded, and submitted; and that controls are in place to permit top executives to certify its accuracy.
ISO 9001:2000 provides the basic management system tools to ensure compliance with Sarbanes-Oxley. By defining processes, measuring performance, managing documents and records, and auditing processes, organizations can provide the assurance that top management needs to meet increasingly stringent corporate accountability requirements.
Whatever your industry sector, Futurepast consultants can provide the necessary consulting, training and auditing to support your quality management initiatives.