Trends and Direction

ISO 9001 remains the largest third-party management system certification program worldwide. Much of recent growth in ISO 9001 is in services businesses, which has led to adaptations in the application of the standard. ISO 9001 originally was developed for manufacturing companies, and in particular companies producing intermediate products. The increase in service businesses and end-product manufacturers working with ISO 9001 has in many cases meant that the customer is an end consumer rather than an intermediate business.

The success of the ISO 90001 standard also is driving the development of several related industry-specific standards. The most important of these include the automotive, aerospace, chemical and oil and gas industries. Development of these industry-specific quality standards in turn is feeding back new insights to ISO 9001, resulting in the dynamic evolution of quality management standards.

In the marketplace, ISO 9001 certification has reached a tipping point in many markets, where it has become a disadvantage “not to” have it. This is leading to a significant number of companies adopting the standard, who may have avoided it earlier.

To lead and operate an organization successfully, it is necessary to manage it in a systematic and viable manner. The guidance to management offered in this International Standard is based on eight quality management principles.

Use of the 8 Quality Management Principles:

  • Customer Focus
  • Leadership
  • Involvement of the People
  • Process Approach
  • System Approach to Management
  • Continual Improvement
  • Factual Approach to Decision Making
  • Mutually Beneficial Supplier Relationships

Successful use of the eight management principles by an organization will result in benefits to interested parties, such as improved monetary returns, the creation of value and increased stability.

Benefit, cost and risk management considerations are important for the organization, its customers and other interested parties:

  • Customer loyalty
  • Repeat business and referral
  • Operational results such as revenue and market share
  • Flexible and fast responses to market opportunities
  • Costs and cycle times through effective and efficient use of resources
  • Alignment of processes which will best achieve desired results
  • Competitive advantage through improved organizational capabilities
  • Understanding and motivation of people towards the organization’s goals and objectives, as well as participation in continual improvement
  • Confidence of interested parties in the objectiveness and efficiency of the organization, as demonstrated by the financial and social benefits from the organization’s performance, product life cycle, and reputation
  • Ability to create value for both the organization and its suppliers by optimization of costs and resources as well as flexibility and speed of joint responses to changing markets