How does the ISO 9000 family of standards work?

The requirements for a quality system have been standardized - but most of us like to think our business is unique. So how does ISO 9000 allow for the diversity of say, on the one hand, a "Mr. and Mrs." enterprise, and on the other, to a multinational manufacturing company with service components, or a public utility, or a government administration?

The answer is that ISO 9000 lays down what requirements your quality system must meet, but does not dictate how they should be met in your organization - which leaves great scope and flexibility for implementation in different business sectors and business cultures...as well as different national cultures.

So, the ISO 9000 family includes the standard, ISO 9001:2000 that gives organizations requirements on what constitutes an effective quality management system. ISO 9004:2000 is the standard giving guidelines on the elements of quality management and a quality system.

Finally, the family includes a standard on terminology (ISO 9000:2000), and other standards, which can be described as "supporting tools", that give guidance on specific aspects, such as auditing quality systems (ISO 19011, the publication of which is anticipated in 2002).

For a complete listing of ISO/TC 176 documents, please see the document development page.

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The ISO website has a large section on ISO 9000, including statistics, transition information and market feedback.

SC2 is responsible for the development of the 9001 and 9004 standards. This website provides additional background and support on these standards.