🚀 go-pugleaf

On Fri, 17 Jun 1994, Daniel Ritsma wrote:
> ---------- Forwarded message ----------
> Date: 16 Jun 1994 18:52:00 GMT
> From: Con Gregg <congregg@iol.ie>
> To: bit-listserv-quality@uunet.UU.NET
> Subject: Re: ISO9000 new version
> [...]
> ...                          In practice, it has been found that all
> ISO9000 does is to force companies to say what they are going to do and
> then go ahead and do what they have said. If the implications of what
> they have said mean mediocre quality, then ISO9000 guarantees that that
> is exactly what they will produce.

Four elements of the standard prevent "mediocre quality".

The authors define the purpose of ISO 9001 as "preventing nonconformity at
all stages ..." (1.1, 1987), which is amended to read "achieving customer
satisfaction by preventing nonconformity at all stages ..." (1.1, 1993 DIS)

Internal audits (4.17) and management review (4.1.3) require regular
review of the policies, procedures, standards, and practices to ensure
continuing effectiveness.

Corrective action (4.14) requires not only that product nonconformities be
prevented from reoccurring (para. a), you also have to analyze all aspects
of your processes, records, etc. to "detect and eliminate POTENTIAL causes
of nonconforming product" (para. b).

Nothing in the standard prevents MEDIOCRE PRODUCT.Product without a
market.Uncompetitive product.  Obsolete product.  I suspect that no
standard or method ever will - this is the element of vision and genius
that differentiates companies and people.

Properly applied - as you note in your next paragraph - the standard
provides a solid foundation for implementing that vision.

>
> A good many companies have actually benefitted from the process, either
> by using ISO9000 alongside, or as a part of their TQM programmes, or
> because the process of specifying and tracking their activities brought
> opportunities to systematise or improve to their attention.

Unless you sell a regulated product or have specific customer requirements and
can assign specific value to ISO registration, process improvement and the
supporting culture is the only lasting benefit to be achieved from ISO
9001.Issues of competitive differentiation and market access will
disappear as more and more companies achieve ISO registration.

>
> Equally, however, many companies have followed the rulebook, and
> have ended up with organisations which are unchanged except for
> increased overhead, an increased level of rigidity and a lasting
> suspicion of anything that calls itself quality. Many would gladly give
> up on ISO9000 tomorrow if they did not need the label for marketing purposes.
>
> I have come across reports of similar problems in other EU countries.

While your observation is substantiated by my experience also, I'm not
sure what "rulebook" you mean.Typically, these are companies that, for
whatever reason, have implemented ISO 9001-compliant practices in a
restrictive and counterproductive way.These companies frequently know they
have a problem, but they have also convinced themselves that there is some
"ISO way" of doing something, which they must adhere to even though it may
not make sense and is not good for their businesses.

In all the cases I have encountered - and in all the cases I can conceive
of - these misinterpretations do not stand up against a thorough reading of
the standard.Of the companies you refer to that have gone down a wrong
path with ISO, the ones that will survive will throw out or evolve their
rigid, bureacratic systems and deploy increasingly effective, efficient,
and dynamic systems that are good for their businesses and that satisfy ISO.

There was a recent posting that postulated that "the amount of quality
system documentation is inversely proportional to the maturity of the
system", which neatly emphasizes that ISO and business systems'
implementation is an evolutionary process.Whether you make some mistakes
or get it "right" the first time, all of the systems will inevitably evolve
as understanding improves and requirements change.

The most successful implementations treat ISO registration as a by-product
and verification of the company's efforts to put - and keep - its own house in
order.Which is why we warn our clients that it is harder to maintain ISO
registration than it is to obtain it.


--------------------------------------------------------------------
Bob Bamford <bamf@sunlight.com>                     SSQC
Software Systems Quality Consulting         2269 Sunny Vista Drive
Phone/Fax (408) 866-4792                       San Jose, CA  95128