ISO 9001
ISO 9001 is a global Quality Management System standard implemented by thousands
of organizations worldwide. It serves as the basis for other QMS standards like
ISO 13485, TS-16949, and AS-9100 and is one of many that fall under the control of
the International Organization for Standardization (ISO). Organizations that want
to register to a standard are required to register through a third party (registrar)
which includes a registration (or certification) audit and ongoing surveillance audits
in order to attain and retain their registration to the ISO 9001 standard.
ISO 9001 finds its roots in the 1963 US military standard MIL-Q-9858 and the 1979
British Standard 5750. The ISO 9000 family of standards was first released in 1987
and was comprised of three standards: 9001, 9002, and 9003. The standards were applicable
based on the organizations activities. In 1994 another revision was released, the
most significant change was emphasis on preventive action. In 2000 the standard
was revised again and was significantly different; the three standards (9001,9002,
and 9003) were combined into ISO 9001, it was reorganized into 5 sections instead
of the 20 elements in the 1994 version, it emphasized a process approach, and customer
focus. The most recent version of ISO 9001 was released in 2008 and did not dramatically
change but it did clarify aspects of the requirements and made some slightly more
stringent.
ISO 9001 is probably the most common QMS standard because it is general in nature
and can apply to a wide variety of different organizations. Below you will find
several links with very useful information about the standard, its requirements,
and how to implement an ISO 9001 compliant QMS.
