Keep the Spirit Alive

摘要

People often think: "A new version, a new ISO 9001." But is it, really?A few years ago, the plant manager at my organization remarked with fear in her eyes, "The 2015 version of ISO 9001 is coming." The uncertainty of transitioning to a new model, a new approach, new terms and the adding and subtracting of concepts always brings anxiety. Here are some of the ways ISO 9001 has changed over the years:1.1 ISO 9001:1987-which included ISO 9001 for design, ISO 9002 for production and ISO 9003 for final inspection and testing-came with tons of documentation, terms that, initially, nobody really understood and exhausting audits performed by strict auditors with varying criteria. 2.1 ISO 9001:1994 emphasized preventive actions that still relied heavily on documented procedures and a prescriptive version of each dimension of the quality management system (QMS). Many also found issue with its bureaucratic nature.3.1 ISO 9001:2000 rolled ISO 9002 and ISO 9003 into ISO 9001. It introduced process thinking and emphasized the importance of using records to prove compliance, revision control and process performance metrics. It also required upper management to bring the QMS into the business system and take responsibility, not delegate to lower ranks.