Quality

This paragraph is for those who believe Quality is a new concept which has emerged in the market recently. But the concept of Quality has been with us since the beginning of time. As early as the creation of the world described in the Bible in Genesis, God pronounced his creation "good"-- e.g., acceptable Quality. Artisans' and craftsmen's skills and the Quality of their work are described throughout history. Typically the Quality intrinsic to their products was described by some attribute of the products such as strength, beauty or finish. However, it was not until the advent of the mass production of products that the reproducibility of the size or shape of a product became a Quality issue.

Quality, particularly the dimensions of component parts, became a very serious issue because no longer were the parts hand-built and individually fitted until the product worked. Now, the mass-produced part had to function properly in every product built. Quality was obtained by inspecting each part and passing only those that met specifications. This was true until 1931 when Walter Shewhart, a statistician at the Hawthorne plant at Western Electric, published his book Economic Control of Quality of Manufactured Product (Van Nostrand, 1931). This book is the foundation of modern statistical process control (SPC) and provides the basis for the philosophy of total Quality management or continuous process improvement for improving processes.

Now we all understand Quality control assurance ISO 9000 is the generic term for a series of standards sponsored by the International Organization for Standardization which specify the Quality systems to be established by manufacturing and service firms. It is the descendant of, and almost directly parallel to, British standard BS-5750, and is identical in most respects to European standard EN-29000. In the United States it is called the American standard Q90, sponsored by the American Society for Quality Control.

Quality control assurance ISO is an international consortium or network of national standards institutes from 140 countries working in partnership with international organizations, governments, and industry, business and consumer representatives. In many instances, it provides a bridge between public and private sectors. The Quality standards they publish are used to ensure consistency in the level of Quality in business systems ranging from automotive manufacturing to photography.

The United States governing body for Quality control assurance ISO is ANSI - the American National Standards Institute. The governing body for certification against Quality control assurance ISO standards is RAB - the Registrar Accreditation Board RAB insures that the many registrars in this country are measuring companies correctly and consistently against the Quality control assurance ISO standards for which they are applying.

Contrary to popular belief, Quality control assurance ISO 9000 is not concerned with how to make well-engineered products or supply a high-class service. Rather, it is about having a framework, which enables you to meet your Customer's requirements and continually improve your systems for delivering the product or service that you provide. In many cases organizations without Quality control assurance ISO 9000 may control a core part of the process, or several processes.