Ron, If you are following the requirements documented in ISO 9k you will be producing product that meets your own and your customers requirements. It specifically requires you to design to statutory and regulatory requirements. It specifically requires you to look for potential sources of non conformances (preventive action), under the corrective action clause specifically requires you to address customer complaints and it requires that management be reviewing these activities to see if they are appropriate for the business. If you are doing those things effectively you can't be making "bad product". No ISO does not define a level of goodness, it's a generic standard, that's up to you and the business you are in to define that. The requiremens of ISO will not allow you to "make cement life jackets" as the naysayers like to tell you.
Brian, Your question regarding whether ISO is relevent: If your business is with the RBOCs then TL9000 (the telecom specific version of ISO 9k) is quickly becoming mandatory to do business with them and this version of the standard requires you to push it down to your primary suppliers. If you business is with the auto manufacturers QS9000 (the automotive version) is pretty much mandatory. Having a registered quality system is still a requirement for product approvals in a large number of countries. RFPs from most larger companies will have a check box for ISO on their check lists. It may not be the final decider but certainly could be a tie breaker. I think you will find that any successful world class company will have embraced the basic principles of ISO 9000 a long time ago regardless of whether they feel it is necessary to have a certificate or not. It's tuff to measure if you improved after obtaining ISO because you would have needed to be making relevent measurements before and if you were doing it before then you were likely meeting the spirit of ISO anyway. Dave Clement Motorola Inc. Test Lab Services Homologation Engineering 20 Cabot Blvd. Mansfield, MA 02048 P:508-851-8259 F:508-851-8512 C:508-725-9689 mailto:dave.clem...@motorola.com http://www.motorola.com/globalcompliance/ -----Original Message----- From: ron_well...@agilent.com [mailto:ron_well...@agilent.com] Sent: Thursday, August 08, 2002 11:59 AM To: boconn...@t-yuden.com; emc-p...@majordomo.ieee.org Subject: RE: ISO 9k/2k relevance Hello Brian, ISO 9K accreditation only verifies that you have a quality system in place. It doesn't matter if you make good product or bad product because ISO 9K doesn't measure that, your Customers do. Regards, +=================================================================+ |Ronald R. Wellman |Voice : 408-345-8229 | |Agilent Technologies |FAX : 408-553-2412 | |5301 Stevens Creek Blvd., |E-Mail: ron_well...@agilent.com| |Mailstop 54L-BB |WWW : http://www.agilent.com | |Santa Clara, California 95052 USA| | +=================================================================+ -----Original Message----- From: Brian O'Connell [mailto:boconn...@t-yuden.com] Sent: Thursday, August 08, 2002 7:36 AM To: Product Safety Technical Committee Subject: ISO 9k/2k relevance Good People of the PSTC: I've had some conversations with our Component Engineers, Sales and QA people. I could not identify any customer that placed an order based on our ISO 9k and/or 2k certification. Nor could I identify any component specified and/or purchased that was based on whether a supplier has ISO certification. Is the ISO "paper mill" relevant? Is there empirical evidence that ISO certification results in "better stuff"? Is ISO certification a requirement for your purchasing policies? Has ISO certification been a determining or contributing factor for selection of your company's products? At this point, I am not being critical of the ISO "process"; I am attempting to understand its ROI and relevance to product quality. I speak only for myself; nothing said here represents my employer's policies. R/S, Brian ------------------------------------------- This message is from the IEEE EMC Society Product Safety Technical Committee emc-pstc discussion list. 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