Thanks, Laurie, for the clearer explanation.
>ISO 9000 is a series of protocols agreed on
>by the International Standards Organization
>(the same outfit involved in the Java wars).
>
>The ISO 9000 series involves quality control
>procedures in manufacturing. There are
>different levels of certification, involving
>things like making sure there are clear
>specifications for each job, that they are
>properly displayed, that the operator is
>properly trained. I think the operator has
>to sign off on things like reading instructions
>for his or her job or doing quality checks at
>specified intervals according to specified
>procedures.
>
>ISO 9000 certifies that the production and
>quality control process is up to snuff. My
>understanding is that it gained momentum during
>the buildup to European unification as a way
>of standardizing standards across countries.
>It seems to be increasing in importance in
>the US in the last few years.
>
>It matters, and seems to matter a lot, to
>companies who want to make assertions about
>production quality as vendors of parts or
>machinery, as exporters or importers, as
>partners in joint ventures. I did a number
>of interviews with employers in and around
>Boston a couple of years ago. Most of the
>manufacturers were ISO certified or trying
>to get certified. They seemed to think it
>was necessary to be competitive. If it really
>does affect a firm's competitive position - I
>would guess that lenders would be taking an
>interest in a firms's ISO status. It's one of
>those things that the more it grows, the more
>companies gotta have it and the more it grows.
>Now, whether they follow the rubrics once they
>get certified (and how much follow-up there
>is), I don't know.
>
>I also don't have a clear sense of what it means
>to the workforce - quality procedures can be
>just another part of the routine, they can be a
>hassle, they can be an excuse for discipline. My
>guess is that the affect ultimately depends on
>how a company deals with its employees generally.
My experience of doing field work at a gear manufacturer here in Taiwan is
this: ISO-9000 generally remains on paper. There are very few traces of it
on the shopfloor practices, except for the instructions posting on machines
which nobody reads anyway. The two companies I work on passed ISO-9002 to
9004 certification two years ago, and folks on the floor told me that it is
so trivial that they even stop telling jokes about the certification oral
exam one month after they passed it. Of course it doesn't mean that they
don't have a quality assurance procedure. They do, but it rely more on
inspections on delivery, as in convention, than on the ISO-specified procedures.
But I think you are right that it IS becoming crucial for many employers to
stay in business.
>
>One thing I did get an anecdotal inkling of
>(apologies to the anecdotally challenged) is that
>around Boston, a lot of small and medium sized
>manufacturers rely heavily on immigrant workers.
>One of the ones I talked to had training videos
>in 4 languages; most of them generally relied on
>bilingual supervisors or team leaders to train
>and supervise. Since ISO demands that each
>employee read job descriptions and quality control
>procedures, a couple of people mentioned that lack
>of literacy in English was becoming a problem.
Same thing at my field site where there are a lot of Thai workers who don't
speak or read Chinese.
>I was visiting in Louisville recently and GE at
>Appliance Park was bragging in the company newsletter
>about its ISO certification - while at the same time
>threatening to shut most of Appliance Park down -
>security is in the eye of the beholder.
>
>Sears, which does not manufacture any of the products
>in its Kenmore line itself, has a reputation for
>very high quality standards and close oversight of
>contractors. When I workd at GE in Louisville, the
>company would try to get Sears contracts and win some
>and lose some. Recently Sears revised its quality
>program and the GE Appliances gas range factory in
>Mexico was the first Sears supplier in the US and
>Mexico to get certified under this program. According
>to the September 97 GEA employee newspaper, the
>"Sears quality program is far more rigid and has a
>higher standard than ISO. [It] includes the first 20
>elements for the ISO audit, plus four additional
>components. It focuses on the total effectiveness
>of the quality system."
>
>The ISO 14000 series certifies (or will, I don't
>know if the program is up and running yet) that
>production methods meet certain environmental
>standards. It's part of the corporate arsenal
>against environmental regulation by gov't and
>for self-regulation since compliance is voluntary.
There's an environmental NGO here in Taiwan just established for authorized
ISO 14000 audits. I've heard from the director that many companies here is
eager to pass the audit because it is going to become a requirement for
export to the EU. Some ramifications from the social claus campaigns out
there, I guess.
>Good to know your treks to the outback are
>proving instructive.
>
> -------Laurie
>
>
=======================================
Hsin-Hsing "Dikoh" Chen
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
Ph. D. Candidate
Dept. of Science and Technology Studies
Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute
Troy, NY 12180
USA
Lecturer,
Dept. of Sociology
Tung-Hai University
Taichung 407
Taiwan
