The international standard ISO 9001 was prepared by Technical Committee ISO/ 176, Quality Management and Quality Assurance, Subcommittee SC2, Quality Systems. This third edition of ISO 9001 cancels and replaces the second edition (ISO 9001:1994) together with ISO 9002:1994 and ISO 9003:1994. It constitutes a technical revision of these documents.
Those organizations which have used ISO 9002:1994 and ISO 9003:1994 in the past may use this international Standard by excluding certain requirements in as defined in the new ISO 9001:2000 standard.

BENEFITS OF ISO 9000 CERTIFICATION

The ISO 9000 series of standards has been developed primarily to satisfy the customer's Quality Assurance Requirements. This aims to increase the confidence of the customer in the quality systems of their suppliers and helps to minimize the need for on site Vendor visits and audits.

Significant gains have been observed in the following areas:

• Customer satisfaction
• Reduction in customer complaints
• Reduction in fire fighting in the organization
• Role clarity in the organization
• Reduction in costs associated with repair,re-work ,scrap and other in inefficiencies
• Reduction in inspection efforts both in-house and at the customers and resulting in overall improvement of productivity and thereby reducing costs
• Streamlining of day to day / routine work resulting in better shop floor management and reduced response time
• Enhanced employee awareness and improvement in morale contributing directly to productivity enhancement.
• Generation of additional work area / space through streaming of layout.

IMPROVEMENT PROGRAMME FOR EXISTING ISO 9000 CERTIFIED COMPANY

• Customer Focus through implementing CUSTOMER SATISFACTION PROGRAMME
• Implementing steps towards BUSINESS EXCELLENCE
• Continuous Improvement at all levels of the organization
• Enhanced Human Resource Management
• Introduction to Total Quality Management models
• Documentation Techniques in meeting the requirements