The expanding international cooperation between developed countries like the United States, Germany, Great Britain, France, Canada and Japan has necessitated the standardization of market regulations and principles, in order to ensure the highest quality of products and services.

Previously, individual countries followed their own quality standards, not always acceptable in other countries.

In the second half of the 1980s, the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) decided to standardize quality assurance, and consequently worked out the ISO 9000 standard series. These standards, worked out by the ISO/TC 176 Technical Committee, were adopted by over 150 countries in the world. The creators of the ISO 9000 developed the standards based on the experiences of many companies and thousands of experts.

Roots in NATO

National standardization organizations associated with the ISO adapt international standards to the needs of their respective countries. The domestic standards established are essentially translations of relevant international standards. In Poland, the Polish Standardization Committee (PKN) deals with these matters.

The ISO 9000 series has a long history, its origins dating back to 1955 when a NATO committee of experts looked for ways of assuring product quality in the arms industry. The work's result was the dossier known as The Allied Quality Assurance Publications (AQAP). The documents featured a new approach to quality in the arms industry. In many NATO countries, military deliveries had long been dependent exclusively on the acceptance of the inspection systems of the supplier.

The engagement of a high-ranking managerial staff in quality assurance constitutes one of the basic principles of the ISO 9000. Product quality was at that time the jurisdiction of medium- and low-level personnel, whose activity had a "police inspection" character.
The AQAP documents included clauses stipulating that the responsibility for product quality rests with the management. The documents also stipulated managerial supervision over all work having an influence on product quality, and that the supplier had full responsibility for the quality systems. The documents also described the system inspection process.

On the basis of the AQAP documents, NATO in 1965 standardized its quality control practices. All organizations in NATO that dealt with military supplies appointed executive bodies to assure product quality. In 1971, the first companies were evaluated and registered as meeting defense standards, and a permanent register of these companies was established. While the military sector quickly adopted the ideas related to quality assurance, sectors representing the civilian economy did not hurry to do so.

Pursuance of unification

The British Standards Institution (BSI) developed two standards in 1974: BS 4891 and BS 5179, intended for companies introducing quality assurance systems. Standards in many other countries were also being developed, based on the requirements of their respective nuclear industries. The leading countries working on the quality assurance systems at that time were Belgium, Canada, France, Germany, Great Britain, Switzerland, and the United States. The main goal of the system's designers was always standardization, leading to simpler procedures for evaluating potential suppliers, and a reduction in the number of inspections. The differences among individual standard systems formed barriers in international trade. They were brought about by procedural regulations, but also certain contract conditions in which the customers and the suppliers are obliged to conform to their respective domestic standardization systems.

Standards

The ISO 9000 standards are applied in various branches and sectors
of industry, including government-regulated sectors. They concern the quality management systems used by organizations in designing, manufacturing, and supply and servicing processes. The standards are applied to hardware, software, processed materials and services. The standards are analyzed and verified on a constant basis to optimally adjust them to the changing economic and social conditions in all free-market countries.

Corrections

According to the rules of the ISO, the standards are subject to periodical reviews, ensuring that the standards are up-to-date and meeting the needs of their international users. The standards of the ISO 9000 series were first published in 1987, and were amended in 1994, which mainly involved the elimination of errors and internal inconsistencies. The amendment in 2000 was a fundamental one, taking into account developments in quality, the changing market needs, and also the experiences gained while following the quality management and quality assurance standards published in 1987 and 1994.

Barbara Badylak

Orgmasz- Institute of Organization and Management in Industry