ISO 9000:2000-new ISO, new responsibilities for top management

The world of quality is changing and the responsibility for implementing these changes lies firmly in the hands of top management. Organisations can no longer afford to leave this hot potato with the quality manager; everyone must be aware and involved. ISO 9000 is the quality system used by many organisations throughout the world. The current version, ISO 9000:1994, is being revised and the final version of the latest revision is expected to be published as ISO 9000:2000 in the last quarter of 2000. Firms that are registered with ISO 9001, 9002 or 9003 in the 1994 versions will have three years in which to bring their existing systems into line with the new requirements. The basis of the new ISO 9000:2000 series is rather different from before in the following respects: the '20 elements', so familiar in the 1994 version of ISO 9001, are not actually present in individual clauses, but are identifiable; the new structure is process based, more generic and clearly based on the Plan/spl rarr/Do/spl rarr/Check/spl rarr/Act principle; the major features are: management responsibilities, resource management, product and/or service realisation, measurement, analysis and improvement, and customer satisfaction; and ISO 9001:2000 aligns with ISO 14001, the environmental standard.