| The ISO 9000 and ISO 14000 families are among
ISO's most widely known standards ever. ISO 9000 and ISO 14000
standards are implemented by some 610,000 organizations in 160
countries. ISO 9000 has become an international reference for
quality management requirements in business-to-business dealings,
and ISO 14000 is well on the way to achieving as much, if not more,
in enabling organizations to meet their environmental challenges.
The ISO 9000 family is primarily concerned with
"quality management". This means what the organization does to
fulfill:
-
the customer's quality requirements, and
-
applicable regulatory requirements, while
aiming to
-
enhance customer satisfaction, and
-
achieve continual improvement of its
performance in pursuit of these objectives.
The ISO 14000 family is
primarily concerned with "environmental management". This means
what the organization does to:
- minimize harmful effects on the environment
caused by its activities, and to
- achieve continual improvement of its
environmental performance.
The vast majority of ISO
standards are highly specific to a particular product, material, or
process. However, the standards that have earned the ISO 9000 and
ISO 14000 families a worldwide reputation are known as "generic
management system standards".
"Generic" means that the same standards can be
applied:
- to any organization, large or small, whatever
its product
- including whether its "product" is actually a
service,
- in any sector of activity, and
- whether it is a business enterprise, a public
administration, or a government department.
"Generic" also signifies
that no matter what the organization's scope of activity, if it
wants to establish a quality management system or an environmental
management system, then such a system has a number of essential
features for which the relevant standards of the ISO 9000 or ISO
14000 families provide the requirements.
"Management system"
refers to the organization's structure for managing its processes -
or activities - that transform inputs of resources into a product
or service which meet the organization's objectives, such as
satisfying the customer's quality requirements, complying to
regulations, or meeting environmental objectives. |
