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operational and quality systems ISO 9001, AS9100,
ISO/TS 16949, ISO 27001, ISO 13485, ISO 14001, and
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New Edition of ISO 9004 – Path to Sustained Success |
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The just-published new edition of ISO
9004 provides organizations with a model for
sustained success in today’s complex, demanding,
and ever-changing environment. ISO 9004:2009-
“Managing for the sustained success of an
organization-A quality management approach,” is
the third edition of the standard first published in
1987. It is intended to support the achievement of
sustained success by any organization, regardless of
size, type, or activity, using a quality management
approach.
“While the goal is initially to ensure the production
of ‘good’ products and services, leading to the
achievement of customer satisfaction, the longer-term
purpose is to ensure the economic survival of the
organization. The new edition gives guidance on how
an organization should adopt a systematic approach
to achieve this,” says Bob Alisic, leader of the task
group responsible for the ISO 9004:2009.
ISO 9004:2009 provides guidance for
the continual improvement of an organization’s overall
performance, efficiency, and effectiveness based on a
process-based approach. It focuses on meeting the
needs and expectations of customers and other
relevant parties over the long term, and in a balanced
way.
Compared to ISO 9001:2008, which ensures
quality management of products and services while
enhancing customer satisfaction, ISO 9004:2009
provides a broader perspective of quality
management, particularly for performance
improvement. It will prove useful to organizations
whose top management wishes to move beyond ISO
9001 in pursuit of ongoing improvement, measured
through the satisfaction of customers and other
stakeholders.
ISO 9004:2009 allows organizations to enhance the
quality of product and service delivery to their
customers by promoting self-assessment as
an
important tool to enable organizations to:
- Benchmark their level of maturity, covering
leadership, strategy, management system, resources,
and processes
- Identify their strengths and weaknesses
- Identify opportunities for either improvements or
innovation, or both.
The self-assessment tool may
become a
key element during the strategic planning processes
in any organization.
“The objectives of
customer satisfaction and product quality are
extended in ISO 9004:2009 to include the satisfaction
of interested parties and the performance of the
organization. The combination of ISO 9001 and ISO
9004 will allow you to get the most of your quality
system,” says Jose Dominguez, a leader of the ISO
9001 task group.
ISO 9004:2009 replaces ISO 9004:2000. It
makes substantial changes to the structure and
contents of the earlier edition based on eight years’
experience of implementing the standard worldwide,
and introduces changes intended to improve
consistency with ISO 9001 and other management
system standards. An example of an important
change (maybe the most important one) in the
structure of ISO 9004, is that the “body” of the standard
starts with the chapter giving guidance on how to
manage an organization aiming for sustained
success and not how to build a quality management
system.
Although ISO 9004:2009
complements ISO 9001:2008 (and vice versa), it can
also be used independently. It is not intended for
third-party certification, regulatory, or contractual use,
nor as a guide to the implementation of ISO
9001:2008. To help users get the best out of the
standard, an annex gives a clause-by-clause
correspondence between ISO 9001:2008 and ISO
9004:2009.
Purchase ISO 9004:2009 at the
ANSI E-Store for $149.00 or at the ASQ
Store for $76.00, member price for a backorder
issue.

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New ISO Standard for Effective Management of Risk |
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A new International Standard, ISO 31000:2009,
Risk management – Principles and guidelines,
will help organizations of all types and sizes to
manage risk effectively. ISO 31000 provides
principles, framework and a process for managing
any form of risk in a transparent, systematic and
credible manner within any scope or
context.
At the same time, ISO is publishing
ISO Guide 73:2009, Risk management
vocabulary, which complements ISO 31000 by
providing a collection of terms and definitions relating
to the management of risk.
Kevin W. Knight,
Chair of
the ISO working group that developed the standard
explains, “All organizations, no matter how big or
small, face internal and external factors that create
uncertainty on whether they will be able to achieve
their objectives. The effect of this uncertainty is ‘risk’
and it is inherent in all activities.” “In fact,” he
continued “it can be argued that the global financial
crisis resulted from the failure of boards and executive
management to effectively manage risk. ISO 31000 is
expected to help industry and commerce, public and
private, to confidently emerge from the crisis.”
The standard recommends that organizations
develop, implement and continuously improve a risk
management framework as an integral component of
their management system.
“ISO 31000 is a
practical document that seeks to assist organizations
in developing their own approach to the management
of risk. But this is not a standard that organizations
can seek certification to. By implementing ISO
31000,
organizations can compare their risk management
practices with an internationally recognized
benchmark, providing sound principles for effective
management. ISO Guide 73 will further ensure that all
organizations are on the same page when talking
about risk,” said Mr. Knight.
ISO 31000 is designed to help organizations:
- Be aware of the need to identify and treat risk
throughout the organization
- Improve the identification of opportunities and
threats
- Improve stakeholder confidence and trust
- Establish a reliable basis for decision making and
planning
- Effectively allocate and use resources for risk
treatment
- Enhance health and safety performance, as well
as environmental protection
ISO 31000 and ISO Guide 73 can be applied to any
public, private or community enterprise, association,
group or individual. The documents will be useful to:
- Those responsible for implementing risk
management within their organizations
- Those who need to ensure that an organization
manages risk
- Those needing to evaluate an organization’
practices in managing risk
- Developers of standards, guides procedures and
codes of practice relating to the management of risk.

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CMMI Versus ISO 9001 |
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The Software Engineering Institute (SEI) published a
report earlier this year, CMU/SEI-2009-SR-005, that
compares CMMI-Development, v1.2, to the ISO
9001:2000 international quality standard. Note:
Since the more recent ISO 9001:2008 edition didn’t
add any new requirements or clause numbering to
ISO 9001:2000, the SEI comparison remains valid.
The report is meant for anyone with
knowledge of either the Capability Maturity Model
Integration (CMMI ) Product Suite or the International
Organization for Standardization (ISO) 9000 family of
standards, that is interested in learning more about
the other process standard.
The CMMI-DEV, v1.2, comparison to ISO 9001:2000
notes their similarities and differences. The report
points out that it is not intended to be an exhaustive or
authoritative comparison, nor does it provide specific
guidance for deciding which model or standard to
adopt.
Organizations that are implementing
both ISO 9001 and the CMMI Development model will
benefit from understanding the areas that are covered
fully by both bodies of knowledge, as well as, areas
not covered by both. While the two bodies of
knowledge were developed independently and for
different purposes, they have important connections
and are largely consistent with each
other.
The report is organized into four
sections. The first
section provides a brief overview of the report’s focus
and organization. The next two sections describe the
two bodies of knowledge, i.e., the world of ISO 9000
and the world of CMMI-DEV. The final section provides
a comparative analysis of the two bodies of
knowledge. Finally, the appendices identify the report
contributors, acronyms, terminology differences,
resources, and references.
Download the 70 page Free Report in PDF format
from SEI web page.

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In the News |
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The American Society for Quality (ASQ) invites
business professionals to register for a Free
Webinar
that spotlights how service quality measurement, data
analysis, and planning can positively affect your
business. The webinar, “Intro to Service Quality
Measurement,” will be available on demand via the ASQ web site.
Manufacturers Struggle to Hire High-Skilled
Workers Despite Double-digit Unemployment.
As
employers across the country continue to shed
hundreds of thousands of jobs, many manufacturers
are facing an ironic dilemma. As they eliminate
positions-mainly repetitive, assembly type jobs-they
still have unfilled job openings for high-skilled
workers. According to a recent survey conducted by
Deloitte, The Manufacturing Institute, and
Oracle, “almost one-third of responding companies
report some level of shortages today.”
These
shortages of high-skilled workers are particularly
acute within “the most profitable companies,
aerospace and defense, and life science sectors,”
and among “skilled production workers, scientists,
and engineers.” “This is certainly an employer’s
market, but not as much with manufacturers,” says
Mark C. Tomlinson, executive director and general
manager of the Society of Manufacturing Engineers.
The survey also shows that many
manufacturers are “not acting” on finding these types
of workers or are depending on largely
ineffective “traditional approaches to managing and
developing their employees,” like current performance,
rather than on the latest “talent management trends”
such as “lean and industry-recognized skills
credentials.”
Respondents to this survey also
reported dissatisfaction with the skills of their current
employees. Nearly half indicated many workers have
inadequate basic employability skills, such as
attendance, timeliness, and work ethic, while 46
percent reported inadequate problem-solving skills,
and 36 percent indicated insufficient reading, writing,
and communication skills.
Baldrige Program Calls for
Examiners
Each year the Baldrige
Program recruits experts from business, education
organizations, health care providers, nonprofit
organizations, and other groups to serve on the Board
of Examiners for the Malcolm Baldrige National Quality
Award. Examiners evaluate applications for the award
and prepare feedback reports to applicants that cite
strengths and opportunities for
improvement.
The application form for the
2010 Board of Examiners is now available online.
Applications must be submitted electronically; the
deadline is 2 p.m. EST on Jan. 7, 2010.
ASQ Lean and Six Sigma Conference
ASQ Lean and Six Sigma
Conference – 10th Anniversary March 8-9th, 2010
Phoenix, Arizona. Learn from proven firsthand
applications, technical applications, and best
practices.

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