Standards provide a quality way of life

Standards provide a quality way of life

Keshav Ram Singhal

‘Standards provide a quality way of life’ is the today’s topic of this evening. I am thankful to the Rotary Club for providing me an opportunity to speak on this topic.

I am among those, who support compliance of standards because I firmly believe that standards provide a quality way of life. Standards are norms, part of a system providing requirements. Let me first define ‘standards’. What do we mean by standards? One can define standard as a widely accepted specification or best practice. Standards are developed by experts. If we study today’s economy, we come to know that today’s world economy creates an environment where standards compliance is not an option, it is becoming a requirement.

Quality of life is often used as shorthand for measuring how good a person feels about his life. There are various formal procedures for calculating this measure that includes factors such as economic, social, physical, political and spiritual well-being. Standards help in streamlining the things. I would like to name a small country to provide an example with regard to quality way of life. Singapore may be the smallest country in Southeast Asia but it has emerged as one of the best to live in Asia with a very high quality of life measurement. Singapore emerged as the ‘Happiest Country in Asia’ in a study reported by ABC News. 95 per cent of Singapore residents appreciate the clean, safe and efficient society. Quality is not a catchword; it is a way of life.

I believe in standards, because I believe standards can:
- achieve excellence in business,
- achieve excellence in human life,
- achieve continual improvement,
- improve value to human beings by meeting their needs,
- motivate users to become committed to quality,
- ensure care and responsibility

In today’s world, human needs and expectations are constantly changing and standards provide a quality way of life. The term ‘quality of life’ is used to evaluate the general well-being of individual and societies. The term is used in a wide range of contexts, including the fields of international development, healthcare, and political science. Quality of life should not be confused with the concept of standard of living, which is based primarily on income. Instead, standards indicators of the quality of life include not only wealth and employment, but also the built environment, physical and mental health, education, recreation and leisure time, and social belonging.

Standards matter us very much. Standards make an enormous and positive contribution to most aspects of human life. Standards ensure desirable characteristics of products and services, such as quality, environmental friendliness, safety, reliability, efficiency and interchangeability and at an economical cost. When any products or services meet our expectations, we tend to take this for granted and are unaware of the role of standards. However, when standards are absent, we soon notice. We soon notice when any product or service is of poor quality. When products, systems, machinery and devices work well and safely, it is often because they meet standards.

Now I will let you know that what standards do. Standards make the development, manufacturing and supply of products and services more efficient, safer and cleaner. Standards disseminate innovation, safeguard consumers and users in general and make life simpler by providing solutions to common problems.

When we implement international standards (such as ISO, IEC, ITU), such standards facilitate trade between countries, provide governments with a technical base for health, safety and environmental legislation and conformity assessment. Standards share technological advancement and good management practice.

Now let me tell a few things about an international body known as ‘ISO’, which is responsible for many thousands of the standards that benefit the whole world. ‘International organization for Standardization’ (ISO) is the world’s largest developer and publisher of international standards. It is a network of national standards bodies of 162 countries, one member per country. Its headquarters is situated in Geneva, Switzerland. ISO is a non-governmental organization. It forms a bridge between public and private sectors. Many ISO members are part of the governmental structures of their countries or mandated by their government and on the other hand, many other ISO members have their roots uniquely in the private sector, having been set up by national partnerships of industry associations. As on 31 December 2008, ISO has published 17,765 international standards and standards-type documents. ISO is the world largest standards developing organization. More details about ISO may be seen at its website www.iso.org.

Now I would like to tell about our national standard institution. BIS (Bureau of Indian Standards) is the national standards body in our country. BIS represents our country and is a member of ISO. BIS is involved in formulation and certification of standards. BIS has adopted many ISO standards as national standards. BIS headquarters is situated in New Delhi. More details about BIS may be seen at its website at www.bis.org.in.

Here it will be better to mention some popular standards. You must have heard about ISO 9001:2000 QMS and ISO 14001:2004 EMS certifications. Many organizations in the world are implementing these ISO’s best known standards. ISO 9001:2000 QMS and ISO 14001:2004 EMS standards are implemented by over a million organizations in 175 countries. ISO 9001:2008 QMS Standard is the latest quality management system certification standard. This standard mentions requirements for a quality management system, where an organization needs to demonstrate its ability to consistently provide product, aims to enhance customer satisfaction. ISO 14001:2004 EMS Standard is the environmental management system certification standard. This standard provides the requirements for environmental management systems (EMS). The standard contributes to any organization’s objectives to operate in an environmentally sustainable manner. Today we can not afford to ignore the environmental aspect of business. In business, waste means cost. Saving energy means saving money. Superior environmental management has a positive impact on the bottom line. Waste management and energy savings start with application of ISO 14001:2004 EMS.

In the direction of development of risk management, ISO has recently launched a new International Standard ISO 31000:2009, Risk management, Principles and guidelines.
ISO has launched ISO 22000:2005 with the concept that food will not cause harm to consumers when it is prepared and/or eaten according to its intended use. ISO 22000:2005 is the standard for food safety management system, based on the principle that food shall be harmless to consumers. This standard is based on the prerequisites (GMP + GHP), HACCP (Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Point) and management systems requirements.

ISO has recently issued Draft International Standard ISO/DIS 26000, a guidance standard on social responsibility. The aim of the social responsibility is to contribute to sustainable development and to become increasingly aware of the need for and benefits of socially responsible behavior.
ISO/IES 17025:2005 is the standard providing general requirements for the competence of testing and calibration laboratories.

In a global economy, standardization is a must. It is a prerequisite for effectiveness, performance and optimization of production activities. ISO /IEC 17799:2005 is the code of practice for information security management. This standard identifies the controls that form the starting point for information security.

Above are a few examples of standards that provide a quality way of life and we get great benefits from standards that are developed from the wealth of knowledge of some 50,000 experts worldwide.

Courtesy Sources – (i) ‘Management Systems Awareness’ – Publication Series, National Centre for Quality Management, Ajmer Centre (ii) www.writeforandadvanntage.com (iii) www.guidemesingapore.com (iv) www.sciencedirect.com (v) www.thecqi.org (vi) www.wikipedia.org (vii) www.iso.org (viii) www.bis.org.in

4 December, 2009

Management Systems Awareness - Issue No. 9

जानकारी -



‘प्रबंध प्रणाली बोध’ - अंक 9


एक ऐसा अंक जिसे आप संगृहीत करना चाहेंगे ….



हिन्दी में आईएसओ ९००१:२००८ गुणवत्ता प्रबंध प्रणाली पर

Latest news on ISO 9000 family

Latest News

New edition of ISO brochure on getting the best out of ISO 9000 family

International Organization for Standardization (ISO) has published an attractive new paper edition of its popular brochure of advice for managers, Selection and use of the ISO 9000 family of standards.
ISO Secretary-General Rob Steele comments: "With an estimated one million users worldwide, ISO 9001 tends to overshadow the rest of the ISO 9000 family and that means lost opportunities because integrated use of these standards can multiply the benefits for organizations and their customers. This new edition of the Selection and use brochure will give managers ideas on how to achieve such benefits."
The brochure includes concise examples of the integrated use of ISO 9000 family standards in the following manufacturing or service organizations:
• A metal parts fabricating company• A welfare agency• An electrical appliance manufacturer• A chemical processing company• A firm of international lawyers• A computer software developer• A bank• A franchise organization.
It provides an overview of the standards in the ISO 9000 family and demonstrates how, collectively, they form a basis for continual improvement and business excellence. In addition to the user examples, it includes sections on the following topics:
• A description of the ISO 9000 core series standards• A step-by-step process for implementing a quality management system • Maintaining benefits and continual improvement• The future of the ISO 9000 family
The brochure has been authored by ISO technical committee ISO/TC 176, Quality management and quality assurance, which is responsible for developing and maintaining the ISO 9000 family. The best known standard in the family is ISO 9001, which specifies the basic requirements for a quality management system that an organization must fulfill to demonstrate its ability to consistently provide products (which include services) that enhance customer satisfaction and meet applicable statutory and regulatory requirements. The standard can be used for certification by organizations seeking independent verification that their quality management system meets the requirements of ISO 9001. ISO 9001 certificates of conformity have been issued to public and private sector organizations of all types in some 170 countries.
The family currently consists of 17 international quality management standards and guidelines (plus a corrigendum). As a whole, the ISO 9000 family forms a strong base for establishing effective and efficient quality management systems.
The ISO/TC 176 authors advise managers: "You will obtain the greatest value by using the entire family of standards in an integrated manner. It is highly recommended that you use ISO 9000 to become familiar with the basic concepts and the language used before you adopt ISO 9001 to achieve a first level of performance.
“The practices described in ISO 9004 may then be implemented to make your quality management system more effective and efficient in achieving your business goals and objectives.
“The ISO 9001 and ISO 9004 standards have been written to enable you to relate them to other management systems (e.g. environmental), or to sector specific requirements (such as ISO/TS 16949 in the automotive industry) and to assist you in gaining recognition through national or regional award programmes."
Selection and use of the ISO 9000 family of standards is the latest edition of the highly successful brochure, first published by ISO in 1994 as Implementing ISO 9000. The paper version (in English, ISBN 978-92-67-10494-2, and in French, ISBN 978-92-67-20494-9) is available free of charge (fee for postage and handling of bulk order) from the ISO Central Secretariat.
Courtesy – ISO Website.

[For more information on ISO 9001:2008 QMS, please contact – K. R. Singhal, Centre Coordinator, National Centre for Quality Management, Ajmer Centre. Email – ncqmajmer@gmail.com]

'Management Systems Awareness' - Issue no. 7 and 8

'Management Systems Awareness' - Issue no. 7 and 8

‘प्रबंध प्रणाली बोध’ संयुक्तांक ७ व ८

एक ऐसा अंक जिसे आप संगृहीत करना चाहेंगे ….

अनुक्रम

सौजन्य सम्पादक और सम्पादक का नजरिया

हिन्दी में आईएसओ ९००१:२००८ गुणवत्ता प्रबंध प्रणाली जागरूकता पर लेख (अंक ७)

यह आईएसओ ९००१:२००८ क्या है?

आईएसओ ९००१ :२००८ गुणवत्ता प्रबंध प्रणाली क्यों लागू करें?
आईएसओ ९००१:२००८ गुणवत्ता प्रबंध प्रणाली की चरबध कार्यान्विति
गुणवत्ता प्रबंध प्रणाली मानक श्रृंखला की ऐतिहासिक प्रष्ठ्भुमी
गुणवत्ता प्रबंध सिध्हांत
‘आईएसओ ९००१ :२००८ गुणवत्ता प्रबंध प्रणाली’ मानक परिचय
आईएसओ ९००१ :२००८ मानक का कार्यषेत्र, अनुप्रयोग और मानकीय संधर्भ
गुणवत्ता प्रबंध प्रणाली के लिए ‘सामान्य व प्रलेखन’ अपेक्षाएं
गुणवत्ता प्रबंध प्रणाली के लिए ‘प्रबंधन उत्तरदायित्व’ अपेक्षाएं
गुणवत्ता प्रबंध प्रणाली के लिए ‘संसाधन प्रबंधन’ अपेक्षाएं
गुणवत्ता प्रबंध प्रणाली के लिए ‘उत्पाद उपलब्धि’ अपेक्षाएं
गुणवत्ता प्रबंध प्रणाली के लिए ‘मापन, विश्लेषण और सुधार’ अपेक्षाएं
प्रत्यायन का महत्व और आईएसओ ९००१ :२००८ – कार्यान्वयन आयोजना

English Section

Quotable Quotes

English articles on ‘Understanding ISO 9001:2008 Quality Management System’ (Issue no. 8)

Upgrading existing QMS to ISO 9001:2008 Standard
ISO 9001:2008 – Introduction
Scope, normative reference, terms and definitions
General and documentation requirements
Management responsibility
Resource Management
Product realization
Measurement, analysis and improvement
Annex, bibliography and other information (including implementation plan for ISO 9001:2008 QMS Standard)
Documented procedures and records required by ISO 9001:2008

For getting your copy, please contact
National Centre for Quality Management, Ajmer Centre