ISO 9001 and ISO 14001 Related Links

ISO 9000

ISO 9000 is a group of standards for quality management systems maintained by the International Organization for Standardization. Some of the requirements in ISO 9000 include: a set of procedures that cover all key process in the business, monitoring and reviewing processes to make sure they are effective, good record keeping, checking for defective outputs and correcting them if necessary, reviewing individual processes for effectiveness as well as the system itself, and continual improvements. A company in conformance with ISO 9000 certifies that formalized business process are being applied to the company.

ISO 9001

ISO 9001 is part of the ISO 9000 family. It covers what quality management systems are and the language of the ISO 9000 series standards. It is intended for any organization that provides a service or an organizations that designs, manufacturers, installs, or services any product. In order to achieve customer satisfaction, ISO 9001 specifies a number of requirements to be applied to products and services.

ISO 14000

ISO 14000 is a group of standards that emphasizes the impact processes have on the environment. It exists to help organizations minimize the negative impacts on the environment and to comply with applicable laws and regulations. Like ISO 9000, it focuses on the process of creating a product as opposed to the product itself. Also, like ISO 9000, certification is granted by a 3rd party auditor as opposed to the ISO organization itself.

ISO 14001

ISO 14001 is the international specification for environmental mangement systems. It explains the requirements for establishing an environmental policy, the impact that products and services have on the environment, planning objectives and measureable targets related to the environment, implementation of programs related to meeting these objectives, monitoring and corrective actions, and management review.

Statistical Process Control

Statisitcal process control is the monitoring of processes through control charts and graphs. Using control charts allows objective criteria to be evaluated of significant events based on statistical techniques. Much of its power lies in the ability to monitor both process center and its variation about that center. The control charts are used to spot variations in a process that may negatively impact a product or service. It is a way to capture variation in the process as a whole as opposed to the end product.