ISO 9000

[Matthew Wong <wong -at- ACEC -dot- COM>]

Dear Listees,

My company is presently in the midst of documenting our Quality
Assurance/Work Procedures policies for ISO 9000.  The following
summarizes what I know about it.

        ISO 9000 consists of a set of generic quality standards developed
for use in the European Economic Community (or Fortress Europe).  The
assumption here is that the governments of Western Europe can actually
agree on anything--the run on the Pound and Franc due to the the Mark last
year gives no credibility to this claim.)  Presumably, American companies
have to be ISO 9000 certified to do business with  any European country.
Of course, some have claim that ISO 9000 is simply an import barrier.

        For ISO 9000 certification, the company must document all
policies and procedures must be documented in its Quality Manual.  A
certified auditor then audits the company based on the documented
policiesl.

        The Quality Manual consists of a hierarchy of documents.  The
highest-level documents identify the  top-level procedures.  These top-level
procedures refer to second-level documents that identify detailed work
procedures for a top-level procedures.  The bottom-level documents identify
miscellaneous forms and tools used for collecting data that is required by
any detailed procedure.

Regards,

Matthew (wong -at- acec -dot- com)