ABSTRACT
Most customers select their suppliers using option (a) or (b) but there will be cases where these options are not appropriate either because there is no evidence for using option (a) or resources are not available to use option (b) or its not economic. It is for these situations that a certification scheme was developed. Organizations submit to a third party audit that is performed by an accredited certification body independent of both customer and supplier. An audit is performed against the requirements of ISO 9001 and if no nonconformities are found, a certificate is awarded. This certificate provides evidence that the organization has the capability to meet customer and regulatory requirements relating to the supply of certain specified goods and services. Customers are now able to acquire the confidence they require simply by establishing whether a supplier holds an ISO 9001 certificate covering the type of products and services they are seeking. However, the credibility of the certificate rests on the competence of the auditor and the integrity of the certification body neither of which are guaranteed. (This is addressed further in Chapter 2.)
Trading organizations need to create and retain satisfied customers to survive. This depends on their capability to:
(a) Identify customer needs and expectations (b) Convert customer needs and expectations into products and services that
will satisfy them (c) Attract customers to the organization (d) Supply the products and services that meet customer requirements
Many organizations develop their own ways of working and strive to satisfy their customers in the best way they know how. In choosing the best way for them, they can either go through a process of trial and error, select from the vast body of knowledge on management, or utilize one or more management models available that combine proven principles and concepts. ISO 9000 represents one
of these models. Others are the Business Excellence Model, Six Sigma, CMM and Process Management. (These are addressed later in this chapter.)
Having given the organization the capability to do (a) to (d) above, customer confidence can be built up by reputation, customer assessments or third party assessment. If a customer requires confidence to be demonstrated through an ISO 9001 assessment, the organization has no option but to seek ISO 9001 certification if it wishes to retain business from that particular customer or market sector. In the UK alone there are about 2.5 million trading organizations and less than 2.5% have been registered to ISO 9001. It is therefore reasonable to assume that over 95% of organizations in the UK are able to give their customers confidence in their capability without becoming registered to ISO 9001 but this should not be assumed to mean that the concepts embodied in the ISO 9000 family of standards are flawed. It simply means that in the majority of organizations many of these concepts are employed but perhaps not consistently. Nevertheless in the particular business-to-business relationship, confidence is developed by reputation rather than certification.
