ABSTRACT
The International Standards Organization (ISO) system is a quality management system and is only one of many systems that different countries and/or industries utilize to assess their quality. This chapter compares the ISO with some of the most common systems. The ISO standards were developed by a committee of quality professionals who are familiar and use quality system concepts in their jobs. Both ISO and total quality management (TQM) are very powerful systems with both similarities and differences. ISO has clear requirements that may or may not be particularly significant in Deming-based TQM. The ISO has specific requirements and the evaluation is based on whether or not there is compliance to these requirements. The military standard is concerned with conforming supplies through the use of inspection programs, and ISO is concerned with compliance and customer satisfaction through the use of quality management.
