ABSTRACT

I was unsure whether this chapter should close the last section or open this one. I opted for the latter because, while the ISO 9001:2015 Quality Management System Standard essentially summarisesmany key procedural elements of thework of the gurus, it thereby provides a platform upon which new thinking should build. Although some of the gurus’ thinking may not be wholly appropriate to contemporary needs, quality management systems adherent to ISO requirements are essential to continued trading for many organisations. The fundamentals and vocabulary of quality management systems (QMS) are set out in

ISO 9000:2015. However, the primary focus of the first part of the chapter will be the ISO 9001:2015 QMS requirements. The third part of the trilogy, ISO 9004:2015, offers guidance for organisations wishing to pursue ‘sustained success’; an odd document; when continuous improvement is already embedded in ISO9001:2015 arguably ISO9004:2015 is redundant. The review will broadly follow the pattern of the standard itself, identifying a number of

key areas for interpretation and discussion and will also look briefly at the complementarity between this, the Environmental Standard (ISO 14001:2015) and the Occupational Health and Safety Management Systems Standard (BS OHSAS 18001:2007). In the final part of the chapter the EFQMBusiness ExcellenceModel will be considered.

ISO 9001:2015 is the latest evolution of a QMS standard which began with consistency of specifications and standards in the defence industry. NATO (North Atlantic Treaty Organization) began developing these in the late 1940s to enable harmonisation between co-operating military forces. These standards were consolidated and revised in ‘DefStans’ (Defence Standards) 05-08, 05-25 and 05-28 between 1951 and 1973. Standards systems which were once dominant in the civil world such as BS5750 (the British standard) and EN29000 have largely been subsumed in the ISO system. The introduction to ISO 9001:2015 states that: