ABSTRACT
This chapter is aimed at those managers who were involved in making the decision to pursue ISO 9001 certification.
After registration to ISO 9001, you have made a major achievement, but you may have just started on the road to a quality culture. Meeting the requirements at the assessment is like passing a school exam. You know the syllabus and could be asked any questions. You did your homework and you are fortunate that you could give the right answers to the questions or show the auditor acceptable evidence of conformity. But passing the exam doesn’t mean you have become educated. You weren’t tested on the whole syllabus, only a sample. You could have failed if other questions had been asked. And so it is in the ISO 9001 assessment. ISO 9001 certification implies that you have the capability to satisfy the requirements of your current customers but this may not be sufficient to win business from your competitors. You will need to do three things: maintain, improve and innovate. Maintain your standards, Improve on the efficiency and effectiveness with which you meet these standards and Innovate occasionally to set new standards. The MII cycle can be illustrated as shown in Fig. 40-1. In this cycle, routine activities should be moving between maintenance and improvement with periodic excursions into innovation when the routines have exhausted improvement potential.
