Total quality management and ISO quality system

There has been confusion among some people between the concept of total quality management and the international quality standard ISO (9000).

ISO 9000 as a term is an acronym for: (International Standardization Organization)

This organization has set international standards (standards) for the quality management system in any organization, whether it is production or service, as it is no longer sufficient to guarantee the quality of the product only, but rather it requires ensuring a complete quality system in the international organization ISO 9000, which came to unify what a management system should be Quality globally and in any organization. The international quality specifications described by the International Organization for Standardization include a series of standards in the form of certificates, each with its own number: 9001, 9002, 9003, in order to apply and achieve the quality management system in three types of companies, so that each certificate explains Standards for the application of the quality management system in a specific type and one of the three types of these companies and issued a guide sent for the application of the quality system in the three types and gave it the number (ISO 9004).

Below we will present the dimensions of ISO 9000 and its series of standards for implementing the quality management system:

ISO Dimensions:

In light of the foregoing, it can be said that ISO is a total quality control system that includes specific standards for quality in every activity of the organization that must be adhered to in order to achieve a high level of performance and quality, and these global standards are set by the organization
International standards for standardization or calibration, so that any company in the world, if it provides these standards in its quality system, can obtain this certificate.
So (ISO 9000) serves as a guide or guide for companies that shows them the areas of application of their international specifications or standards, to enable them to obtain one of the certificates of the International Organization for Standardization, which are ISO: 9003, 9002, 9001. The ISO specification (certificate) stipulates that the company maintains (17) quality records, in order to prove that its quality system is working efficiently, including:

1- Quality record
2- Contract review record
3- Product design review record
4- Training record
5- Internal quality audit record.

The ISO (9001) international certificate includes what the quality system should be in companies whose work begins from the stage of engineering design of the product in the stage after it is sold to the consumer, as well as the stage of product improvement and renewal, and it includes (20) elements of the required quality elements, and it expresses the conditions for granting ISO (9001) certified.

As for ISO (9002), this international certificate (standard) includes what the quality system should be in companies whose activity is limited to producing, improving, developing and selling the commodity only, without including the stages of engineering design and after-sales service. This specification includes (18) elements Quality components and their availability is a condition for obtaining ISO (9002) certification.
As for ISO (9003), this international certificate (standard) includes standards that include the quality system in the field of final examination of the produced commodity and testing its quality, and it includes (12) elements of quality, which are conditions imposed on companies to obtain the ISO (9003) certificate.
As for the ISO (9004) certificate, it includes the guiding instructions that must be followed by companies to obtain one of the aforementioned ISO certificates, that is, it clarifies the application of the quality management system in three types of companies to obtain one of the three ISO certificates.
The difference between ISO (9000), ISO (9001), ISO (9002), ISO (9003), and ISO (9004):-

ISO (9001) until ISO (9003) are certificates granted to those who provide the conditions for granting them from companies, and they are of a contractual nature that includes a formula for the commitment of producing companies towards the consumer to provide in their products the specifications specified in the ISO certificate. As for ISO (9004), it is a guide for companies to implement a management system Quality (QMS)

The International Organization for Standardization later issued a new specification for the protection and care of the environment that included several standards that the organization must adopt in order to protect the environment and thus enable it to obtain the ISO certificate (14000), and it can be said that this international standard provides organizations with an integrated framework in the form of a system that includes specific standards It aims to protect the environment and these standards must be provided by organizations in their products and in the manufacturing processes that they implement.

Notes about the ISO:

1/ ISO (9000) is valid for application in production and service organizations, with the need to amend the conditions for service organizations.
2/ Obtaining the ISO certificate is not the end of the day. It is more important to maintain the quality level on which the certificate was granted.
3/ The ISO certificate is withdrawn from the company that does not maintain the required quality conditions.
4/ Companies that have obtained the ISO certificate are subject to review and inspection every year and periodically, and sometimes they are subject to sudden inspection to ensure that the company still maintains the specified quality specifications.
5/ Some criticized that the application of the specifications required by ISO (9000) increases the volume of paper use on the one hand and the high cost of application on the other hand, however, a field study of Lloyd’s Register Quality Assurance LTD indicated that (3%) of the organizations included The study reported that it consumed a lot of paper, while (93%) of the inclusive organizations in the study reported that they had achieved great benefits from the application of ISO specifications, while only (6%) of them reported that the cost of implementing these specifications was high.

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