ISO 9000 Training

ISO 9000 training is the process of training individuals for the purpose of attaining ISO certification. ISO 9000 is a set of standards implemented by organizations for quality management systems that control the fabrication of a product or service. Perhaps today?s most popular generic international standard, it guarantees first-rate quality at all stages of design, development, manufacturing and delivery.

ISO 9000 training enables an individual to understand various quality standards as well as how they are basically planned. That is, it provides a clears idea about the interrelationship of ISO 9000, ISO 9001 and ISO 9004. The training program is also good for understanding ISO requirements and various ISO clauses. Most ISO 9000 training courses also include introduction to the ISO 9000 quality management system (QMS), process documentation, implementing an efficient QMS, and process auditing.

Process documentation workshops help you learn how to document your management system. This includes detailed methods for developing, documenting and implementing your business and quality processes. These programs also help you gain practical experience.

Before receiving ISO 9000 certification, businesses conduct an audit of documents and methods. An auditor training course help you train your own auditors to conduct process audits. These courses explain how to carry out a process audit and how to audit documented and undocumented processes.

Stat-A-Matrix in New Jersey, Management Systems International in California, and ISO 9000 Network in Massachusetts are some of the leading companies offering ISO 9000 training and consulting. They provide on-site seminars and help organizations achieve ISO 9000 registration. Their training covers the most up-to-date information, process mapping, and project management. Their classes are developed and delivered by ISO 9000 experts.

ISO 9000 provides detailed information on ISO 9000, ISO 9000 Standards, ISO 9000 Software, ISO 9000 Consulting and more. ISO 9000 is affiliated with Home Inspections.

ISO 9000 Vicarious Liability

ISO 9000 is an enormously successful international quality management system set by the international standards organization. Apart from helping in designing a quality assurance system, ISO 9000 also imposes many liabilities and responsibilities on the part of business organizations.

ISO certification can guard organizations against corporate vicarious liability. Vicarious liability refers to the legal responsibility (accountability) of an employer for the actions, crime or injury done by one of his employees in the course of discharging duties. Crimes that come under the purview of vicarious liability include fraud and theft, defamation, breach of confidence and data protection, and discrimination based on race and gender.

ISO 9000 vicarious liability processes help firms reduce risks. The extent of liability depends upon the relation between the nature of the employment and the crime that has been committed. When the two are connected closely enough, the employer can be held liable.

Common forms of vicarious liabilities include employers' vicarious liability, principals' vicarious liability, and the liability of corporations in tort. Consider, for example, principals? liability. In this case, the owner of a car is vicariously liable for the rash and negligent driving of the driver. The owner is the principal and the driver is his employee. Laws have been reluctant to extend this liability to the owners of some other kinds of chattel. For instance, the owner of an airplane is not vicariously liable for a pilot?s misdeeds.

A business can operate only through the actions and deeds of its employees and agents. Therefore, it is important to decide to what extend vicarious liability will apply to hold a business liable for the frauds of its directors or other officers. ISO 9000 certification provides a clear description of such situations.

ISO 9000 provides detailed information on ISO 9000, ISO 9000 Standards, ISO 9000 Software, ISO 9000 Consulting and more. ISO 9000 is affiliated with Home Inspections.

ISO 9001: A Brief Explanation on ISO 9001 Quality Procedure

When our company intend to implement Quality Management System (ISO 9001:2000), we should prepare quality management system documentation that includes documented statement of quality policy and quality objectives, a quality manual, quality procedures and workplace references or work instructions to ensure the effective planning, operation, and control of company processes.

In regard with quality procedure, it should be established, documented, implemented and maintained. The documented ISO 9001:2000 procedure may be different from one company to another because of the size of company and type of activities, the complexity of processes and their interactions and the competence of their personnel.

In practice, format of ISO 9001:2000 quality procedures may also differ from one company to another. For a company that is trying to make their own ISO 9001: 2000 quality procedures for the first time, using ISO 9001:2000 procedure examples can be very helpful. It does not mean duplicating the ISO 9001:2000 procedure example for the company own use.

An ISO 9001:2000 quality procedure may consist of cover sheet, flow diagram, and procedure in detail. The cover sheet contains Company name, title of ISO 9001:2000 procedure, sheet number, document number and revision record (revision number, description of revision, date of revision and signature of the person in charge.

The flow diagram explains step by step from the beginning how the ISO 9001:2000 procedure flows. And the procedure its self should at least have an objective, scope, general explanation, definitions used in the procedure, content of the procedure, records used, related documents and important attachments. The contents of ISO 9001:2000 procedure is a text description of the work flow or instructions based on its flow diagram. The description is started with the persons in charge and followed by explanation of their tasks or jobs as specified in the flow diagram.

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ISO9000 & Beyond

To be successful, organisations must prove themselves to be indispensable to their customers, be attuned to their employees' needs, be willing to partner with their suppliers, and be considerate of the social, environmental, and safety outcomes of their performance. These rather new and expanded objectives of business operations, are the main pillars of business excellence.

Samson and Challis (2002) studied leading international organisations in an effort to determine why some were more successful than others in their pursuit of excellence. They identified a total of 14 principles that served as catalysts for business excellence. The extent to which each organisation embodied these principles appeared to be directly related to the speed of its journey towards excellence.

Furthermore, the EFQM Excellence Model, which is used to adjudicate the European Quality Award, and the most frequently discussed model in quality literature (van der Wiele et aI., 1995, 2001), uses self-assessment as a tool to identify organisational strengths, as well as areas in which there exists room for improvement. Its outcome is a structured plan for amelioration, which is subsequently monitored for progress. In addition to this self-assessment component, the EFQM assists organisations with their continuous improvement initiatives by facilitating gauging of progress against measures of total quality management, identification of improvement opportunities benchmarking and organisational learning (McAdam and Kelly, 2002).

Truly effective use of the excellence models for continuous improvement requires the input of management and employees. For maximum benefit, it must be effectively marketed by top management and internalised by the staff of the organisation (van der Wiele et aI., 2000). Also, to be optimally effective, quality improvements should be prioritised and should focus on the results category of a business excellence model such as the EFQM Excellence Model (EFQM, 1999; Seghezzi, 2001), the Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award (MBNQA, 2002), or the Canadian Framework for Business Excellence (CFBE, 2002).

Quality management The family of ISO 9000 standards can be regarded as the foundation on which organisations can build their excellence programs. The success of a quality management program that builds upon the foundation of the ISO 9000 system has been said to relate to the original motivation for registration (van der Wiele et aI., 2001). The message is that the added value that an organisation derives from the ISO 9000 standards should be a result of that organisation's motives for, and approach to, implementation (Cobb, 2003; Gotzamani and Tsiotras, 2002; Singels et aI., 2001). Issues such as organisation, internal and external communications, employee awareness of quality, product conformance and customer satisfaction are all addressed within the ISO 9000 system, simplifying management commitment to quality. This can be a driving force to go beyond and achieve business excellence. However, if not done properly, it is also possible that implementation of ISO 9000 may lead to excessive emphasis on the documented procedures and less emphasis on achieving business objectives (Gotzamani and Tsiotras, 2002).

The importance and relevance of quality cannot be overstated. In recent decades, public, private, and third-sector organisations have been awakened to the necessity of creating and ensuring quality in every aspect of their operations. Far beyond "permitting things to run smoothly", an emphasis on quality in management systems is now considered essential to an organisation's prosperity. Globalisation and an enhanced concept of corporate liability are two important societal trends contributing to this emphasis on quality. There are numerous reports in the literature that describe quality management practices and the benefits that emanate from implementation of an ISO 9000 system. Many of these are case studies or reports of the benefits and drawbacks of such systems. The emphasis is on continuous improvement which is beyond simple conformance to the ISO 9000 standards.

The Balanced Scorecard The Balanced Scorecard (BSC) is an instrument which translates the mission and strategy of an organisation into a broad collection of action metrics and indicators, and which subsequently provides the structure necessary to serve as control and strategic measurement system (Kaplan and Norton, 1996). The BSC is applicable to any type of organisation, albeit with modifications. For example, a BSC for non-profit organisations must be modified to include a mission perspective and any other additional perspectives which provide specific information on social demographic factors regarding the organisation's environment. Viewed as a performance measurement system (PMS), the BSC is not a new tool as PMSs have existed for a long time in all organisations and in most cultures, in one form or another. Hence the novelty of the BSC does not reside in its existence but rather in the attempt to achieve standardisation via conventions and universal rules (Urrutia de Hoyos, 2001).

The BSC's most standardised antecedent is the "tableau de bord" (Mallo and Merlo, 1995), a tool utilised principally by French companies, and whose configuration and conceptual basis is very similar to the BSC. One explanation for the lack of standardisation of PMSs along the line of the tableau de bord and BSC is certainly the lack of publicised information regarding their existence due to its being an excessively strategic tool; due to their strategic nature, organisations are very reluctant to disclose their existence and utilisation.

Development of the BSC The development of the BSC has gone through three distinct phases.

The First phase Initially the BSC was intended as a measurement tool, with an operational and tactical focus. It was a collection of indicators arranged by perspectives or key areas, which permitted the identification of the determinants of the performance of a business. The original objective was to overcome the limitations of using only financial indicators. These last only provided information about actual, past performance, and failed to provide information on the drivers of future performance (Kaplan and Norton, 1996). The four BSC perspectives - financial, customer, internal processes, learning and growth - were selected on the basis of the results of a study by David Norton and Harvard University (Kaplan and Norton, 1992).

The Second phase In the process of identifying indicators for each of the four perspectives, it was discovered that by developing strategy maps, not only could the appropriate indicators be identified, but also management could utilise the BSC for strategic planning. In the first phase, indicators were identified subsequent to the development and definition of the organisation's strategy, and had an operational and/or tactical focus. During this phase, it was discovered that it was not enough to simply identify indicators, it was also necessary that the indicators were extracted directly from the strategic plan. This so as to identify, and explicitly describe, the causal relationships with the organisation's strategy. In other words, the indicators were identified prior to the development and definition of the organisation's strategy, and as such playa key role in the development and definition of the strategy. The act of measurement has consequences that exceed simply providing information on past results. It also directs attention to the future, since the indicators selected by management are 'de facto' those which are important to management. Hence, with a clearly defined strategy, coherently communicated and aligned with change drivers, what was initially an information/measurement tool, and part of the management control function, was converted into a tool for strategic management (Kaplan and Norton, 2000) and a part of the strategy formation process.

The Third phase The BSC communicates the organisation's strategic plan via maps in which the cause-effect relationships between the different strategic objectives can be visualised. This permits management to utilise the BSC as a tool for change management leading to the achievement of Business Excellence.

Conclusion This article explored the broad issues related to business excellence and the application of ISo 9000 and the BSC as the first steps in achieving excellence. ISO 9000 and the BSC aim at assisting firms to develop systems and procedures which allow them to achieve business excellence by becoming more customer-oriented. The implementation of such systems requires on-going support from senior management; taking into consideration the role of internal reporting and operational control systems to monitor and proactively adapt to changing business needs.

Sandro Azzopardi is a professional author who writes articles on his web site and local newspapers. http://www.theinfopit.com/business/iso9000/iso9000andbeyond-1.php

Six Sigma Vs ISO 9000

The debate over whether or not to choose Six Sigma over ISO 9000 is getting more interesting with each passing day. In an attempt to determine which of these is the better of the two, it is highly pertinent to discuss that in the context of applicability of them to industries. And there exists a huge amount of difference between the approaches of these two methodologies in tackling the issues.

Six Sigma - A Critical View

Six Sigma utilizes a multi-faceted approach to doing business with total improvement of the end product being the goal. In doing so, Six Sigma defines and analyzes the processes critically almost always focusing on process improvements. The statistical tools used in Six Sigma help not just in the adoption of processes but are also critical tools of Six Sigma implementation.

Process Development Stages

Let us examine the above statement as applicable to a process for easier understanding. While working on process improvement, the Black Belts break up the original sequence of different events that comprise the entire process and each event is further subdivided internally. This enables the "belts" to take an entirely different view of the process via the entire process as a whole. The powerful statistical tools employed at this stage of evaluation make the picture clearer and help the "belts" to arrive at decisions about the value additions those made to the process by different events.

This principle obviously goes beyond standardizing the processes and setting the pathway for being vigilant about adherence to the Six Sigma methodology. Useless values which have lost meaning make way for more meaningful events and eventually more robust and comprehensive processes. In a Six Sigma environment, customer demands will assume a key role in driving the processes towards aligning all activities with the vision of the leader of the company. The approach is "how to" rather than "what to" deliver.

The ISO 9000 Approach

The ISO approach towards quality management concentrates on standardization of the activities of production. The eight quality principles of ISO 9000, along with its twenty-four requirements outline business processes. The emphasis here is on the control of events in each aspect of doing business by documenting evidence and reports. The eight principles of ISO 9000 include prioritizing customer data, purchasing and quality systems, among other critical aspects. ISO 9000 recognizes each process, whose end goals are the same, as an independent entity. Documented quality requirements typically decide, based on set rules, whether or not a particular process adhered to that standard.

Document and Process Control

Maintenance of quality is achieved by adhering to key process and document control. Operating procedures and process control documents restrict deviations outside the concepts of what you should be doing in every process. What-you-should-be-doing is given emphasis under standard conditions rather than dealing with process improvement.

Stalwarts in industry are examining the possibility of merging the best practices of the two. Several industry leaders have already acknowledged the benefits of using both methodologies to compliment each other. Another view is that, as Six Sigma implementation is what you do within your company (unlike the certification in ISO) the company does not get recognition for achieving successful Six Sigma implementation. However, as long as the culmination of a business activity is defined by both methodologies as retaining and improving the customer base along with maximizing the bottom line, rejection of one in favor of other will be hard to justify.

Tony Jacowski is a quality analyst for The MBA Journal. Aveta Solution's Six Sigma Online offers online six sigma training and certification classes for lean six sigma, black belts, green belts, and yellow belts

Seven Layers of ISO OSI Model

The ISO OSI model are explained below. The seven layers of the OSI model are:
 

• Application
• Presentation
• Session
• Transport
• Network
• Antiqua">Data Link
• Physical

 

1 Application layer:
This layer provides a means for the user to access information on the network through an application. Many user applications that need to communicate over the network interact with the Application layer protocol directly. The user applications are not part of OSI Application layer, use the networking services offered by the networking protocol suite. Application layer functions typically include identifying communication partners, and determining availability of required resources. Some examples of application layer implementations include Telnet, File Transfer Protocol (FTP), and Simple Mail Transfer Protocol (SMTP).
 

2 Presentation layer:
Presentation layer converts local host computer data representations into a standard network format for transmission on the network. On the receiving side, it changes the network format into the appropriate host computer's format so that data can be utilized independent of the host computer. ASCII and EBCDIC conversions, cryptography, and the like are handled here. Examples of Presentation layer coding and conversion schemes include common data representation formats, conversion of character representation formats, common data compression schemes, and common data encryption schemes.
 

Presentation layer implementations are not typically associated with a particular protocol stack. Some well-known standards for video include QuickTime and Motion Picture Experts Group (MPEG). QuickTime is an Apple Computer specification for video and audio, and MPEG is a standard for video compression and coding.

3. Session layer:
The session layer establishes, manages, and terminates communication sessions. Communication sessions consist of service requests and service responses that occur between applications located in different network devices. These requests and responses are coordinated by protocols implemented at the session layer. Some examples of session-layer implementations include AppleTalk's Zone Information Protocol (ZIP), and Decent Phase Session Control Protocol (SCP).
 

4.Transport layer:
Transport layer is responsible for providing reliable service between the hosts. Upper layer datagrams are broken down into manageable datagrams and then appropriate header information (such as sequence number, port number, etc.) is added to the datagram before passing it on to the Network layer. Two frequently used transport protocols are the TCP (Transmission Control Protocol) and the UDP (User Datagram Protocol).
 

Important features of Transport layer:

 

• Transport layer ensures reliable service.
• Breaks the message (from sessions layer) into smaller datagrams, and appends appropriate unit header information.
• Responsible for communicating with the Session layer

 

Important features of TCP/UDP:

 

• TCP/IP widely used protocol for Transport/Network layers
• TCP: (Transport Control Protocol) TCP ensures that a packet has reached its intended destination by using an acknowledgement. If not, it retransmits the lost messages. Hence, TCP is called a connection oriented protocol.
• UDP (Universal Data gram Protocol): UDP simply transmits packets over the internet. It does not wait for an acknowledgement. It is the responsibility of upper layer protocols to ensure that the information had reached the intended partner(s). Hence, UDP is often called connectionless protocol.
• Application programs that do not need connection-oriented protocol generally use UDP.

 

5. Network layer:
Network layer is responsible for the routing of packets through the entire network. The layer uses logical addressing for this purpose. Note that the physical address (like MAC address) keeps changing from hop to hop when a packet travels from source to destination. As a result, an address that doesn't change is required to ensure continuity between hops. This is nothing but logical address. For IP networks, IP address is the logical address; and for Novell network, IPX address is the logical address, and so on. This layer also provides for congestion control, and accounting information for the network. IP (Internet Protocol) is an example of a network layer protocol.
 

6. Data link layer:
Data link layer provides delivery of information frames between communicating partners. This layer is responsible for flow regulation, error detection and correction, and framing of bits for transmission. The network data frame is made up of checksum, source address, destination address, and the data itself. The largest frame size that can be sent is known as the maximum transmission Unit (MTU).

Important features of Data link layer:
 

 

• Assembles bits into frames, making them ready for transmission over the network.

   

   

• Provides error detection, and correction to transmitted frames. If the checksum is not correct, it asks for retransmission. (Send a control message).

   

   

• Consists of two sub layers:

   

   

  1. Logical Link Control (LLC): Defines how data is transferred over the cable and provides data link service to the higher layers.

      

      

  2. Medium Access Control (MAC): Controls media access by regulating the communicating nodes using pre-defined set of rules. (i.e. Token passing, Ethernet [CSMA/CD] all have MAC sub-layer protocol).

Different Data link layer protocols define different network and protocol characteristics, including physical addressing, network topology, error notification, sequencing of frames, and flow control. Physical addressing (as opposed to logical addressing) defines how devices are addressed at the data link layer. The protocols used in Data link layer are SLIP, PPP, and CSLP.
 

 

7. Physical layer:
This is the bottom-most layer of the OSI model. The Physical layer handles the bit-level communications across the physical medium. The physical medium could be made up of wired electrical signals, or light, or radio (wireless) signals. Physical layer specifications define characteristics such as media, data rates, maximum transmission distances, and physical connectors.
Some of the important standards that deal with physical layer specifications are:
RS-232(for serial communication lines), X.21, EIA 232, and G730.
Physical layer and Data link layer implementations can be categorized as either LAN or WAN specifications.

Vijayanand has done his post graduation (M.E.) in Communication Systems. He has several years of experience in electronic assembly and design, rf testing, and networking. He is a Cisco Certified Networking Professional, and an MCSE (Microsoft Certified Systems Engineer). He is a director of Anand Software and Training Pvt. Ltd. Complete tutorial on Networking is available at SimulationExams.com

Which ISO Setting Should I Use?

What ISO setting should you use for everyday photography?

There is no simple answer, but have a look at the following responses to decide what is best for you:

"I usually use ISO 100, but if I realise I can’t hold the camera still I increase the ISO or use a tripod"

"I most usually shoot at ISO 100, 200 and occasionally ISO 400. It annoys me that there is slight noise when I zoom on the PC. In reality you won't see it"

"I start at 100, and work up until I get a reasonable shutter speed that I feel I can cope with"

"I set the camera at 200 in good weather and 400 in bad"

"In bad light I don’t go below 400"

"Inside, I start at 400, then go to 800 or more when needed. Outside I start at 100"

"If I tend to get camera shake I increase the ISO till everything is OK"

"In fully automatic mode my camera does this itself"

"I find I use 100 rarely. I prefer to go for a higher ISO to get faster shutter speeds"

So, you can see that the ISO setting is dependent upon the conditions and upon personal preferences. Experiment to find the settings that work best for you.

Eric Hartwell runs the photography resource site http://www.theshutter.co.uk and the associated discussion forums as well as the regular weblog at http://thephotographysite.blogspot.com

Photography A - Z the Easy Way: I - ISO Setting

Do you know what ISO is? Perhaps not. And, in fact, you don’t need to know what it is – just how to use it. In very simple terms, the ISO setting is a measure of how sensitive your camera sensor is to light. A low ISO (e.g. 100) will not be very sensitive to light whereas a high setting (e.g. 1600) will be very sensitive.

How does this affect you?

It’s simple, and don’t let others tell you otherwise. If you have plenty of light around – say on a sunny day or if it is bright but overcast, use ISO setting 100 or 200. In fact, keep it at that setting for most of your shots. Then just take your pictures as normal.

If however, you are in low light levels, you may wish to use flash (keep the same ISO setting) OR use a higher ISO without flash.

Here is an example of practical use:

You want to take a picture of your friend. Normally, on a normal bright day, you would use programme mode or a semi-automatic mode which will select an aperture of 5.6 and shutter speed of 1/250. No problem.

But if the light is fading and you don’t want to use flash, then the shutter speed for the same aperture might reduce to 1/30 or 1/15. At slow speeds like this you will find your shots are not as sharp due to camera shake. Here, you can switch to a higher ISO setting – for every doubling of the ISO you can halve the shutter speed. Therefore you will be able to use a faster shutter speed in low light conditions with a higher ISO.

That’s it really.

There are two drawbacks. First, you will get a “noisier” image at a higher ISO setting (more grainy – but this can often create a nice effect) and secondly you must remember to switch back to your usual ISO after the shots have been taken (so that your usual images have the optimum ISO setting).

Eric Hartwell runs the photography resource site http://www.theshutter.co.uk and the associated discussion forums as well as the regular weblog at http://thephotographysite.blogspot.com.

The ISO Network Management Model

The rumor on how Disney uses Network Management. When the temperature rises on the park grounds at Disneyland all the prices of the beverage vending machines automatically goes up by 10% to fully capitalize on consumer demand. I believe that is an old Information Technology rumor to explain how network management works... at least I hope it is a rumor.

Why Network Management is important.
More and more organizations depend on their networks. Business’ the depend heavily on the status of their networks must have network management tools as they grow. If a network dependent business such as ebay, Google, Yahoo and many others go down for even a few minutes, they can loose literally hundreds of thousands of dollars in sales and even a small piece of their customer’s confidence which could in turn affect the value of their stock. When every second of network time counts the system must be monitored continuously. The most cost effective way to do this is to use an automated network management tool.

Network Management Standards
The International Organization for Standards (ISO) addresses the five major functional area of the Network Management Model as performance management, accounting management, configuration management, fault management and security management.

Performance Management
Performance management is monitoring, assessing, and adjusting the available bandwidth and network resource usage in order make a network run more efficiently. Performance management is a very important part of the network management model particularly to the business and/or organization that wants to streamline their network's performance. SolarWinds is a great tool for performance management.

Accounting Management
Accounting management monitors and assesses the usage of data and/or resources for the purpose of billing. This aspect of the network management is by Internet Service Providers to bill customers for the resources they use.

Configuration Management
The configuration side of network management is for tracking the hardware and software versions on the network to identify their effects on the network's operation. An example of this is Microsoft’s System Management Server (SMS) which has the capability to monitor, manage and track every piece of software and hardware on a given network.

Fault Management
Fault Management is what most people think of when they think of network management. The purpose of this area of network management is to detect, log and alert the system administrators of problems that might effect the systems operations.

Security Management
Security Management deals with controlling access to resources and even alerting the proper authorities when certain resources are accessed. In the same way that a network manager can be paged or emailed when a resource goes down, network management systems can be used to send messages when certain files, servers or routers is accesses. Intrusion detection systems such as Symantec’s Intruder Alert have this security management capability.

There are many products that support some or even all of these areas of network management. What most network management systems have in common is their use of protocols such as Simple Network Management Protocols (SNMP), SNMPv3, and Common Management Information Protocol (CMIP). There are a variety of Network Management tools ranging from Intuit's Network Management Software to IBM's Tivoli, Fidelia's Helix to AdventNet. Maybe your network management solution does not include a system that increases vending machine prices as the heat rises, but you can definitely find what you need among these and other excellent tools on the market.

References:

Cisco. Network Management Basics. Cisco.com. Feb 2002
http://www.cisco.com/

RFC 1157. Simple Network Management Protocol.
http://www.faqs.org/rfcs/rfc1157.html

Wikipedia. Network Management. Wikipedia.org.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Network_management

ITPRC. Network Management. Itprc.com
http://www.itprc.com/nms.htm

Robert Elam is a System Security Engineer who works for the U.S. government.

You can find a more detailed version of this and other articles at his blog, http://elamb.org.

ISO 9001, What Next?

The overriding goal of ISO-14000. (History 1995)

As ISO-9000 becomes a way of life for the global business community, ISO-14000 is almost ready to debut with its own set of standards for voluntary environmental compliance.

Much has been heard recently about the antiregulation sentiment sweeping across the country. Lawmakers in Washington have responded with talk of "regulatory reform" and programs aimed at "re-inventing government."

One of the targets of this regulatory backlash has been the ever-burgeoning flood of environmental laws and regulations continuing to impose burdens on corporate America. A common thread running throughout this rhetoric has been a perception that government is too big and that corporate self-policing and self-management can achieve far greater benefits at far less cost.

It is unlikely that meaningful relief from environmental regulations will come any time soon. However, a major step in the direction of voluntary corporate initiatives in this area is on the horizon.

Getting Ready for 14000

The Geneva-based International Standards Organization, with the assistance of representatives from over 40 countries, is in the final stages of developing ISO-14000, a set of voluntary international environmental quality standards designed to promote sound corporate management of environmental compliance matters.

When fully adopted in early 1996, the standards will allow companies to obtain ISO-14000 certification of their operations in recognition of the development of these comprehensive environmental quality standards.

ISO-14000 is the second major undertaking of the International Standards Organization in developing international quality management systems for business enterprises. In the mid-1980s the Organization adopted its ISO-9000 series of standards for corporate quality management. The ISO-9000 program provided a formal mechanism for certifying that a company had developed and integrated certain quality management principles into its business operations.

While initially slow to gain acceptance in the business community, ISO-9000 certification is fast becoming a necessary part of standard business practices, both in the US and abroad. It is estimated that by 1996, 12,000 US companies will be ISO-9000-certified, up from only 100 in 1990. Internationally, more than 50,000 companies have received ISO-9000 certification.

The idea behind extending the ISO quality management principles into the environmental arena arose out of the historic United Nations Conference on Environment and Development held in Rio de Janeiro in 1992.

Joe Cascio, IBM program director/environmental, health and safety standardization, and chairman of one of the ISO technical advisor groups, reports that the Rio conference discussions produced "a proliferation of national and regional environmental management, labeling and audit schemes that could have impacted international trade in a very severe way." The need to bring some standardization to these conflicting programs ultimately provided the impetus for the formation of ISO-14000.

What IS0-14000 is - and isn't - About

What, then, is ISO-14000 all about? The overriding goal of ISO-14000 is to develop a comprehensive system of universally accepted corporate standards to ensure that companies will be in a position to successfully manage their environmental compliance matters.

ISO-14000 is not about developing regulations to attain certain pollution standards. Instead, the focus is on the management of environmental issues or the development of internal corporate management programs ultimately leading to responsible and verifiable operating strategies that will result in the efficient use of natural resources and the protection of the environment.

ISO-14000 calls for the development of corporate Environmental Management Systems (EMSs) to guide not only the environmental performance of a company's industrial operations but also the potential environmental impact of the goods or services produced.

As envisioned by ISO-14000, an effective corporate EMS requires that a company review the environmental issues and challenges confronting the organization and ultimately develop policies, objectives, target strategies and production processes to meet and properly manage these challenges.

ISO-14000 spells out in detail the guiding principles for the development of effective EMS programs:

First and foremost, ISO-14000 acknowledges that environmental management must be among the highest corporate priorities. ISO-14000 also acknowledges that a company and its highest levels of management must demonstrate their commitment to the EMS process.

Additionally, for effective implementation of EMS programs, ISO-14000 recognizes the importance of adequate resources, including proper employee training, to the success of any EMS.

Finally, ISO-14000 recognizes that standardized and comprehensive procedures must be in place in order to correctly assess the effectiveness of these EMS programs and ensure the accountability of responsible corporate managers for the success or failure of these endeavors.

Moving beyond philosophical principles, ISO-14000 also details the critical elements of an effective EMS. It requires companies to perform an "Initial Environmental Review" of their operations. This review will include an identification of all regulatory obligations and potentially significant environmental impacts of a company's operations. This initial review must also include an honest assessment of the company's compliance status and the extent to which the company is meeting its regulatory obligations.

Once this review is completed and a company understands the status of its environmental compliance efforts, it can then move on to the EMS planning process. ISO-14000 states as one of its guiding principles that "an organization should focus on what needs to be done - it should have a purpose and a plan."

For the implementation of an EMS, the purpose and plan includes the development of overriding environmental policies, the establishment of environmental objectives and targets to meet these policy goals, and the preparation of a strategic plan and management program aimed at implementing these identified policies and objectives through scheduled action items.

The remaining critical component of an effective EMS, as recognized in ISO-14000, is the development of procedures to measure and monitor a company's success in carrying out its EMS and achieving its environmental policy and performance goals.

Critical components of ISO-14000 are the development of standardized performance evaluation and auditing procedures. Once completed, these procedures will be used as benchmarks to assess the true effectiveness of any EMS.

The EMS program outlined in ISO-14000 is by no means revolutionary. In fact, critics of ISO-14000 argue the program is nothing more than a paperwork exercise with few benefits and many burdens. Proponents offer that evaluating existing compliance, documenting findings and actively attempting to manage the environmental impact of one's operation is a challenge for even the most e nvironmentally responsible of corporate citizens.

The corresponding benefits to be gained from this process, say these proponents, include the fostering of good public relations and community and consumer support, the simplification of the compliance challenge through an understandable and orderly EMS implementation process, and the opportunity for cost savings and increased profits resulting from proactive management of environmental liabilities and the thoughtful development of pollution prevention and resource conservation strategies.

What Will the Impact Be?

At this early stage in the ISO-14000 development process, it is hard to predict the exact impact these new standards will have on the industrial community, including the converting industry. Many observers are predicting the impact to be significant and pervasive. In part, this view is bolstered by the dramatic integration of the ISO-9000 standards into the industrial community.

It is expected that companies with substantial international operations will be obligated to pursue ISO-14000 certification as this program continues to gain momentum abroad.

For US operations the impact is a little less certain. The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has adopted a "wait and see" attitude on ISO-14000. To date, the Agency has resisted programs that have strayed too far from traditional "command and control" regulatory schemes. Recently, though, with its Common Sense Initiatives and Environmental Leadership Program, EPA appears to be moving in the direction of affirming, if not promoting, ISO-14000-styled programs.

In order for ISO-14000 to truly catch on in the US, however, EPA must move beyond merely a tacit recognition of the program and provide tangible benefits to the regulated community for achieving ISO-14000 recognition.

Driso provide ISO 9001 2000 consultancy, auditing, software, and training Services. They also supply Easy ISO 9001 2000® software for initially setting up an ISO 9001 2000 compliant Quality Management System or improving upon an existing one.

To contact Driso Consultancy Services visit the web site below and see what they can do for you and your business. Contact: http://www.driso.co.uk for more details.

ISO 9001 2000, Getting Started on The Route To Registration

 

ISO 9001 2000, Getting started

Before starting the ISO 9001 2000 route to registration you will need to have the top management on board. This can be achieved by highlighting to top management the cost benefits to the business of ISO 9001 2000 registration.

If you feel unable to sell the benefits of ISO 9001 registration to your business or that you are unqualified to do this then it will be worth you contacting a consultant to assist you with this process. The consultant will have all the necessary tools and examples to hand.

Next you will need to consider what your business is trying to achieve, most businesses want to make money but as with all things there are many ways of achieving the same goal. Some businesses are very good at what they do but I have never yet encountered the perfect business.

If you feel there is no room for improvement in you business you may need to see your doctor about delusional thoughts.

(If you genuinely think you have the perfect business, be it ISO 9001 2000 related or otherwise please contact me at [admindriso.co.uk] and invite me to audit your business. Yes I do charge, albeit the normal daily rate.)

Okay, so you now know what your business is trying to achieve. I'm sure it will be something like:

"We aim to provide our customers with the best value (Widgets or service) on time, every time etc.

Well done, you have just written your companies Quality Management System Policy.

Next we have to look at how your business is going to work towards and then achieve its new Policy. A good starting point is to identify the objectives each department need to set in order to meet the requirements of your policy. Some typical examples for a Sales order process might be:

Reply to customer enquiries within 1 hours of receipt.

Update sales database with customer details before order acknowledgment.

After sales database entry send order acknowledgement on the same day as order received.

Send product catalogue to new customer on day of order receipt.

Run credit check on new customers before loading order to production schedule.

The process objectives can be documented in text format or as flow simple flow diagram. Many businesses now opt for a simple flow diagram because it dictates pictorially how a process works.

Great, you have now documented your first process. Next we need to consider what records to keep so that you can demonstrate the process objectives have been met. In the above example all the necessary records are kept on the sales database. The database automatically records the time between order entry, reply to customer, completion of customer details, acknowledgment sent, product catalogue sent, completion of credit check and loading of order to production schedule. The database will only allow things to be completed in a certain order; for example it will not allow the order to be loaded to the production schedule prior to an acceptable credit check being received. To ensure that only authorised people access the sales database it is password protected and it records the computer users ID against each sales database entry.

At the end of each week the sales manager runs an exception report to identify which targets have or have not been met, this gives him the opportunity to implement corrective action if the process is not being operated as planned. The corrective action may simply involve the re-allocation resources or additional employee training. You can of course run this process without a computer system by using a check-sheet where the process checkpoints are recorded. Using a paper-based system relies heavily on your business not entering into a blame culture, otherwise your employees may decide to falsify results rather than report a process failure. A business that operates a blame culture will never be successful, as there is no incentive for employees to report process errors and more importantly the business does not know where its processes are breaking down.

Excellent, you have documented a Quality Management System policy for your business, set departmental objectives needed to meet that policy and generated records which can be used for business process improvement.

Driso provide ISO 9001 2000 consultancy, auditing, software, and training Services. They also supply Easy ISO 9001 2000® software for initially setting up an ISO 9001 2000 compliant Quality Management System or improving upon an existing one.

To contact Driso Consultancy Services visit the web site below and see what they can do for you and your business. Contact: http://www.driso.co.uk for more details.