Explanation of Quality System Certification Requirements, 1990 Process & Product Quality Conference Proceedings

This paper is intended to outline some of the history and concepts behind quality. It describes the differences between Quality Control and Quality Assurance and also explains how the International Standard, IS0 9000 is constructed and how it can be applied to the printing industry. IS0 9000 is a mixture of Quality Control and Quality Assurance and therefore it is important to distinguish how these two important concepts are encompassed within the standard. The Method of describing how the standard works is one of taking the clauses of IS0 9000 and placing them into their respective categories against Quality Assurance and Quality Control and then explaining how each clause has an effect on one or more other clauses by the use of explanatory diagrams.

The paper also makes clear that IS0 9000 is not intended to change how a company runs its operations, but is merely there to enhance the companies effectiveness and efficiency.

The conclusion of the paper outlines a number of benefits that can be gained by introducing a Quality System against IS0 9000 and how this system can be improved to move towards the goal of Total Quality Management.