The Process Approach of ISO 9001

UPDATED for ISO 9001:2015 (Fourth edition, Jan. 2016) Two enormous challenges confront the quality management community–and these challenges affect quality consultants, organizational management and quality auditors. There is an urgent need to abolish a mindset pervading the community for decades, one that has reduced quality to its current confused state. Conversely, it is necessary to promote a new mindset that will bring glory to quality management, Deming and Shewhart, and ISO 9001. Until those in the quality community unequivocally accept and promote the process approach the value of ISO 9001 will continue to evade organizations hoping to find value in their ISO 9001-certified quality management systems. For those customer-focused quality professionals who understand and promote the process approach, the future is bright. Although the process approach isn’t new, it’s the future of quality management. The focus of this book is the process approach. Though it references the most current version of the developing standard, the message is about the process approach itself, which underlies ISO 9000, 9001, and 9004. The process approach (in some form) will underlie all future revisions of ISO 9001.