In October this year BSI marked the 20th anniversary of the international standard for quality management ISO 9001, with a drinks reception in London. With more than 800,000 ISO 9001 certifications worldwide, and many more organizations using it internally, this is one of the best known international standards and the one that took quality management from the production line to the boardroom.
Mike Low, Director of BSI British Standards and Flemming Norklit, Managing Director of BSI Management Systems hosted the event which celebrated the successes of ISO 9001 with over 80 BSI stakeholders including existing customers, certification bodies, committee chairmen and members. An award was presented by Flemming to Tarmac Topfloor, the first company to be certified to ISO 9001 by BSI Management Systems back in 1978. They were originally certified to ISO 9001’s predecessor, BS 5750.
Over the last 20 years ISO 9001 has changed significantly. In 1987 ISO 9001 evolved from British Standard BS 5750, which was originally developed in response to challenges in British high-tech industries to develop a quality assurance system for design, manufacture and installation. From that time ISO 9001 has progressed from an inspection-based requirements specification to a management systems standard aimed at improving customer satisfaction. With the revisions already planned for the 2008 and 2009 versions of ISO 9001 and ISO 9004 respectively, draft publications indicate that the standard is continually improving to ensure it meets the current and anticipated business requirements. This time the focus seems to be towards providing a framework for long-term business sustainability.
