Quality

The world has been a very competitive place nowadays.  The demands of customers have been increasing over time.  Anything that we do, whether making candies, chocolate bars, car parts, computer software or the services that we provide, must be of the highest quality possible.  In essence, the products or services must meet the requirements of the customers.  Otherwise, they are not going to buy. 

To ensure quality of the products or services, there are numerous applicable regulatory requirements that must be met.  The quality of the products must be able to satisfy the increasing demands of customer satisfaction.

In order to achieve the above objectives, a company needs to continually improve its performance to ensure that the products are being produced in a consistent way over time.  To do this, what is required is a consistent, systematic and managed approach to ensure product quality that satisfies customer demands and meets regulatory regimes including a continual improvement on the processes involved.

ISO 9000:2000 series are widely accepted international quality management system standards.  These standards are based on eight quality management principles:
- Principle 1: Customer focus
- Principle 2: Leadership
- Principle 3: Involvement of people
- Principle 4: Process approach
- Principle 5: System approach to management
- Principle 6: Continual improvement
- Principle 7: Factual approach to decision making
- Principle 8: Mutually beneficial supplier relationships

A certification to the standards is not a requirement but it does help a company increase its sale of products or services.

The complete list of all the ISO 9000 series standards can be found at this link.