ISO 9001:2015—An Introduction

Getting acquainted with the standard

ISO 9001 might be the most confusing document in business history. I first became aware of the standard in the late 1980s when my manager handed it to me and said, “See if you can figure this thing out. Our plant has to get certified.”

I took the document back to my desk and attempted to read it. The first attempt was a failure. On the second attempt, I got a little further. On the third attempt, I think I read the whole thing, but I still wasn’t sure what it said. All I could remember was “blah, blah, blah… quality system.” And we were supposed to get certified to this? Impossible.

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Comments

ISO 9001:2015 structure

Looks like the main body of the standard is structured on Plan-Do-Check-Act (aka PDCA). Pretty easy to grasp if you're already familiar with that concept.

PDCA

Wonderful to see that Deming is not forgotten.

Deming

Deming has long been forgotten by ISO 9001, and the bulk of the text and management principles CONTRADICT his work. The ISO committee trots out his name only to give ISO 9001 an illusion of validity, and it's obscene. Deming is spinning in his grave at the notion that an international standard would promote concepts such as management by objective, management through command and control, and one-way control over suppliers. The invoking of Deming to promote ISO 9001 is akin to using dead celebrities to sell Coca Cola, without their permission. But there's not much Deming can do about, since he's dead. It's ghoulish.