Does ISO 9001 Certification Remind You of Spoiled Milk?

Misunderstanding its purpose sours the whole thing

Editor's note: Dan Nelson will be a guest on Quality Digest LIVE Friday March 14, 2014, at 11 a.m. Pacific.

Bill Cosby once did a routine about a funny aspect of human nature: How we all seem to have a hard time believing the obvious.

So Cosby pulls some milk out of the fridge. He sniffs it. It’s unbelievably rancid, and disgust and nausea instantly register on his face. He holds the carton away from himself, and once able to breathe, proclaims that the milk is sour. Someone nearby takes the carton and sniffs it. “Yep,” confirms this second witness, gagging at the vile odor, “the milk is definitely bad.”

“Here, let me smell it,” says another, who almost passes out from the smell—but not before another requests, “Let me smell it!”

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An issue I'm currently facing

I'm sure the good readers of Quality Digest will be shocked to hear this, but I'm currently facing this issue, as I inherited a QMS that was 'designed' around the ISO 9001 standard. Not only that, but it was designed around the old 1994 standard! So, it might as well be written in Latin for all the use it is.

Great Article

This was very helpful! As a Project Manager who works closely with Quality Engineers towards certification, this really helped clear up some misconceptions. Very well written, thank you......and Go Hawks!

Thanks for your kind words.

Thanks for your kind words. I'm hoping some Hawks will start going on this soon!

Spoiled milk from 1994--yum!

Spoiled milk from 1994--yum! That's why they put expiration dates on that stuff, huh?

What, truly, is spoiled here?

Is it the poorly written, nearly incomprehensible standard (For example: 7.2.1 Determination of requirements related to the production vs 7.2.2, Review of the requirements related to the product), or is the implementation that smells?

Hmmm.

Poor implementation of quality management

Poor implementation of quality management due to the influence of ISO 9001 accounts for most of the smell, in my opinion. The standard itself is kind of neutral smelling. Those who apply it should be trained adequately to where the statement of the requirements doesn't confuse the intent of the requirements. Those who apply ISO 9001 shouldn't be confused by its intent, or they might end up with a certified-but-rotten system.