(Publisher’s Note: This article, is reprinted with permission from THE INFORMED OUTLOOK, in which it first appeared in Nov. 2003.)

Following the ISO 9001:2000 transition, the future of quality management continues to align with that of business management. The challenge in both cases is for organizations to move beyond baseline practices provided by traditional management approaches. Companies that fail to rise to the challenge could lose their competitive edge or their existence in an increasingly global marketplace.

Continual improvement, which was made explicit in the generic quality management system requirements of ISO 9001:2000, is the element that can provide security to organizations that effectively pursue it throughout their operations. In the aerospace sector, this security is provided by AS9100A, Quality Systems-Aerospace-Model for Quality Assurance in Design, Development, Production, Installation and Servicing, which was published in August 2001 and is aligned with ISO 9001:2000.

Security refers to an organization’s ability to remain competitive, healthy and profitable enough to respond to marketplace changes and thrive as a business. Simply maintaining a QMS that meets the baseline requirements of ISO 9001:2000 or any aligned sector standard, no matter how many additional requirements are added, isn’t enough in a tough economic climate.

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