What is the difference between ISO 9001, 9002 and 9003?

1. What is the difference between ISO 9001, 9002 and 9003? David Nandigam

2. ISO 9000 If you have heard of ISO 9000, then it is most probably through ISO 9001, ISO 9002 or ISO 9003, the three quality assurance models from the ISO9000:1994 standard against which organizations can be certified. At some stage, you have probably wondered what the difference between them is. The answer is that the difference is simply one of scope. (Note: ISO9000:2000 merges ISO9002 and ISO9003 into ISO9001).

3. ISO 9001 ISO 9001 sets out the requirements for an organization whose business processes range all the way from design and development, to production, installation and servicing;

4. ISO 9002 For an organization which does NOT carry out design and development, ISO 9002 is the appropriate standard, since it does not include the design control requirements of ISO 9001 - otherwise, its requirements are identical;

5. ISO 9003 ISO 9003 is the appropriate standard for an organization whose business processes do NOT include design control, process control, purchasing or servicing, and which basically uses inspection and testing to ensure that final products and services meet specified requirements. So, an organization chooses that its quality system be certified against ISO 9001, ISO 9002 or ISO 9003 according to the business processes covered by the quality system. There is no difference of quality ranking between the three standards.

6. Some Common ISO Examples Take a look at the graphical symbols on the dashboard of your car or at the pictorial symbol on a package marked with handling instructions such as "This way up". Various ISO technical committees have developed or adopted hundreds of carefully researched signs and symbols that convey clear-cut messages which cross language boundaries.

7. Some Common ISO Examples On the inside cover of nearly every book, there is something called an ISBN number. ISBN stands for International Standard Book Number. Publishers and booksellers are very familiar with ISBN numbers, since they are the keyway that books are ordered and bought. Try buying a book on the Internet, and you will soon learn the value of the ISBN number there is a unique number for the book you want! And, it is based on an ISO standard.

8. Some Common ISO Examples Almost everything you need and use for work and home comes from somewhere else. Whether departure and destination points are as close as A to B, or as far apart as Antwerp and Bangkok, freight containers ensure a smooth passage for your goods and materials. From truck to train, from boat to plane, there are more than five million freight containers transiting across the globe. This has become possible principally through international standardization.

9. Some Common ISO Examples Yet another example: the chair that you're probably sitting on, or the desk your computer is perched on, are held together by bolts and screws. Humble bolts and screws also hold together our children's bicycles and also the aircraft we trust our lives to during business trips or holiday travel. The diversity of screw threads used to represent big problems for industry, particularly in maintenance, as lost or damaged nuts and bolts could not easily be replaced. A global solution is supplied in the ISO standards for metric screw threads.

10. Some Common ISO Examples A last example: the credit card you may have used to buy your computer can be used worldwide because all its basic features are based on ISO standards. We are so familiar with many objects, like credit or telephone cards, that we tend to assume they just "fell out of the sky". In fact, the ease with which we can use them can be traced back to an ISO standard.