ISO 9004 revision focuses on sustainability

The long-awaited revision of ISO 9004 has been published with a new focus and a new title.

The guidance standard, ‘Managing for the sustained success of an organization – a quality management approach’, now reflects the global focus on being a sustainable organization.

Bob Alisic, leader of the task group for ISO 9004:2009, said of the revision: ‘While the goal is initially to ensure the production of “good” products and services, leading to the achievement of customer satisfaction, the longer-term purpose is to ensure the economic survival of the organization.

‘The new edition gives guidance on how an organization should adopt a systematic approach to achieve this.’

One of the main changes to the 2000 version is that the body of the standard now starts with a chapter on how to make an organization sustainable, rather than a chapter on how to build a quality management system. Changes have also been made in order to improve consistency with ISO 9001.

Jose Dominguez, a leader of the ISO 9001 task group, said: ‘The objectives of customer satisfaction and product quality are extended in ISO 9004:2009 to include the satisfaction of interested parties and the performance of the organization.

‘The combination of ISO 9001 and ISO 9004 will allow you to get the most of your quality system.’

via NQA UK Reporter – News archive – November 2009.