Over the years, there have been various versions of the ISO 9001 standard, such as ISO 9000, ISO 9002 and ISO 9003. However, in 2000 it was decided to replace all of this with a less bureaucratic system that would be able to monitor tasks and activities, embed quality from top to bottom in the business system, and improve customer satisfaction to improve utilization.
In this article, we will look at the deleted versions of the 9000 standard family and whether ISO 9001: 2015 is really a superior quality management system.
ISO 9000 family
The ISO 9000 family of standards was first published in 1987 under the British standard BS 5750, established in 1979. The goal of the ISO standards family was to provide organizations with the requirements to build a quality management system (QMS). For a wide range of different business activities, the idea was for a business to choose the standard version from the three models that was most appropriate, and finally to obtain certification.
ISO 9001: 1987
When ISO 9001 was first published in 1987, it focused on final inspections and was intended for use by organizations involved in the design, development, production, installation, and service. Over time, it became clear that ISO 9001: 1987 was heavily influenced by existing US defense standards and other defense standards (“MIL SPECS”) and was revised in 1994. The 1994 version was adapted to emphasize quality assurance through precautionary measures, rather than inspection of the final product.
ISO 9002: 1987
When ISO 9002 was first released in 1987, it was specifically designed for organizations involved in manufacturing, installation and service. This standard was in fact the same as the ISO 9001 standard in all but one case. ISO 9002 is only used for manufacturers who do not design or develop their own products. This is because the standard does not include any design control requirements. As a result, this standard was very useful for companies that produced other people’s designs. For example, it may be one of the companies like Foxconn or Pagatron that manufactures the iPhone on behalf of Apple. These manufacturers have not designed the products they make; Rather, they were designed by Apple. So ISO 9002 might be a good choice for those third-party manufacturers at the time.
ISO 9003: 1987
In particular, ISO 9003: 1987 does not include design control, process control, procurement or service. Instead, it focuses on inspections and testing to ensure that products and services meet specified requirements. Organizations usually need to make sure that the products they buy and resell meet their customers’ expectations.
So why did ISO 9001 replace ISO 9002 and ISO 9003?
In 2000, a major overhaul of the ISO 9000 family took place. The three versions of the standard were merged into a single standard called ISO 9001 2000.
This ISO 9001: 2000 standard had new concepts, including a well-known process-based approach. Other senior management needed to be involved, so that quality was in the current business model. Performance metrics were also introduced along with continuous improvement and customer satisfaction.
In addition to changing attitudes, for the first time in the history of ISO 9000, family businesses were allowed to exclude selected segments from the standard requirements. This opened it up to a wider range of business activities, eliminating the need for multiple versions of the standard, and repealing ISO 9002 and ISO 9003.
For companies that were previously ISO 9002 or 9003 certified, ISO 9001 certification did not mean losing a targeted system, but gaining a system that was more flexible to their business needs and provided far more benefits than before.
What happened when ISO 9001: 2000 was replaced by ISO 9001: 2008 ?
In 2008, the ISO 9001 standard underwent one of the smallest revisions of its time, and virtually no new requirements were added. Instead, the aim of the review was to provide more transparency in existing standard sections. A total of 16 clauses were changed for this purpose.
Was it the same for the revision of ISO 9001: 2015 ?
The answer to this question is no; Because this time a very big change happened. The most notable change in this version of the standard was the structure. It adopted the new High Level Structural Standard (HLS), also known as the Annex SL Structure. This new structure made it easier to integrate multiple management systems without relying on PAS 99. In addition, the structure aligns the common requirements, which make up one-third of the text, with various standards, including ISO 14001 and ISO 27001 .