The latest edition of the ISO 9000 Quality Systems Handbook is the sixth revision of this excellent book by David Hoyle.
It has been updated to cover the changes in ISO 9001:2008 that I have already covered in this blog.
In my view, this is all you need to understand and apply ISO 9000 to your business whether it’s in pursuit of ISO 9001:2008 certification or just business improvement in general. Of course, if you’re a quality consultant and auditor like me you’ll find this weighty tome invaluable.
David’s style, and approach in general to the ISO 9000 series, has always been constructive but direct. If he thinks the standard is unclear or ambiguous, as it is in many places, he says so, why he thinks so, and how best to deal with these failings. In this edition he has even considered the views of John Seddon, a long time critic of ISO 9001 (see his book The Case Against ISO 9000).
The ISO 9000 Quality Systems Handbook now has a new structure.
Part 1 Before You Start puts the ISO 9000 family of standards into context, defines quality and why it is important to organisations. It introduces the management principles on which the standards are based. There is a whole chapter on stakeholders, the importance of whom will become much more apparent when the new version of ISO 9004 is available. This part ends with a practical guide to the use of the ISO 9000 family of standards.
Part 2 Approaches to Achieving, Sustaining and Improving Quality covers six different approaches to getting to the level of quality that will lead to sustained success, the benefits and drawbacks of each approach.
Part 3, 4, 5, 6 and 7 deal with Complying with ISO 9001 Sections Requirements. These are the sections most people will turn to who are trying to achieve ISO 9001 certification. It’s a little bit odd that David couldn’t have put another Part in front of these so that they were numbered the same as the ISO 9001 sections! Each requirement is explained in terms of What Does This Mean? Why Is This Necessary?, How Is This Demonstrated?, so that you not only get to know what the standard says but why it says it and what you need to do to comply with it.
Part 8 System Assessment Certification and Continuing Development provides tools to help you prepare for assessment, how assessments are conducted and how to progress beyond ISO 9001 certification.
It remains to be seen what the effect of the new version of ISO 9004 will be (called ISO 9004:2009 though it’s struggling not to become ISO 9004:2010!). In the meantime, beyond obtaining a copies of ISO 9000:2005 and ISO 9001:2008, this is the only other publication you might need.
