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THE IMPACT OF ISO 9000 ON THE DESIGN/CONSTRUCTION COMMUNITY Dr. H. Bruce Brummel, P.E. Why does an architect, an engineer, or a contractor have a need to know about ISO 9000? To answer this question, we must first understand what ISO 9000 is. The International Organization for Standardization (ISO) is the specialized international agency. One of the goals of the European Economic Community was to remove technical trade barriers. Standardized measures ensure that products and services meet the testing, safety, certification an legal requirements of all member countries. Standardization also brings down artificial barriers to trade. The standards applicable in the quality area are the ISO 9000 series of standards. Bodies from ninety-one countries belong to ISO. The United States is represented by the American National Standards Institute. The United States was part of the development process that established the ISO 9000 series of quality system requirements. In fact, the ISO 9000 Series is the American National Standard for Quality Assurance in Design, Development, Production, Installation and Servicing. The 9000 series is a set of individual, but related, quality management and assurance standards. These are general standards that were developed to effectively document the quality system elements required to maintain a company wide quality system. By following the 9000 series standard, your enterprise can build quality into your service, avoid warranty costs and reduce rework. Customers that understand your compliance with the ISO 9000 Series Standard may accept your certification and may not require further inspection of your service The ISO 9000 Standard focuses on twenty aspect of a quality assurance program that are subject to a rigorous audit during the certification process. Each section relates to a specific aspect of customer satisfaction. When trying to determine how each section applies to your organization, ask yourself "How does this relate to my costumer's needs". The following twenty elements are contained in Section 4 of the ISO 9001 standard. 4.1 Management Responsibility In the United States, the ISO 9000 series is the ANSI/ASQC Q90 series. The ANSI/ASQC Q90 standards are available from the ASQC (1-800-248-1946). It is suggested that all enterprises obtain ISO 9004/Q94 and ISO 9001/Q91, if you design or design and construct, or ISO 9002/Q92 if you only construct from someone else’s design. These standards are the foundation for an excellent TQM program. European and other foreign companies may expect U.S. companies that they wish to treade with to have quality assurance systems that are registered to the ISO 9000 series standards. Registration is required, if you sell construction products in the European community. Registration is accomplished by an accredited independent third party, which conducts an on site quality system audit. Upon successful completion of the audit, the company receives a registration certificate. This registration along with the registrars certification mark and the accreditation body’s mark may be used on advertising, letterheads or other publicity materials. The marks may not appear on the final work product. The ISO 9000 series standards have become the accepted basis of quality system requirements for product conformity assessment worldwide, with over 110,000 enterprises registered to the standard. It is the American National Standard for Quality Assurance. It is sound business practice to have a document quality system for your business. The ISO 9000 series supplies the guidelines for you to establish such a system and to keep it running. Each quality system should include: A Quality Manual. Documented Quality System Procedures. Instructions. Documented means for identifying customer requirements, including a means for translating these requirements effectively into your product and services. Measurement, testing and control equipment. A system of evaluating the capability of the organization to produce the final work product. Sufficient record keeping. A documented system to, create, coordinate and review customer contacts to insure that the customers requirements are understood, that variances are satisfactorily resolved and that the contract completion can be met. A system for the control of all documents. A purchasing system which assures that purchased products conform to the requirements. A system that provides identification and traceability throughout the work process. A system that controls production through efficient planning and control. A system of documented testing and inspection throughout the construction phase. A system to insure that test equipment is calibrated. A system to identify, segregate and control nonconforming products or services. A system to document procedures to detect and correct the causes of nonconformance. A system to document the proper storage and protection of materials and final construction. An internal quality auditing system. Sufficent training for all company employees, so that everyone understands why the system is in place and how to make it work. A system to provide post transaction services. A statistical evaluation program to effectively operate the quality program. With such a system in place, companies can have great confidence in their product continually meeting their customers requirements. With this understanding of ISO 9000, you would expect that the American design and construction community would have immediately embraced the American National Standard for Quality. Employees, would have been sent off to lead auditor school, ISO 9000, "Champions" would have arisen within each company and intercompany ISO 9000 focus groups and clubs would have sprung up across America. None of this has happened. QS 9000, a hybrid of ISO 9000 for the auto industry, has motivated some design firms and contractors (Alberici, Walbridge-Aldinger, EDG and Harvey-Ellington, among others) to have possibly become compliant to ISO 9000, through QS 9000, because their clients may have mandated compliance. Overall in America, there is not a rush in the design and construction community to become ISO 9000 compliant. If your company wished, however, to become compliant, here is what I suggest you do; Have the backing of upper management. Identify an ISO 9000 champion. Educate the champion. Educate management. Verbalize the quality policy. Write the quality manual. Educate the Internal Audit Team. Write the procedures. Educate the company. Write the Work Instructions. Audit the Quality System internally. Become ISO 9000 compliant. Reap the benefits. Dr. Brummel is a construction engineer with Harbour Contractors, Naperville, IL (630) 717-4900. His current assignment is with Airport Owners Representatives (AOR), the City of Chicago’s Supervising Consultant for Construction at the city’s three airports. Dr. Brummel is the AOR Manager for Quality. You can e-mail your comments to him at Hbrum1@aol.com or fax them to (773) 686-1721. Return to the List of Articles |
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