The following application article is part of a larger set of articles
published under the title ISO 9000 in Scientific
Computing as a special supplement to Scientific Computing & Automation
magazine.
In the effort to differentiate their products and position their companies
in an increasingly competitive marketplace, more and more organizations
are turning to "quality" as a means to achieve a competitive edge.
But quality is no longer an intellectual concept. With the advent of ISO
9000, there is now a pragmatic means of implementing an externally audited
quality system through the use of an internationally recognized standard.
In the realm of scientific computing, implementing a quality system that's
measured against a standard has numerous ramifications. First, if a customer
discovers a bug in their software and complains to the manufacturer, the
manufacturer's ISO 9000 system requires that the complaint be addressed
in a timely manner. The customer may have to wait for the next revision
to get resolution, but in a truly customer-driven organization, the bug
will be resolved quickly, possibly within the month. Second, businesses
who sell products to regulated companies, such as pharmaceutical manufacturers,
may find that customer audits can be expedited and eventually eliminated.
The surprising thing about ISO 9000 is that the standard is only seven pages
long. The irritating thing is the difficulty companies have interpreting
the information on those seven short pages. The reality is that every company
will approach the task of interpreting and implementing ISO 9000 differently.
I would like to thank the people who shared their time and commentary for
these articles. Their helpful, sometimes painful, insights and honesty give
validity to the advice and experiences they share on these pages.
This supplement provides a comprehensive look at the steps involved in achieving
ISO 9000 certification. It inspects what it takes to get started, what roadblocks
other companies have encountered, and how to bypass problem areas, while
examining different solutions that top industry players put in place. In
essence, Scientific Computing & Automation goes beyond the scope
of scientific computing to provide a broad look at factors that affect the
overall quality of any product within an organization. In doing so, our
objective is to provide a guide to success while offering an in-depth look
at the internal as well as external impact of quality systems.