The ISO 9000 series is underpinned by 8 principles of quality management. These principles can be considered “threads” of good business practice that should focus the application and intent of the ISO 9000 series. In short, a decent grasp of what these principles are driving at will increase the chances that the organisation will use the ISO 9000 series to best effect. ISO 9004 provides guidance on the way that these principles should be applied. The quotes in italics are taken from ISO 9004

Customer focus

Fundamental concepts include: effective customer communication regarding requirements, orders and complaints, a means of measuring customer satisfaction and identifying a means of improving customer satisfaction over time. This principle acknowledges the fact that success is not all about conformity, and that even with good conformity levels, it is possible to lose business by upsetting the customer relationship by other means. So far as customer satisfaction goes, perception is reality. This means that if the customer is not satisfied (even if they should be) they aren't. A number of ISO 9001 clauses link directly to this principle, for example:

5.2 Customer focus (the organisation should know what that means in its operational context)

5.6.2 b Management review input (should include customer feedback metrics)

5.6.3 b Management review output (should include customer related actions)

6.1 b Provision of resources (should be adequate to meet customer requirements)

7.2 Customer related processes (orders, contracts, changes, communications, etc should all work for the customer)

8.2.1 Customer satisfaction (should be measured)

8.4 a Analysis of data (customer satisfaction data should be analysed)

For a small insight into the power of customer perception, read this post

Leadership

Fundamental concepts include: active involvement in policy and objective setting, in management review and the provision of resources and an appropriate infrastructure. The entire section 5 of ISO 9001 identifies those aspects of the management system that require a direct (not delegated) involvement from top management. This is important so that the management system effectively points in the right direction. Competent and capable person that the QA manager often is, he/she will usually not have access to all of the important strategic information that will influence policy and objectives, and that person certainly won't have the authority and budget to make everything happen

The vital link between understanding customer preferences, and using customer and market data wisely at strategic level is emphasised by this article. If you get lazy and start taking your customers for granted, even the big boys can be asking for trouble

Involvement of people

Fundamental concepts include: effective communication systems top-down and bottom-up, appropriate training and competence levels, involvement of technical experts in improvement projects. This principle is supported within the standard by those clauses that emphasise the importance of training, competence and communication. These include:

5.1 a Management commitment (communication of important information to staff)

5.3 d Quality policy (communication, again)

5.5.1 Responsibility & authority (communicating these internally so that everyone understands)

5.5.3 Internal communication (ensuring effective processes for this are in place)

6.2 Human resources (systems for establishing and enhancing competence levels)

People are our greatest asset? Think what you like, but a disenfranchised workforce and a high staff turnover can be highly disruptive to effective operations

Just a pair of hands, or just a bowl of brains? Take your tips on process improvement from the people who really know what's going on, but make sure the communication channels are open, otherwise it'll all get lost

Process approach

“A desired result is achieved more efficiently when activities and related resources are managed as a process”

Fundamental concepts include: big picture thinking, an understanding of work flow activities and management of interfaces at each stage in the process, measurement of process capability. ISO 9001 identifies the requirement to establish the the QMS along process lines in a number of early clauses, namely:

4.1 General requirements (read the sub-clauses. It's process, process, process)

4.2.2 Quality manual (one of the three mandatory content requirements of the manual is a description of the interaction of the processes within the QMS. The purpose of this is to demonstrate that you've understood the general points made in 4.1 - probably)

The requirement to monitor and measure processes is defined within clause 8.2.3, whilst the requirement to monitor and measure product is defined in clause 8.2.4. Every single organisation will perform the latter with far more diligence than they will do the former. Many organisations will struggle even to understand the concept of "process measures". An easy way to look at this would be to think of "product measures" as measures of conformity, and to think of "process measures" normally to be measures of efficiency. Process measures could therefore include things like:

* scrap and waste levels

* materials and utility consumption levels

* cycle times

* process down time

Follow this link to a great post on shmula that really gets down and dirty on process measurement

System approach to management

Fundamental concepts include: a realisation that if all departments are left to their own devices they will default to look after number 1. A system has to be implemented to ensure effective cross-departmental co-operation and alignment. Deming said that the output of a system is never the sum of its constituent parts, and that is inarguably true. Each time the flow of work or responsibility passes from one team or function to another we have an opportunity for inefficiency or even break down. Therefore an organisation has to work hard to manage these interfaces as well as they can and to minimise the chances of bottlenecks, delays and communication breakdowns. ISO 9001 is peppered with references to "systems" - each reference to the QMS is a reference to the "Quality Management System", and since these are too numerous to list, we won't

Continual improvement

Fundamental concepts include: a proactive approach to improvement – rather than a “if it’s not broke don’t fix it mentality. A structured approach to improvement planning. You stand still at your peril, because chances are the competition is stealing a march on you. Taking a proactive approach to improvement is critically important these days because of the sheer speed that a company can hit a terminal decline. Chances are, a split second after you receive first sight of a problem, your customers and shareholders find out about it. They get nervous, take action to protect themselves, and two weeks later you find yourself at last chance saloon. Check out these stories relating to UK Bank Northern Rock for a classic example

Continual improvement is a process, that will involve several elements of the system. related clauses include:

5.3 b Quality policy (contains a statement of commitment to CI)

5.4.1 Quality objectives (identify key improvement areas)

5.4.2 b QMS planning (requires a plan to implement the improvements - saying it doesn't make it happen)

5.6.2 g Management review input (involves a proactive examination of improvement options)

5.6.3 Management review output (should be focussed on improvement, improvement, improvement)

Factual approach to decision making

Fundamental concepts include: an appreciation that guess work and gut feel are generally less reliable than data based on hard facts. A broad range of good quality data will help the decision making process. Section 8 of the standard identifies a range of areas where metrics should be collected for the purpose of review and improvement. The principle is that decisions, wherever possible, should be based on hard facts and evidence, as this increases our odds of success. Don't get too anal about this however, as even Deming himself acknowledged that there would always an element of risk inherent in the decision making process

Mutually beneficial supplier relationships

Fundamental concepts include: good supplier selection and review processes, good customer/supplier communications and attitude to resolving supplier related problems. Section 7.4 of ISO 9001 defines the main requirements for the selection and management of suppliers, whilst there are a couple of other minor references to suppliers in the following areas:

4.1 General requirements (last paragraph). This relates to outsourced activities. It basically says that it is permissible to outsource work, but the organisation does not outsource the responsibility for getting it right

8.4 d Analysis of data (should include supplier related metrics)

It is important that we appreciate that these principles themselves are inter-dependent of one another. A “Systems Approach to Management” relies on a clear application of the “Process

Approach”, “Continual Improvement” relies heavily on support through active “Leadership” and the accuracy of leaders’ decisions are based upon a sound “Factual Approach to Decision Making”.

A system, by definition, is a set of inter-related activities and processes. Nothing should be viewed in isolation, and an effective QMS depends on effectively managing both the little picture (the detail of the procedures) and the big picture (but are we still in business?)

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