The International Organization for Standardization, founded in 1947, in Geneva, Switzerland, develops and promotes the worldwide use of standards.  It is a non-governmental, voluntary organization comprised of representatives from more than 140 countries, including the United States.

Over the past 50 years, some 2800 technical work bodies (made up of technical committees, subcommittees, working groups and ad hoc groups) at ISO have published more than 13,000 International Standards, including standards for:

• Fasteners

• Paper, board & pulps

• Equipment for fire protection and fire fighting

• Small tools

• Food products

• Textiles

• Photography

• Transfusion, infusion and injection equipment for medical use

• Cement and lime

• Refrigeration and air-conditioning

• Compressors, pneumatic tools and machines

• Packaging

• Sewing machines

• Surgery implants

• Doors and windows

• Lifts, escalators, passenger conveyors

• Sterilization of health products

• Floor coverings

Although we may not have heard of them, many of these standards affect areas of our lives commonly taken for granted.  However, with all this work going on, the most widely known global standard is the ISO 9000 Quality Management System (QMS) standard. 

The ISO 9000:2000 revision of the standard actually consists of three main documents.

ISO 9000 – Quality management systems - Fundamentals and vocabulary
ISO 9001 – Quality management systems - Requirements
ISO 9004 – Quality management systems – Guidelines for performance improvements

These copyrighted documents may be purchased in the U.S from the American National Standards Institute (ANSI), or the American Society for Quality, (ASQ).

First published in 1987, then revised in 1994, the ISO 9000 documents contained language that strongly reflected the manufacturing environment.  Organizations from many sectors saw the benefits of the standard but sometimes struggled to understand how to apply the international standard to the products or services they provided.  The ISO 9000:2000 revision incorporates a more generic terminology, making the standard more easily implemented in all types and sizes of organizations.

For more information take  "The Magical Demystifying Tour of ISO 9000 and ISO 14000" available on the ISO home page.

Companies successfully implementing the requirements of the ISO 9000 standard may register their system with a third party Registrar.  Over a half million companies across the globe manage their businesses using this common sense systematic approach.