When I first started hearing about the ISO 9000 quality system in the 1990’s there was a lot of resistance to it. A lot companies were unhappy about being pressured or required to adopt the ISO 9000 system by their customers. It was not looked at as being a benefit to their businesses; it was looked at as a giant hoop that you had to jump through in order to be able to get business opportunities from some larger companies. I never agreed with this viewpoint. I saw the benefits of at least some parts of the ISO 9000 standard pretty early on.
Since the 1990’s, the ISO 9000 standard has gone mainstream. Numerous industries have adopted it. No one more vigorously than the auto industry which has their own version which they call TS 16949 (basically ISO 9000 plus some specific auto industry requirements).
However, since then, some cracks have developed that are causing the ISO 9000 system to not only become just a hoop that companies have to jump through, but a series of flaming hoops. Some changes need to be made in order for this system to achieve its goals and actually work for the companies trying to adopt it.
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