I am not sure what you mean by a "specific protocol" for self-declaration to ISO 9001:2000. The whole point of self-declaration is that your organization chooses to avoid the cost of registration, which involves paying a third-party to assess your ISO 9001:2000-conforming QMS and issue a certificate of registration, which is a very specific protocol.
There is an association that goes by the acronym ICSCA that has been promoting the concept of self-declaration of conformity to ISO 9001/2/3:1994 and, I would imagine of late, ISO 9001:2000. I am not sure whether this organization plans to establish a set of procedures that would be formally followed by an organization that wanted to self-declare, but what is ironic about ICSCA's membership the last time I saw a list was the many members are major companies that still require their suppliers to register to ISO 9001/2/3:1994 or sector-specific requirements based on ISO 9001.
My advice to you if your organization plans to self-declare is to consider the following:
1. Make sure any public declarations you make the your organization's QMS conforms indicate that conformance is to ISO 9001:2000--ISO 9000:2000 is the QMS Fundamentals and Vocabulary standard.
2. Make sure your self-declaration is made only after your organization has completed a full round of internal audits, corrective and preventive action and management review, plus any follow-up activities. If your audits still indicate gaps in your QMS's conformance to the requirements of ISO 9001:2000 or there are significant nonconformances showing up in the audit reports, address those problems first.
3. Self-declaration is a matter to telling your organization's customers, suppliers, stockholders and other interested parties that your QMS is effective and satisfies the requirements of ISO 9001:2000. Ways of getting the word out are letters to customers and suppliers, statements in the organization's annual reports and other literature, invitations to customers and suppliers to visit your facilities to see how the QMS functions, etc. Depending on your organization and its interested parties, different methods of declaration will be appropriate.
4. The greatest self-declaration will be demonstrated by the consistent performance of your products and/or services and the efficiency with which your organization operates.
Short of actually making a public declaration that our company's Quality Management System is consistant with the requirements of ISO 9000 2000, we have developed, implemented and audited it to mirror the 9000 standard.
We firmly believe that the benefit of any quality system is in the actual doing rather than in the word smithing process which often overshadows any tangible benifit which occurs with many third party audits. Notwithstanding, the sales and marketing types all want to utilize this system as a marketing tool and thus the question arises on how to ethicially do so while minimizing non-value adding activity.
We maintain a very active role in quality by membership and participation within our local ASQ section. We also relize, unlike some who see presentation of the certificate, flag, etc. as the end of the process, that an effective quality management system must remain dynamic in order to remain valid.
Dan, Your response made me grin ear-to-ear when the first thing that popped into my head after reading it was "'Put-up' or get 'Put-out'" which is the older (rougher) style of supplier selection.
You are entirely correct - if it isn't a justified cost don't persue the 'certificate'. Equally important is to note that the marjority of companies that do select to be certified are doing so to gain market share (due to the increasing requirements by customers to use 'suppliers that hold ISO 9001 certification').
Many companies don't have the flexability to conform but not certify and they shouldn't be stereotyped into a group that chases certification just as a selling point and not truely embracing the concepts.
Your operation sounds top-notch and hopefully you can find the right market approach to meeting the requirements but not certifying to them.
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qdigest 5/16/2001
I am not sure what you mean by a "specific protocol" for self-declaration to ISO 9001:2000. The whole point of self-declaration is that your organization chooses to avoid the cost of registration, which involves paying a third-party to assess your ISO 9001:2000-conforming QMS and issue a certificate of registration, which is a very specific protocol.
There is an association that goes by the acronym ICSCA that has been promoting the concept of self-declaration of conformity to ISO 9001/2/3:1994 and, I would imagine of late, ISO 9001:2000. I am not sure whether this organization plans to establish a set of procedures that would be formally followed by an organization that wanted to self-declare, but what is ironic about ICSCA's membership the last time I saw a list was the many members are major companies that still require their suppliers to register to ISO 9001/2/3:1994 or sector-specific requirements based on ISO 9001.
My advice to you if your organization plans to self-declare is to consider the following:
1. Make sure any public declarations you make the your organization's QMS conforms indicate that conformance is to ISO 9001:2000--ISO 9000:2000 is the QMS Fundamentals and Vocabulary standard.
2. Make sure your self-declaration is made only after your organization has completed a full round of internal audits, corrective and preventive action and management review, plus any follow-up activities. If your audits still indicate gaps in your QMS's conformance to the requirements of ISO 9001:2000 or there are significant nonconformances showing up in the audit reports, address those problems first.
3. Self-declaration is a matter to telling your organization's customers, suppliers, stockholders and other interested parties that your QMS is effective and satisfies the requirements of ISO 9001:2000. Ways of getting the word out are letters to customers and suppliers, statements in the organization's annual reports and other literature, invitations to customers and suppliers to visit your facilities to see how the QMS functions, etc. Depending on your organization and its interested parties, different methods of declaration will be appropriate.
4. The greatest self-declaration will be demonstrated by the consistent performance of your products and/or services and the efficiency with which your organization operates.
dandan 5/25/2001
Jim
Thank you for your response to my question.
Short of actually making a public declaration that our company's Quality Management System is consistant with the requirements of ISO 9000 2000, we have developed, implemented and audited it to mirror the 9000 standard.
We firmly believe that the benefit of any quality system is in the actual doing rather than in the word smithing process which often overshadows any tangible benifit which occurs with many third party audits. Notwithstanding, the sales and marketing types all want to utilize this system as a marketing tool and thus the question arises on how to ethicially do so while minimizing non-value adding activity.
We maintain a very active role in quality by membership and participation within our local ASQ section. We also relize, unlike some who see presentation of the certificate, flag, etc. as the end of the process, that an effective quality management system must remain dynamic in order to remain valid.
I again thank you for your insights.
Dan O'Brien
qdigest 7/16/2001
Dan, Your response made me grin ear-to-ear when the first thing that popped into my head after reading it was "'Put-up' or get 'Put-out'" which is the older (rougher) style of supplier selection.
You are entirely correct - if it isn't a justified cost don't persue the 'certificate'. Equally important is to note that the marjority of companies that do select to be certified are doing so to gain market share (due to the increasing requirements by customers to use 'suppliers that hold ISO 9001 certification').
Many companies don't have the flexability to conform but not certify and they shouldn't be stereotyped into a group that chases certification just as a selling point and not truely embracing the concepts.
Your operation sounds top-notch and hopefully you can find the right market approach to meeting the requirements but not certifying to them.
Best Regards, Eileen Wall