Case Studies
ISO Case Studies
Here are a few case study examples provided by the International Standards Organisation (ISO) showing some of the reasons why companies decide to achieve certification and the benefits they can gain:
Example 1 – Manufacturing Company
A metal parts fabricating company used ISO 9000:2000 to develop a plan to implement their quality management system. When they were ready, they prepared a quality manual and quality system procedures as required by ISO 9001:2000, excluding the requirements covering product design and development because their products are made to designs prepared by their customers.
Example 2 – Welfare Agency
A welfare agency decided to establish a quality improvement strategy. It adopted ISO 9004:2000 as the basis for planning and implementing its system. The agency found that ISO 9000:2000 provided very useful additional guidance and plans to seek certification to ISO 9001:2000 to gain more credibility.
Example 3 – Domestic Appliance Manufacturer
A washing machine manufacturer had a well-established company culture of continual improvement and effective production control. The management decided to improve the company's development processes and to implement ISO 9001:2000 to obtain certification for commercial purposes.
Example 4 – Chemical Processing Company
A large chemical processing company was required by its major customers to gain registration/certification to ISO 9001:2000. In order to obtain additional benefits, company leadership planned a comprehensive management strategy based on ISO 9000:2000. A thorough review of their business processes indicated that all elements of ISO 9001:2000 were applicable to their quality management system. The company also used ISO Standards for guidance in the preparation of training plans for their employees.
Example 5 – International Law Firm
A firm of international lawyers wanted to improve their client management processes and to achieve registration/certification to ISO 9001:2000. Their quality management system provides for the design and development of new services such as international tax planning and modifying traditional services to meet the requirements of new or amended legislation. They included purchasing control to cover the selection of computer hardware and software, as well as purchasing the services of specialist lawyers as needed. After successfully implementing ISO 9001:2000, they used the self-assessment guidelines of ISO 9004:2000 to monitor their progress as they improved their quality management system.
Example 6 – IT Software Company
A computer software developer serving a niche market recognized that as their user base expanded they would be faced with issues concerning product management and configuration control. Changes to base products, user hardware and regulatory requirements were compounding customer service issues. ISO 9004:2000 provided the guidance they needed to establish documented procedures to control process change and improvement with minimum of disruption to customers.
Example 7 – Commercial Bank
A commercial bank decided to implement a quality management system for its on-line Internet banking services. They ensured that their quality manual made clear that their other conventional banking services were not included in their quality management system. They applied all the requirements of Clause 7, recognizing that design and development is an important part of creating new service processes. |
