ISO standards

The International Organization for Standardization (ISO) is a nongovernmental worldwide federation whose mission is to promote the development of standardization (have weights, measures, etc., conform to a standard). The ISO believes standardization facilitates the international exchange of goods and SERVICES; its efforts result in international agreements reducing or eliminating technical barriers to global trade. For example, through the ISO a uniform thickness of 0.76 millimeters was agreed on for credit, debit, and phone cards. This has created greater efficiency for both consumers and businesses as CREDIT CARDS can be used in almost any country in the world, in part because the size of cards were standardized. The ISO includes national standards bodies from 130 countries, each of which has one organization representing it in the ISO. The U.S. representative is the American National Standards Institute (ANSI), a private, nonprofit organization, which administers and coordinates U.S. private-sector voluntary standardization. ANSI was founded by five engineering societies and three governmental agencies in 1918. Its goal is to “enhance global competitiveness of U.S. businesses and American quality of life by promoting voluntary consensus standards and conformity assessment systems.” International standardization began in electromagnetics with the creation of the International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC) in 1906. The International Federation of the National Standardizing Associations (ISA), emphasizing mechanical engineering standards, was set up in 1926. The ISA effort ceased with the beginning of World War II and was replaced by the ISO in 1947. The acronym ISO is, in itself, a standardization. In English the organization’s initials would be IOS, but in French, the other standard language of the ISO, its initials would be OIN (from Organization International de Normalization). Instead, ISO, which comes from the Greek isos, meaning “equal,” is the group’s global acronym. A few years ago not many people had ever heard of the ISO. Today, trade liberalization, GLOBALIZATION, interconnections among market sectors, worldwide communications systems, global standards for emerging technologies, and the needs of developing countries for INFRASTRUCTURE standardization all contribute to the expanding need for technology standards. As a result, the ISO’s role is growing rapidly. Within industries, suppliers, users, and sometimes governments participate in the process of defining standards. The ISO’s goals are to “facilitate trade and TECHNOLOGY TRANSFER through:
• Enhanced product quality and reliability
• Reduced waste
• Greater compatibility and interoperability of goods and services
• Simplification for improved usability
• Reduction of the number of models
• Increased distribution efficiency and ease of maintenance.”
The process of creating ISO standards involves thousands of people, including ISO committees, representatives of industries, research institutes, government authorities, consumer groups, and international organizations. The need for a standard is usually proposed by an industry sector, which communicates their need to their national member body (ANSI in the United States), which then proposes study of the issue to the ISO. Once accepted for evaluation, the first phase involves definition of the technical scope of the future standard. Over 30,000 experts participate in ISO-sponsored meetings annually. The organization’s members group themselves into standards committees, and the views of all interest groups are solicited. Groups within the ISO negotiate the detailed specifications within a standard. During the final phase, a draft international standard must be approved by three-fourths of all voting members. By the year 2000, there were over 12,000 international standards. As their goals suggest, the ISO is primarily a business organization. Standardization reduces the cost of doing business. For example, anyone who has worked on both an American-made and a foreign-made car knows two sets of wrenches are required. Similarly, anyone who has traveled abroad knows U.S.-made appliances cannot be used in most foreign electrical systems. Standardization eliminates such problems. The ISO facilitated the creation of standards for:
• film-speed code
• freight container sizes
• paper sizes
• symbols for automatic controls
• codes for country names, currencies, and languages
In the last decade, two of the ISO’s major efforts were ISO 9000, which provides a framework for quality management and quality assurance; and ISO 14000, which provides a framework for environmental management. First adopted by European manufacturers in the 1990s, ISO 9000 standards of quality assurance have become widely accepted and are often a condition for doing business with companies. To become ISO 9000-certified, a company must conduct an on-site audit, including inspection, to ensure that documented quality procedures are in place and that all employees understand and follow those procedures. Once certified, a company is periodically audited to verify it is in compliance with ISO standards. The ISO 9000 series standards include nine principles of quality management.
• customer focus
• LEADERSHIP
• involvement of people
• process approach
• system approach to MANAGEMENT
• continual improvement
• factual approach to decision making
• mutually beneficial supplier relationships
The ISO 14000 series, first published in 1996, is a result of the ISO’s focus on sustainable development. The 14000 series has 21 published standards, including an audit of a firm’s environmental management system; monitoring and measuring environmental performance of its activities, PRODUCTs, and services; and LIFE CYCLE assessment. Both the 9000 and 14000 series are in the process of being reviewed and revised, reflecting changing technology and lessons learned in QUALITY CONTROL and environmental management. The ISO is headquartered in Geneva, Switzerland, which is also the headquarters of the WORLD TRADE ORGANIZATION (WTO). It is “building a strategic partnership” with the WTO, providing technical agreements to support WTO trade agreements. The ISO also maintains ISONET, the ISO Information Network, a global network of national standards information centers.