Volume 6 · Issue 10 · October 2001

Contents

Page 7…

Stepping Up to ISO 9004:2000: Focus On Continual Improvement–A Baseline is Critical

In the fourth entry in a series on stepping up to ISO 9004:2000 to go beyond an baseline ISO 9001:2000 QMS and pursue TQM, Russell T. Westcott notes that initiating a TQM effort using ISO 9004:2000 as a model requires an organization to be permanently dedicated to continual improvement in every aspect of its business and involves all stakeholders. He writes that implementing a TQM initiative, when approached properly, is how an organization transforms its culture, business strategies, operating policies, procedures, processes and products to most effectively balance its quest for profit or cost containment with a quest to delight customers and satisfy its other stakeholders. Westcott examines the 5 elements involved in the first step your organization must take in establishing continual improvement as its modus operandi.