Introduction
Ever
since ISO 9000 standards have made its presence and
impact felt in the business community in Pakistan,
there is also growing interest as well as concern
shown in the government circles as to:-
-
What
is ISO?
-
Who
is responsible for monitoring and implementation
of ISO standards in Pakistan?
-
What
are ISO 9000 standards?
-
What
is meant by certification? Who can certify? How
much time it takes to certify? How much it
costs?
-
What
is the Pakistani equivalent of ISO 9000?
-
Should a company/organization develop a quality
system based on ISO 9000 standards?
-
Is
certification really necessary?
-
Where does public sector and small entrepreneurs
fit in the scheme of ISO 9000?
-
What
is self-certification? Why to self-certify?
-
Whom
to approach for certification in Pakistan?
-
Who
should control and regulate ISO 9000 activities
in Pakistan?
-
What
role PSI and PEC can play in enhancing quality
standards of public sector organizations and
small private companies?
The aim
of this article is to answer each of these issues
and concerns. However, while addressing them I would
dilate more on those aspects which are generally not
answered adequately in the commercial/business
circles, and as such could be of more value to those
involved in the public sector, NPOs, NGOs and small
businessmen/ entrepreneurs.
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What is ISO?
ISO
(International Organization for Standardization) is
an international specialized agency for
standardization comprising national standard bodies
of about 100 countries including Pakistan, and is
situated at Geneva, Switzerland.
ISO’s
work covers all areas except those related to
electrical and electronic engineering, which are
covered by the International Electro-Technical
Commission (IEC). The results of ISO’s technical
work are published as international standards or
guides. [1]
ISO has
76 members (with full voting privileges, 20
correspondent members (observers) and 4
(documentation) subscribers. [2] Pakistan is also
one of the subscribing member through Pakistan
Standards Institute (PSI).
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Pakistan Standards Institute (PSI)
PSI,
which is Principal Body for Maintaining ISO
Standards in Pakistan, is now under the
administrative control of Ministry of Science and
Technology, and is entrusted with the responsibility
of procuring and selling those standards of ISO and
other standardization agencies/bodies (of other
countries), which are required in Pakistan. [3]
The main
function of PSI is to draw voluntary standards by
agreement among all the interested parties concerned
and to promote their adoption on voluntary and
compulsory basis. [4]
Its
present activities include:-
-
Preparation, printing, sale and implementation
of Pakistan standards,
-
Registration of inspection agencies,
-
Introduction of S I system,
-
Collaboration with the international
organizations, such as ISO, International
Electro-Technical Commission (IEC) and
Organization International Metrology De Legal (OIML)
and other national standards organizations, and
-
Dissemination of knowledge and information of
Standardization and Quality Control.
One of
the main tasks of the Institution is to prepare
National Standards relating to commodities,
standards, materials, practices, testing methods
etc, and to reuse, alter and amend them from time
and time. In the attempt to be in harmony with other
nations in the world, PSI follows the same
procedures for processing of standards, as
recommended by ISO. [4]
Since
its establishment (1951), PSI has prepared more than
3700 National Standards. [4] It also maintains a
technical library of more than 1800 technical books
besides a collection of 130,000 international and
other national standards at Karachi. [1][4]
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What are
ISO 9000 Standards?
ISO was
established in 1946 to develop a common set of
standards in the fields of manufacturing, trade and
communications to facilitate international exchange
of goods and services. [2] Though ISO has generated
thousands of standards, but ISO 9000 series of
standards are having extensive impact on
international trade as it is being increasingly used
in their favour and interests by US and EC
countries, in particular, as a substitute to their
protection policies which they otherwise could not
manipulate under WTO.
Developed in 1987, and revised in 1994, ISO 9000 is
a series of five international standards (ISO
9000-9004) on quality management and quality
assurance, used to document, implement, and
demonstrate quality assurance system in any
organization claiming to be producing a quality
product, or delivering quality service under quality
environment, through consistent procedures and
processes.
ISO
900I-9003 is an internationally recognized family of
specification for quality assurance and receiving
certification to one of its three levels implies
that a company’s system - from accepting a purchase
order to delivering product - are consistent. The
most comprehensive level is ISO 9001 covering design
and document control as well as other aspects of
manufacturing and distribution. [5]
The aim
of the ISO 9000 standards is to have a permanent
positive influence on the product quality by
improving the quality system of a manufacturer. [6]
The salient features of the five parts of the series
are:-
-
The
first, ISO 9000, gives a general overview and
instruction on how to select the appropriate
standard for a given situation.
-
ISO
9004 is a guide for the quality management
system of any company and has a general
discussion of many of the essential elements of
a quality system.
-
The
heart of the ISO 9000 series of standards are
the contractual standards, 9001, 9002 and 9003.
These standards are intended to be used as part
of a contractual document between supplier and
buyer.
-
ISO
9001 is the most comprehensive of the standards,
and covers all phases of a product life cycle
from design to installation and service.
-
The
clearly defined quality system requirements can
be checked by the supplier, the customer or a
third party.
The
standard requires an initial audit by a third party
accredited auditor and once a company is registered
follow-up audits are completed once a year at
minimum.
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What is
Certification?
There
are three basic elements of ISO 9000.
-
Say
what you do (i.e. state the process)
-
Do
what you say (i.e. execute them)
-
Demonstrate your claims (i.e. certify or prove
that the processes executed are in accordance
with the statement.
There
are two ways that certification can be done:-
-
Either self certify through internal audit, or
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Audit
Time and Cost
For a
company of approximately 400 people, two auditors
can audit the company in four to five days,
depending on the company’s activities and state of
conformity. However large organizations like PAC
Kamra would take much more time.
Foreign
companies normally charge $1000 per man-day audit.
Approximately 40% companies pass in the first audit
but most of the companies clear in the second audit.
That is why companies first prefer pre-audit
assessments to cut down their certification costs.
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PS 3000
-- Pakistani Equivalent of ISO 9000
PS 3000
is the Pakistan Standard equivalent for the ISO 9000
quality assurance standards. Though they are not
specifically related to any industry nor to any
product group, it must be complemented with the
industry or product specific quality standards to
ensure a quality product life cycle.
Since
1990, PSI has already adopted ISO 9000 standards as
PS 3000 family standard. Except for imparting
training courses to their own PSI and CTL (Central
Testing Laboratories) officers, PSI has not made
much headway in establishment and enforcement of
standardization and quality control in the country.
However, PSI can boast of one laudable achievement
in this respect, i.e. getting a comprehensive Act,
with the name of Pakistan Standards and Quality
Control Authority, approved by the National Assembly
on 5th September,
1994. Its clearance from the Senate and final
Presidential approval is still awaited. [4]
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Should
we Develop Quality System Based on ISO 9000?
With the
signing of WTO and advent of EC legislation, that
has made ISO 9000 registration of certain products
mandatory, the world has become more competitive and
quality-conscious. Now in order to even stay in the
world market, companies throughout the world,
particularly US, Europe and Japan are rushing to
embrace ISO 9000 quality standards.
In this
great rush, however, two separate and distinct
decisions are being treated as one.
-
The
first question is whether a company should
develop a quality system based on ISO 9000
standards.
-
The
second is whether a quality system, once
installed, be certified by an accredited
registrar.
There is
absolutely no doubt in anyone’s mind that companies,
in most of the cases, should answer "yes" to the
first question, but "no" to the second, particularly
those public organizations and private companies
which are not involved in international
trade/export. [7]
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Is
Certification Really Necessary?
Though
establishing an ISO 9000 quality system would be
wise from marketing point of view and may also
produce significant savings, certification is
altogether different. Only a company’s position in
the scheme of things would tell whether to go for
third party certification or "self-certification".
The ISO
9000 series documents are written as two party
documents between buyers and sellers and as such do
not address certification. The pressure to obtain
ISO systems certification comes from two basic
sources:-
-
Governmental mandates (legal requirements) or
-
Customer demands (commercial requirements)
The
legal requirement for ISO certification stems from
governmental bodies requiring specific performance
by a company in order to export specified products
into their market place. An example of this is the
European Community (EC) Product Directives. [7]
However,
in most of the cases, it is the commercial pressure
that is driving ISO 9000 certification. As such,
certification is a pure commercial response. This
commercial movement has succeeded both because of
the legal (EC) mandates and the competitive push to
obtain certification when selling abroad. [7]
The
premise behind certification is that a third party
verifies that the seller’s system actually meets all
the ISO requirements. The question of whether the
seller company has met the requirements of ISO is
ultimately based upon the buyer’s interpretation and
acceptance of company’s systems. [7]
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Where
does Public & Private Sector Fit in the Scheme of
ISO 9000 ?
In order
to determine as to where does a company/organization
in the public and private sector fits in the scheme
of certification – self-certification or third party
certification – it must be determined exactly what
their customers require in terms of quality systems
development, how their competitors are doing, and
what, if any, legal requirements effect their
product or service. [7]
In most
cases, certification of a supplier’s ISO 9000 system
is not necessary, unless a product or service is to
be sold in a foreign market. But even when the
certification is not felt necessary, it must be
determined as to how much systems development short
of certification would be required by the customers
to satisfy their customers/clients.
It is
also well understood that all the companies cannot
achieve or afford certification as it would be
unreasonable and costly. (The cost of certification
through a foreign accredited auditor may go upto $
20000). However, at the same time, it must also be
recognized that there are benefits of implementing
an ISO 9000 system – simplified and easier audits,
improved communication and consistent quality. [6]
It is,
therefore, recommended that barring those companies
which are directly involved in international trade
(particularly exporting their products to Europe and
US) all other public and private companies should be
encouraged to go for "self certification" instead.
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"Self
Certification"
Self-certification would require that the self
certifying companies keep their customers
continually informed of their systems development
progress. [7]
Upon
completion and implementation of ISO 9000 quality
system the companies may then seek an independent
audit. Hiring an independent auditor will allow them
to take their audit results to their customers with
a higher level of confidence that their system
actually meets the pertinent ISO requirements.
Therefore, they should commit themselves to maintain
their system and may get their success verified
through independent audits.
Here
Pakistan Engineering Council (PEC) can play a vital
role in creating awareness in the public sector
about the benefits of developing a quality system
based on ISO 9000 standards but without third party
certification.
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Why Self
Certification?
Self
certification is becoming more viable because of
growing concern about conflict of interest issues
surrounding the third party certification process
itself. These conflicts include registrars that both
consult and certify or use what is known as
"pre-assessment" as a consulting visit prior to
actual certification audit. These problems, coupled
with the high cost, have many companies, both buyers
and sellers, questioning the value and validity of
these certifications. [7]
Even if
third party certification is considered necessary,
this decision should be made independently of the
decision to install an ISO system. With self
certification, third party certification will only
be a formality. However, when the decision is made
about third party certification, the question arises
- whom to approach.
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Whom to
Approach for Certification in Pakistan?
In the
absence of any registrar accredited to our own
national standards body (PSI), Pakistani companies
are left with no choice and are forced to approach
foreign accredited registrars for their
certification or only to those in-country
"pre-assessment auditors" who are accredited to
those foreign registrars.
In
addition there are only a few auditors in Pakistan
who could even help companies "self-certify"
themselves.
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Controlling and Regulation of ISO 9000 Activities in
Pakistan
It is,
therefore, the need of the hour that PSI, being the
principal national body on standardization and also
a subscribing member to ISO, must revitalize itself,
come to the forefront forcefully, and establish its
credibility among the international standard
organizations and other national standard bodies.
PSI must
be seen involved not only in formulating national
standards in keeping with our own environment and
prevalent manufacturing/trade practices, but also be
vibrant in guiding and advising public and private
sector (particularly those involved in exports)
about the benefits that they can accrue through
adoption and implementation of ISO 9000 quality
management system and certification. But at the same
time, the pros and cons of both types of
certification (self certification and third party
certification) be highlighted through vigorous
awareness campaigns of their own with government
funding.
As yet,
we have only seen Export Promotion Bureau involved
in quality promotion campaigns in collaboration with
other commercial concerns, but these sessions have
been of little benefit to the small
companies/entrepreneurs and public sector personnel
because such training sessions are expensive and
could not be afforded.
It is
the prime responsibility of the PSI to come up with
a viable solution to help save those Pakistan
companies who cannot otherwise withstand the
onslaught of ISO 9000 quality standards and also
cannot afford costly third party foreign-accredited
certifications but still want to compete in the
midst of ISO 9000 certified companies.
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Role for
the Pakistan Engineering Council (PEC)
PEC can
also generate their own programmes, with the help of
major public and private sector engineering
concerns, in:-
-
Promoting the concept of self certification.
-
Helping smaller companies develop quality
systems short of certification.
-
Funding the training sessions for independent
auditors who can self certify small companies at
nominal charges.
-
Approach PSI to enact and accept self
certification of companies, at least for
in-country trade practices.
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Conclusion
To
conclude, PSI must take hold of the events as
quickly as possible, reorganize itself with more
vigour, and immediately start regulating ISO 9000
activities and in country certification process.
Meanwhile PEC should involve all engineering
community in formulating and conducting extensive
training sessions for adoption and implementation of
quality management systems based on ISO 9000
standards with increased emphasis on the fact that
at least in the public sector third party
certification is not really necessary and just self
certification would suffice. As soon as the public
sector and small entrepreneurs would realize the
benefits of developing a quality assurance system at
affordable cost, we would see increase in
productivity, improvement in quality of products and
enhancement in efficiency of these organizations.
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References
-
"Excellence for TQM : ISO 9000 for Industry-II"
– an article by M Omair Azam, published in ‘The
News’ of 28 July, 1995.
-
"Use
of Standards results in a more Economic
Utilization of Resources", - an article by Dr
Muhammad Asad Hasan, Published in "The News"
(1995).
-
"ISO
9000 is a Must for Exporters to Maintain
International Quality Standards" – an article by
Dr Farrukh S M Akhtar, published in the ‘The
News’ of 11 February, 1995.
-
"Quality Movement in Pakistan and PSI" - an
article by Dr M Asad Hasan, published in the
Proceedings of First National Symposium on
Quality Management, 1996.
-
"Making the Move towards ISO Registration", by
Lisa A Coleman, an article published in Clean
Room Magazine of January, 1995.
-
"The
Evolution of Quality Management within
Telecommunications", by A Blanton Godfrey and Al
C. Endres, an article in IEEE Communication
Magazine of October, 1994.
-
"Management Issues", an article by Bruce M
Kennedy published in ‘World Oil’ of October,
1994.
-
"Introduction of ISO 9000", presentation by
Khalid Mahmud, in "First National Course on
Quality, Productivity and Organizational
Effectiveness", 21-26 September, 1996, NUST,
Rawalpindi.
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Bibliography
-
"
Managing the Customer Satisfaction Process" by J
Stephen Sarazen and James M Salter II, 1993,
American Management Association.
-
Proceedings, First National Course on Quality,
Productivity and Organizational Effectiveness
(21-26 September, 1996), NUST, Rawalpindi.
-
Proceedings, Seminar on ISO 9000, arranged by
Pakistan Institute of Management, at Islamabad,
16 Nov 1995.
-
"Practical Guide to ISO 9000 Quality Management
System", by Kamran Moosa and Imranullah Shariff,
published by Ibrahim Publishers, (2nd edition),
1996, Lahore.
-
IEEE
Communication Magazine, October 1994, Vol 32, No
10.
-
"ISO
9000 Quality Management System Standards – An
Executive Overview", lecture by Mr Naeed Sadiq
of Quality Concern at NUST, Rawalpindi, in 1996.
-
"Getting ISO 9000 for a Software Organization"
by Raneesh Kapoor, BPB, Publications (1993).
-
USAF
Military Standard on Engineering Management,
MIL-STD-499A dated 1 May, 1974.
-
USAF
Military Specification on Quality Programme
Requirements, MIL-Q-9858A dated 16 December,
1963.
-
USAF
Military Specification on Inspection System
Requirements, MIL-I-45208A dated 16 December,
1963.
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