ISO 9001:2000 is the most important quality management standard in use today. In any organization and in particular small businesses, it controls quality and brings clear financial benefits. It also gives customers a high degree of confidence and assists in keeping the organization ahead of its competitors. This is a Standard that is used and respected throughout the world and is the principal offering of IMSM.
The International Organization for Standardization (ISO) is a worldwide federation of national standards bodies from more than 145 countries, one from each country. ISO is a non-governmental organization established in 1947 and based in Geneva, Switzerland. Its mission is to promote the development of standardization and related activities in the world with a view to facilitating the international exchange of goods and services, and to developing cooperation in the spheres of intellectual, scientific, technological and economic activity. ISO's work results in international agreements which are published as International Standards and other types of ISO documents. ANSI is the sole U.S. representative and dues-paying member of the International Organization for Standardization (ISO), and as a founding member of the ISO, ANSI plays an active role in its governance.
The ISO standardization system ISO (International Organization for Standardization) is a global network that identifies what International Standards are required by business, government and society, develops them in partnership with the sectors that will put them to use, adopts them by transparent procedures based on national input and delivers them to be implemented worldwide. ISO standards distill an international consensus from the broadest possible base of stakeholder groups. Expert input comes from those closest to the needs for the standards and also to the results of implementing them. In this way, although voluntary, ISO standards are widely respected and accepted by public and private sectors internationally. ISO - is a non-governmental organization - is a federation of the national standard bodies of 149 * countries, one per country, from all regions of the world, including developed, developing and transitional economies.
Each ISO member is the principal standards organization in its country. The members propose the new standards, participate in their development and provide support in collaboration with ISO Central Secretariat for the 3,000 technical groups that actually develop the standards. ISO members appoint national delegations to standards committees. In all, there are some 50,000 experts contributing annually to the work of the Organization. When their work is published as an ISO International Standard, it may be adopted as a national standard by the ISO members and translated.
