Q3. Explain giving examples as to how ISO standards can benefit the society.
Ans. ISO 9000 is a family of standards for quality management systems. ISO 9000 is maintained by ISO, the International Organization for Standardization and is administered by accreditation and certification bodies. Some of the requirements in ISO 9001 (which is one of the standards in the ISO 9000 family) include
a set of procedures that cover all key processes in the business;
monitoring processes to ensure they are effective;
keeping adequate records;
checking output for defects, with appropriate and corrective action where necessary;
regularly reviewing individual processes and the quality system itself for effectiveness; and
facilitating continual improvement
A company or organization that has been independently audited and certified to be in conformance with ISO 9001 may publicly state that it is "ISO 9001 certified" or "ISO 9001 registered". Certification to an ISO 9001 standard does not guarantee any quality of end products and services; rather, it certifies that formalized business processes are being applied. A "product", in ISO vocabulary, can mean a physical object, services, or software.
The ISO official site contends that "Standards make an enormous and positive contribution to most aspects of our lives." The importance of standards may be better appreciated when considering what would happen in its absence; when a product is made according to predefined standards and meets customer expectations, it is often taken for granted. However, in an environment without standards, people would very likely voice concerns about poor quality and unsafe products.
Whether a business manufactures goods or provides services, when it meets standards relevant to its industry, it ensures that positive characteristics such as quality, durability, efficiency, safety and environmental friendliness are reinforced.
Benefits for Business
ISO standards benefit businesses because they can focus their resources on producing goods and services that are internationally standardized. With an industry-wide set of standards in place, businesses are better equipped to develop and offer products and services to foreign markets that recognize the same set of standards. ISO standards improve production by making each activity within the overall process, such as developing, manufacturing and supplying, more efficient.
Standards also play a vital role in the development of high-tech goods. When a business innovates a new technology, international standards facilitate the development of terminology and compatibility, making the innovation marketable. The widespread adoption of International Standards means that suppliers can base the development of their products and services on specifications that have wide acceptance in their sectors. This, in turn, means that businesses using International Standards are increasingly free to compete on many more markets around the world.
Benefits for Customers
The worldwide compatibility of technology which is achieved when products and services are based on International Standards brings them an increasingly wide choice of offers, and they also benefit from the effects of competition among suppliers.
Conformity of products and services to International Standards provides assurance about their quality, safety and reliability to the consumers purchasing the goods and services. International Standards can contribute to the quality of life in general by ensuring that the transport, machinery and tools we use are safe.
Benefits for Governments
For governments, standards provide tools to assess and evaluate conformity, and provide a legitimate base for health and safety legislation. Having standards in place also facilitates fairer trade between regions by ensuring that both the importer side and exporter side of foreign trade transactions know about the relevant set of standards.
International Standards provide the technological and scientific bases underpinning health, safety and environmental legislation.
Benefits for Developing Countries
International Standards that represent an international consensus on the state of the art constitute an important source of technological know-how. By defining the characteristics that products and services will be expected to meet on export markets, International Standards give developing countries a basis for making the right decisions when investing their scarce resources and thus avoid squandering them.
For governments in developing countries, ISO standards give information about expected attributes of products and services for export markets. This information gives a basis for governments to allocate resources accordingly, and produce goods and services that will be accepted in different regions.
Benefits for Trade Officials
For trade officials negotiating the emergence of regional and global markets, International Standards create "a level playing field" for all competitors on those markets. The existence of divergent national or regional standards can create technical barriers to trade, even when there is political agreement to do away with restrictive import quotas and the like. International Standards are the technical means by which political trade agreements can be put into practice.
Benefits for our planet EARTH
For the planet we inhabit, International Standards on air, water and soil quality, and on emissions of gases and radiation, can contribute to efforts to preserve the environment.
Importance of ISO standards in Society
ISO standards benefit end consumers by safeguarding their interests and by ensuring that the products and services they purchase are safe and reliable. The standards also help to reduce environmental impact of business operations by publishing accepted levels of gas and radiation emission, and controlling the quality of water, air and soil. In addition, ISO standards drive the move toward sustainable productions processes; ISO synchronizes and aligns businesses to cleaner and safer production methods by laying down operational guidelines for different industries.
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