ISO or Eyewash?

When ISO 9000 was first introduced in India, there was a hue and cry even from many knowledgeable quarters that it was a conspiracy for creating a non-tariff barrier for Indian goods to the European markets. You may recall that the initial ones to be affected were the suppliers of grey iron castings. There was anyway a scramble to understand how the documents were to be prepared and the forerunners zealously guarded their Quality Manuals and Procedures from the evil eyes of aspirants.
Anyway, the initial resistance was got over and the major organizations proceeded to get certified to ISO 9000 without further ado. The turn came for the next line of companies and they got through with some struggle. When it came to the smaller ones, the typical Indian ingenuity came into play.
The big boys insisted on their suppliers being certified to ISO 9000 – so what was needed? Just a piece of paper with the due signatures. Certifying bodies sprouted to make use of the opportunity and pliant consultants were there to provide the nexus. Documents were reproduced in droves, competing agencies were very kind and certificates multiplied. A few days of polishing of records just before the due date, make-believe minutes of the ‘Management Review Meetings’ and a good protracted lunch for the auditor took care of the ‘Surveillance audit’.
Any certifying body which tries to do a real job is afraid of getting thrown out in favour of a more ‘helpful’ one. The six-monthly surveillance audits tend to be conveniently made into annual ones; auditors are expected to bend over backwards to ‘accommodate’ the clients.
It is unfortunate that the companies do not realize that they are the losers. They are anyway spending money for the audits, for the certificates, for the consultants; they are spending time and energy to maintain the records (even if false). But many of them are not getting the benefit of these things, except that they continue to be approved suppliers of their principals.
Many times of the costs incurred can be recouped if they only bother to make use of the well-thought out provisions of ISO 9000. Just a few are:
 Use the Non-conforming products clause to reduce the defectives and improve the profits
 Use the Corrective and Preventive actions clauses, again to improve the operations and improve the bottom-line
 Put the requirement of Continuous Improvement into effect to see the operations become more efficient
 Implement the Objectives and Targets in order to reap the benefit of all-round advancement of the organization