Critical Review of Audit Process in Assessing Effectiveness of Quality Management System Based on ISO 9001 2000

Abstract

The Standard ISO 9001:2000 is one of the most widely used certification system in the world, against which more than 12, 00,000 organizations have already been certified. The certificates are issued by Certification Bodies, after verifying that the organization (supplier of products or services) is complying with the requirements specified in ISO 9001:2000 Standard. The competency of the Certification Bodies is ensured through a process, wherein a designated Accreditation Body grants the accreditation to the Certification Body, based on International Standard ISO Guide 62 .In addition, the International Accreditation Forum, a consortium of Accreditation Bodies, has established a mechanism of mutual recognition of accredited certification world over. By this process of accreditation, products or services of a certified organization get global acceptance. Such a robust mechanism acts as a guarantee to the ultimate consumer that the product /services from the certified organizations would comply with the specified requirements. However, of late, this guarantee has unfortunately eluded the ultimate user. newlineField survey. the first of its kind, undertaken to validate this hypothesis, on the certified organization, has revealed wide ranging inadequacies in the certification process. Analysis of the data conclusively indicates lack of consistency in the certification process adopted by different Certification Bodies, in spite of the fact that they are accredited and are expected to follow uniform practices. newlineThe study provides a critical review of the audit process deployed by different Certification Bodies and thereby in assessing the effectiveness of Quality Management System based on ISO 9001:2000 standards.