ISO 9000 standards are good business practices that will improve communications, efficiency, and profits while reducing errors, scrap, and rework.

 Two studies have revealed that overall awareness of the ISO 9000 International Quality Management System Standards among U.S. businesses is still below 50 percent [1] [2]. This article is intended to increase general awareness for helping owners, shareholders, executives, and project managers address inevitable decisions regarding the standards. In particular, project managers are faced with the daily responsibility for ensuring provisions exist for implementing requirements described in the standards applicable to project-specific products and/or services.

 Currently, it is true that ISO quality standards apply to fairly well defined business sectors and applications. However, over time these standards will prove their inherent quality improvement benefits for any application. Also, as more owners, executives, and project managers recognize that baseline requirements in the standards are merely good business practices that will improve communications, efficiency, and profits while reducing errors, scrap, and rework, the standards will automatically become prerequisites for managing projects and operating companies. Project managers will benefit by more accurately measuring project quality performance.

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http://www.pmi.org/learning/library/quality-management-system-standard-developments-3674