The use of standards in performance measurement

Any company wishing to improve must have a starting point for the improvement process and measurement is an integral part of that improvement process. In this paper, the authors demonstrate how the International Quality Standard, ISO 9000, can be used as a basis for performance measurement and can assist companies, not only in improving quality, but can also be used as a measure of the cost of quality. The authors discuss various clauses of ISO 9000 including: management responsibility; quality systems; design; process control; corrective and preventive actions; internal quality audits; and training