Quality decisions and ISO 9000:2000 principles

Quality Engineering looks at designing Quality into every product and all the processes. Design is surely the most important phase for Quality. To make Quality of products (processes, systems and services) good knowledge of Quality ideas and good experience about Quality tools for achieving Quality are absolutely needed. The new ISO Standards on the "Quality Management Systems" state that "eight quality management principles have been identified that can be used by top management in order to lead the organisation towards improved performance." The seventh principle "Factual approach to decision making" states: "Effective decisions are based on the analysis of data and information". Well-designed tests in industrial framework provide data for decisions. Using real applications we will see that Quality Managers need great care for the correct implementation of ISO principles. They need Quality Methods scientifically founded and applied to scientifically designed tests. That will help the implementation of another essential ISO 9004:2000 principle "Continuous Improvement".