The Family Of ISO 9000: ISO 9001 Certification, ISO 9002, And More!
Do you know that around 2.1 million companies in the world hold ISO 9001 certification?
Anyone with little knowledge of ISO certifications and quality management standards would recognize the ISO 9001 logo.
However, most people don’t know that ISO 9001 is part of a family consisting of multiple standards to support it.
In today’s blog, we will discuss the family of ISO 9000 and its sub-standards that companies can utilize to strengthen their quality management system.
So, continue reading!
Discussing The Family Of ISO 9000: From ISO 9001 Certification To ISO 9004
The ISO 9000 family is arguably the most well-known quality management standard set. All the standards within the ISO 9000 family collectively form the foundation of operational excellence and continuous improvement.
The ISO 9001 requirements are generic and aim to be flexible enough for all organizations to adapt.
Using the entire set of ISO 9000 standards can provide incredible value to your organization in consideration of your quality management system.
However, it’s essential to remember that you can only be certified to ISO 9001. Yet, ISO 9001 certification experts recommend companies start their implementation journey with ISO 9000.
It will help the organizations to familiarize themselves with the fundamentals of ISO 9001, its vocabulary, and its concepts.
The family of ISO 9000 includes:
• ISO 9000: Fundamentals and vocabulary of a quality management system,
• ISO 9001- Clauses of a quality management system,
• ISO/TS 9002- Guidelines for the application of ISO 9001 requirements,
• ISO 9004- Guidelines to achieve sustained success and maintain the quality of an organization.
ISO 9000:
ISO 9000:2015 essentially takes you through the basics of a quality management system and explains different terminologies used in the 9000 series.
It sets the stage for you to grasp the complexities of a quality management system and introduces principles and uses of different process approaches for continual improvement.
However, ISO 9000 is not designed for certification or contractual use.
ISO 9001:
ISO 9001:2015, the quality management system standard is the only standard of this family that can get you certified. You can use an ISO 9001 certification and its requirements for contractual purposes.
The contents of the standard specify the requirements you have to meet to obtain certification, fulfill customer needs, demonstrate the ability to deliver consistent services/products, and enhance client satisfaction.
The ISO 9001 requirements are mentioned throughout Clause 4 to Clause 10.
The requirements focus on the following areas.
• Context of the organization,
• Leadership,
• Planning,
• Support,
• Operation,
• Performance evaluation,
• Improvement.
If you are pursuing ISO 9001 certification, you must meet each of these requirements. And if you believe that a specific clause does not apply to your organization, you must justify and record it.
ISO/TS 9002:
Technical Specification, or TS, is designed to assist businesses in the execution of their quality management system based on the requirements of ISO 9001.
ISO/TS 9002:2016 informs and guides businesses to implement the ISO 9001 requirements clause by clause. It discusses the correlation of the clauses without changing any context.
Also, it includes examples of the actions you may consider taking to satisfy the clauses. However, it does not have mandatory steps or offer certification.
ISO 9004:
ISO 9004:2018 provides guidelines for improving a business’s ability to obtain consistent and sustainable success with the principles of ISO 9000.
It emphasizes achieving long-term objectives, utilizing self-assessment tools to review maturity levels, leadership, resources, management systems, strategies, areas of weakness and strengths, and improvement opportunities.
ISO 9004 takes you beyond the ISO 9001 requirements to improve your competitive position and operations. Although ISO 9004 does not offer certification, you can use it independently or with any other ISO standard.
Wrapping Up
While you can only obtain ISO 9001 certification, following the other standards and guidelines of the ISO 9000 family can help you improve your overall management processes and operations of your company. So, don’t hesitate to take some time to go through all of these standards and guidelines and improve your competitive advantage.

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