The history of a standard

About two decades older than the SAQ, which was founded in 1965, is the ISO (International Organization for Standardization): In 1946, delegates from 25 countries met in London to create a new international organization to simplify and unify industrial standards. Founding members included the then Austrian Standards Institute (now ASI) and the Swiss Standards Association (SNV). One year later, ISO officially began its work. The organization soon moved its headquarters to Geneva, Switzerland, initially to a small private house. At the beginning of the 1950s, the secretariat consisted of five people. 1951 saw the publication of the first standard: "Standard reference temperature for industrial length measurements", known today as ISO 1:2002 Geometrical product specification: Reference temperature for geometrical product specification and testing. To date, ISO has published over 19,500 international standards covering almost all aspects of technology and manufacturing processes.

A standard applicable to all companies

However, uniform industry standards are only one side of the coin. Statements about quality are not possible with this alone. The process-oriented approach or the definition of minimum requirements for a QM system, which a company has to fulfil, is missing. In 1979, the British Standards Institution therefore established the first standard for quality management systems with BS 5750. Today, this standard is regarded as the forerunner of the ISO 9000 standards, which are widely accepted internationally. ISO 9000 defines the basic principles and terms for a quality management system. The process-oriented approach with the Deming circle (PDCA; Plan - Do - Check - Act) was also incorporated. ISO 9000 has undergone several revisions to date. However, the quality management standard ISO 9001, which was first published in 1987, has been the most widely used to date, and over 1.1 million certificates have now been issued for it in more than 170 countries. In this standard, chapter 4.1 lists six general requirements for a quality management system so that a company can provide products or services that meet the expectations of customers. These are formulated in such a way that they are applicable to all industries and company sizes.

From the SAQ to the SQS

But how has the subject of quality management developed in Switzerland? In this country, quality management education is closely associated with one name: Prof. Dr. Hans Dieter Seghezzi, long-time lecturer at the University of St.Gallen (then still the University of St.Gallen HSG) and co-author of the standard work "Integrated Quality Management ". The busy lecturer not only founded a new SAQ section in the Rhine Valley of St.Gallen, but was also the driving force behind the spread of systematic quality management in Swiss companies. Interest grew accordingly and ultimately led to the SAQ bringing auditing and certification into the newly founded SQS in 1983 "for reasons of neutrality towards customers". Initially - ISO 9001 did not yet exist in 1983 - SQS carried out audits on the basis of Swiss standard 029 100, but also for foreign standards. Today SQS is a leading organisation in Switzerland for audits based on ISO standards. In the meantime, other institutions have been added, because auditing and certification have developed into a not insignificant field of business to this day.

ISO 9001:2015: Suggestions for practice

In the next issue we will start with a three-part series of articles on the latest revision of ISO 9001, in which the authors René Wasmer, deputy CEO of SQS and Swiss delegate to ISO, and SAQ board member Lothar Natau will give an initial introduction to the topic. This is because ISO 9001:2015 sets some new accents that make the standard interesting for a wider circle of companies and organizations. The series of articles aims to provide practical suggestions for the implementation of the revised standard.