There is no legal requirement to meet the requirements of the ISO 9001 standard and it is up to the management of an organisation to decide if they wish to implement the standard within the organization. While some standards are mandatory – such as safety standards or product standards – the ISO 9001 is a voluntary standard. ISO founders decided to give it an acronym ISO, which was based on the Greek word ‘isos’, which means ‘equal’. In 1947, ISO was officially formed with 67 technical committees consisting of a group of experts focusing on a specific subject. This organization was formed after a delegation of 65 members from 25 countries, met to discuss the future of International Standardization. International Organization for Standardization came into existence in the year 1946 in London. ISO is the short name for International Organization for Standardization. The ISO 9001 Standard has been accredited by over a million organizations around the world, making it the most commonly used management tool in the world. ISO 9001 is an amalgamation of industry best practices.
The ISO 9001 standard lays out a set of guidelines to establish a management system for any type of business. ISO 9001 is an international standard for quality management published by the International Organization for Standardization (ISO). What is the ISO Quality Management Standard?