The ISO 9000 is a quality management standard recognized and applied internationally. It is a series of standards established and circulated by an international body mandated to develop a set of mandatory requirements: the ISO (International Organization for Standardization)(ISO, 2009). These standards are business practices accepted universally because they have been proven over time; they are therefore put in place, to ensure organizations keep their customers by continually meeting their needs. Customer satisfaction can be influenced by many aspects of a business prompting the ISO 9000 system to cover extended areas of business from design, order process, production and delivery to training and maintenance(ISO, 2009). Due to its universality, the ISO 9000; as a quality management system is applicable to any organization that offers services or products and has the aspiration to satisfactorily meet customer desires.
In light of the technological advancement of our times, ACE recycling is a company that is dedicated to tackling the problem of e-waste recycling(ACE Recycling, 2014). Outdated electronics: printers, televisions, cell phones are discarded every day as people move on to newer and better devices. Since this equipment is not biodegradable, there emerges a heightened demand to safely and effectively recycle their parts in order to sufficiently supply manufactures developing the new, fast and more efficient products needed by society.
ACE recycling caters to hospitals, schools and business by offering services related to their electronic, metal and paper waste. They assist them to securely destroy their data and carry away the bulky equipment. Through the ISO 9000 certification, ACE recycling has managed to maintain high standards in their recycling processes offering their clients excellent diversion efficiency while supplying manufacturers with valuable renewable resources and cleaning up the environment at the same time(ACE Recycling, 2014).
The ISO 9000 rating on ACE recycling has improved their quality management system consequently boosting confidence on investors, company growth, competitive edge and market share. Due to this certification, ACE recycling has become more competitive, more efficient, there has been reduced audits, employees have been motivated and has retained its registration as lead supplier, all of which has improved their profit margins.
ISO 9000 standards have been criticized on various aspects; they are expensive to implement, they take time and there is so much paperwork involved in the registration process making the entire process taxing. In the debate over how efficient these standards are critics argue that the standards are for documentation purposes only while the supporters argue that, for an organization to document its quality system it is because they have applied the right procedures and have an inspection system that can pick out and fix errors(IIOC, 2014).
Despite the negative criticism of ISO 9000, there is an undeniably positive link between the implementation of these standards and TQM (Total Quality Management). Companies that have this certification perform better than companies that do not due to reduced defects on their products, reduced costs for warranties and other inconveniences brought about by customer complaints(Perry Johnson Registrars, 2014). ISO 9000 certified organizations have cultivated and facilitate TQM enablers since the make available quality products, quality information, quality processes and have excellent collaboration with their customers.
ISO 9000 certification improves both productivity and profitability suggesting that there is an indirect influence on performance and quality.
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