Quality standards
Represent an international consensus on good management practices that apply to any industry or organization, whether manufacturing or service-based. The primary aim of the standards is to supply guidelines on what constitutes an effective quality management system that can serve as the frame work for continuous improvement.
Six Sigma
Six Sigma is a quality philosophy that uses customer-focused goals and measurements to drive continuous improvement at all levels in any enterprise. The goal is to develop processes so robust that defects are measured at levels of only a few parts per million. Six Sigma implementation requires leadership from top management since it must be embraced throughout the organization.
ISO 9000
The ISO 9000 series of standards represent an international consensus on good management practices that apply to any industry or organization, whether manufacturing or service-based. The primary aim of the standards is to supply guidelines on what constitutes an effective quality management system that can serve as the frame work for continuous improvement.
First published in 1987, the ISO 9000 standards have been adopted by more than 90 countries throughout the world. Today, more and more business and industry leaders realize that to be competitive in the global marketplace, their companies must be world class. Quality must be reflected in products, services, practices, and procedures; quality that is maintained and improved.
Whether ISO 9000 compliance is driven by customer demand or marketplace trends, its ultimate goal is to build a quality management system that will support continuous improvement as well as integration with other business processes or regulatory requirements.
FDA Regulation
For many years, businesses regulated by the FDA-particularly in sensitive industries such as medical devices, diagnostics, pharmaceuticals, and cosmetics-faced only one set of standards for the manufacture of their products. As a result of international harmonization efforts by both the FDA in the United States and various global partnerships, requirements are becoming more complex, involving ISO and EN standards and CE marking. Moreover, requirements have been extended to include design control, process validation, and software validation. Hence, there are more and more requirements to follow, making it necessary to develop sound management systems that integrate international quality, regulatory, and business requirements.
ISO 14000
ISO 14000 is a series of international standards that deal with environmental issues. An environmental management system, as defined in ISO 14001, is the part of an organization's overall management system pertaining to the development, implementation, achievement, review, and maintenance of the organization's environmental policy. For many industries, environmental concerns are at the forefront of corporate issues today. Having a documented environmental management system ensures that your policies are effectively understood and implemented, and that your environmental management system is an integral part of your overall management system.
TL 9000
TL 9000 is a telecommunications standard published by the Quality Excellence for Suppliers of Telecommunications (QuEST) Forum-a consortium of over 100 telecommunications service providers and their suppliers. The QuEST Forum is a unique partnership of telecommunications suppliers and service providers. Its mission is to foster continued improvements to the quality and reliability of telecommunications service. The Forum is committed to developing and maintaining a common set of quality system requirements for the telecommunications industry worldwide, including reportable performance and cost-based metrics for the industry.
TL 9000 includes all of the requirements of ISO 9001:2000, with industry-specific requirements for hardware, software, services, and measurements. The goal of these added requirements is continual improvement in the telecommunications industry, resulting in potential cost savings for suppliers and service providers, and improved service to end users of telecommunications services. TL 9000 is published in two volumes: TL 9000 Requirements Handbook and TL 9000 Measurements Handbook.
CMM
Capability maturity model: A framework that describes the key elements of an effective software process. It's an evolutionary improvement path from an immature process to a mature, disciplined process. The CMM covers practices for planning, engineering and managing software development and maintenance. When followed, these key practices improve the ability of organizations to meet goals for cost, schedule, functionality and product quality.