تاثیر سیستم مدیریت ISO 9000 در تولید

This paper presents a research on the impact of ISO 9000 quality management systems on manufacturing in small and medium sized enterprises (SME). In order to understand the effect of ISO 9000 implementation on firm performance, ISO 9000 certified and non-certified firms were investigated statistically to determine any significant difference between them. Then, the investigation was carried out on the effect of ISO 9000 implementation on manufacturing parameters and competitive priorities. For this purpose a sampling pool of 106 SMEs were examined of which 79 of them implemented ISO 9000 standards. Our findings show that ISO 9000 implementation makes a significant difference on firm performance between certified and non-certified firms. Similar results are also found in the analysis on manufacturing parameters and competitive priorities indicating that firms gain significant benefits. However, surprisingly no significant difference is found with respect to defective part production and manufacturing cost between the two groups.

The effective deployment of ISO 9000 quality management system (ISO 9000 QMS) has been widely recognized in recent years as a means of building sustainable competitive advantage and thereby enhancing firm performance. ISO 9000 standards are internationally recognized and designed to demonstrate that the supplying organization has achieved a basic level of quality by the formalization and documentation of its quality management system [1]. For this study a number of recent publications related to the effects of ISO 9000 quality management system were reviewed. Liao et al. [2] studied Australian manufacturing companies and found that certification is likely to lead to both actual and perceived quality improvements, as well as overall improvements in organizational performance. Ebrahimpour et al. [3] proposed that ISO 9000 certified companies in the US industry expect their quality systems will lead to improving product design, process design, product quality, public image and supplier relations. Peach [4] emphasized that certified companies gain improved quality and competitive advantage as external benefits and improved documentation and quality awareness as internal benefits. Brown et al. [5] found in their study for Australian SMEs that the major significant improvements are related to internal improvements: greater quality awareness, improved awareness of problems within the organization, and improved product quality. On the other hand there is some research that finds no positive correlation between firm performance and ISO 9000 adoption. The findings from the work of Simmons and White [6] did not support the claims that certified companies realize advantages in operational performance over non-certified companies. Another study by Lai and Cheng [7] also suggested that certification alone does not appear to have a direct effect on performance success. Despite the clear definitions and objectives of ISO 9000 QMS and its widespread international acceptance, there is considerable confusion and frustration surrounding the role and business value of ISO 9000 certification. Although the number of firms that want to implement ISO 9000 QMS is increasing day by day, many of them increasingly started questioning the link between ISO 9000 QMS and firm performance. Some companies report disappointment since they cannot achieve expected benefits. In addition, despite the increasing amount of research on ISO 9000 QMS, most of it is not empirical and mostly case studies, which are merely descriptive or prescriptive [8]. This situation is pointing the importance and need for further research of the subject on behalf of practitioners and academic circles. Therefore the primary purpose of this paper is to identify the variables that explain the popularity of ISO 9000 QMS especially from the perspective of manufacturing and to contribute to an academic debate in terms of the usefulness of ISO 9000 QMS for SMEs, while at the same time providing empirical data that has implications for industrial policy makers.

The purpose of this paper was to identify the variables that explain the popularity of ISO 9000 QMS especially from the perspective of manufacturing and to contribute to an academic debate in terms of the usefulness of ISO 9000 QMS for SMEs, while at the same time providing empirical data that has implications for industrial policy makers. The study point out that the combination of the findings of the research questions suggests a fit between ISO 9000 practices, manufacturing performance, competitive priorities and firm performance. It is claimed that companies that have improved their manufacturing parameters through ISO 9000 practices benefit improvement in the value that they offer to their customers by means of their competitive priorities that leads to improvement in firm performance. Based on the analysis, the findings also suggest that the improvements in internal manufacturing competences are likely to increase the customer demand by better value offered by the firm that in turn leads to improvement in firm performance. Therefore firms are advised not to focus primarily on conformity and documentation but rather they should focus on combining the quality management with overall business success. It is expected that especially for the non-certified firms these findings provide implications related the potential areas in manufacturing for improvement by the adoption of ISO 9000 QMS. Future research can be done to explain the barriers in adoption or the reasons why firms are reluctant to adopt the ISO 9000 standards. The relationship between the technology level of manufacturing systems and ISO 9000 practices is also an interesting subject to investigate. In addition, how the commitment is achieved within the firm as well as additional tools and techniques that support the certification are important criteria to investigate in future research. It would also be interesting to investigate the benefits of ISO 9000 QMS in a cross-national research. Although some researchers (e.g. [3]) state that most obstacles, benefits and other issues related to ISO 9000 QMS do not differ to any great degree from one country to another, the findings may help generalization of the findings of this study. As for the limitation of the study, the time subsequent to these firms receiving ISO 9000 certificates was not taken into consideration in the study. The certificates are given relative to the circumstances existing at specific time periods for the firms assume that they still carry out the necessary activities following the same quality criteria as when they receive the certificate. In addition, for practitioners, the findings should be approached with caution. Although a relationship between ISO 9000 QMS registration and firm performance is found, it cannot be concluded that this relationship is caused only by certification. There may be other differences between certified and non-certified firms that significantly impact these relationships. Therefore firms should go beyond the certification process and the basic requirements of ISO 9000 and focus on general emphasis of quality in every area of business and apply the other necessary tools and techniques basing on the standards outlined by ISO 9000 and proceed towards total quality management.