Any quality/productivity-oriented system installed by an organization should always be questioned as to the value it will bring to the organization. ISO 9001:2000, Six Sigma, and Lean Manufacturing are all designed to bring value to an organization. None of these disciplines is exclusive to the others.

Now let's look at a typical example of how the value-added activity occurs. ISO 9001:2000 requires that an organization measure and monitor both process and product. Value is added as monitoring and measurement provide the organization valuable information on how processes and products are conforming to specifications and in-turn reflecting how effective the process and product controls. This information then can be used to make appropriate adjustments to the production process.

To further demonstrate how the ISO 9001:2000 requirements complement other manufacturing improvement disciplines and add value, I pose the following questions:

A. What value would a Six Sigma project accomplish if the measuring equipment was not under a calibration control process?

B. How effective would a Lean Manufacturing project be if the production workers involved in the project did not have the latest relevant product and processing information?