The ISO 9000 Family of Quality Management Systems

Quality can be defined in many ways; it can be succinctly defined as: Fitness for use or also Fitness of use. Its meaning and deployment are conditioned by trade, the economy, and exchange policies with regard to goods, raw materials and services. Even before the advent of writing, these exchanges were often performed over long distances. ExamplEs: • Obsidian blades were produced from the sixth millennium BC in several production centers in Europe (Sardinia), but were distributed throughout the Mediterranean [3.1]. As obsidian is brittle, knives could be made extremely sharp so that even during the 20th century scalpels with obsidian blades were used for surgery. The production of obsidian blades required specification of the raw material, a manufacturing technique involving several delicate tools, and a minimum annual production of blades by the cutter/peddler to maintain a level of expertise.