Joe Bransky, General Motors representative to the IATF, believes that while the ISO 9001 provides an excellent, ‘foundation standard’, some fields require greater specificity. He says: ‘Industries like the automotive, aerospace and telecommunications sectors are typically global and may involve extensive supply chain resources. They involve greater complexity based on the materials, components, interactions, final product and volume. I know of a number of other industry sectors also considering a sector specific approach.’
The problem is not the ISO 9001 standard itself, rather it involves certification credibility. As Bransky points out: ‘The legitimacy of the certificate is the real issue. I see this problem manifesting itself in a number of ways, for example: organizations going through the motions of certification; auditors not auditing but selling and marketing to clients; lack of due diligence on the part of the auditor or certification bodies in the audit or in making the certification decision; lack of accountability of certification bodies to accreditation bodies; and lack of accountability of accreditation bodies to anyone.’
Bransky continues: ‘Ultimately, there are two key components of an effective sector standard. First, the sector standard needs to be robust with the requirements appropriately tailored to meet the industry needs. This requires a collaborative and consensus approach among the industry or sector members. Second, and equally importantly, there needs to be a credible certification scheme that includes meaningful oversight of the recognized certification bodies that is satisfactory to the industry or sector’*.
