I only had a chance to skim the referenced document in Jim's post, but one thing caught my eye:
"Since ISO 9004:2000 will be a guidance document, it is not intended to be used for third party
certification purposes. A key element in the new ISO 9004 will be the ability to perform self evaluation,
but third party QMS certifications/registrations will be to ISO 9001:2000, which will
consolidate the current ISO 9001, 9002, and 9003 standards.
[FAQ 035, November 1999; formerly FAQ 013]"
Too bad they didn't drop the 3rd party part. I think lots of companies would have saved lots of money and aggrivation and I doubt that actual overall quality would have suffered. The market has a way of handling such issues as setting quality requirements.
Am I all wet?