QUALITY MANAGEMENT SYSTEM ISO 9001– WEAKNESSES, PRACTICAL IRREGULARITIES AND THREATS TOMASZ BRZOZOWSKI, PIOTR ROGALA, PAWEŁ SKOWRON INTRODUCTION The management methods in some aspects are subject to similar rules as products. They are introduced, promoted and developed. They also have to compete against other methods. Subsequently they obviously get outdated, so after a while their popularity decreases. At times they are modified to make managers want to utilize them again. Quality management system (QMS) in conformity with ISO 9001 standard is one of those methods. In 2013 there were over 1 100 000 organizations which had their QMS certified according to ISO 9001. However, the increase of the number of certificates observed few years ago has recently stopped (see Fig. 2). Some countries (e.g. Japan, Brazil, The Netherlands and Sweden) noticed a strong decrease of the interest in the standard [1]. At the same time there started to appear, especially in expert literature, critical opinions on the quality management systems. Fig. 1: Evolution of ISO 9001 certificates Source: own research on the basis of [1] A new revision of ISO 9001 is about to be published in 2015 and the changes it announces should eliminate all or at least some of the faults discovered in the current revision of the system. Nevertheless, it is not certain whether the corrected revision will meet the expectations and cause a renewal of the interest in the quality management systems. However, the draft version has already been published so it is possible to perform an initial review. First, it is crucial to indicate the problems connected with the current quality management systems functioning, which is the goal of this article. It attempts to identify and categorize those problems basing on the literature study and the authors’ experience gained in the work of consultants and management representatives. 1. QUALITY MANAGEMENT SYSTEM ISO 9001 ISO 9001 standard was first announced in 1987. Since its publication it has undergone three amendments. The changes introduced in 1994 focused on a global approach to the product life cycle. The amendments of the 2000 simplified the standard’s structure but most importantly included a number of crucial changes concerning the scope and content of the requirements. The revision also replaced the term ”quality system” by “quality management system” [2]. The last review so far took place in 2008. It introduced minor changes meant to clarify some issues and also increase the conformity with ISO 14001 standard. Because of its complexity, it is difficult to define precisely what a quality management system 0 200000 400000 600000 800000 1000000 1200000 Year Number of certificates