Background to the Update of ISO 9000
ISO 9000 has achieved global recognition, particularly amongst organisations who have demonstrated their capability to meet stringent customer expectations through quality assurance. Over 350,000 companies worldwide are registered to one of the ISO 9000:1994 series of Standards

A major survey of these users was commissioned in 1997 by an ISO Technical Committee (TC 176) which revealed criticism of the 20 element model in terms of it being manufacturing biased, too cumbersome and having too many guidelines. In recent years, other business disciplines have become driven by processes, not procedures. Industries began to find the ISO 9000 series inflexible and less relevant to their needs.

How is the Standard changed ?
The good news is that the  2000 version of the standard promises benefits that will apply equally to small firms as to large organisations. These include the following :

Written in clear language; simple to use and less bureaucratic
Applicable to all sizes of organisation and all product sectors - including service
More emphasis on 'the processes' of a business
Ability to reduce the scope, according to the type of organisation
Compatible with related standards, such as ISO 14001 (Environmental)
Provides a pathway to continual improvement
ISO 9002:1994 and ISO 9003:1994 have been withdrawn and incorporated into a single requirements standard; ISO 9001:2000.

Four core standards
There will be four core standards for Quality Management Systems :

ISO 9000 Fundamentals and vocabulary
ISO 9001 Requirements
ISO 9004 Guidance for performance improvement
ISO 19011 Guidelines for Auditing Quality Systems (used to be ISO 1001)
Of these, only ISO 9001 is a certifiable standard (i.e. ISO9001 is the only standard that you can be assessed against), with the others being for guidance and information purposes only.

Change in emphasis
The major proposed change is from a system-based to a process-based management approach, which is seen as a logical progression in line with other contemporary management initiatives.

In emphasising measurement, customer satisfaction and continual improvement, the ISO 9000:2000 series demonstrates that it does not pursue quality for its own sake - but acknowledges it as an essential requirement for the achievement of customer satisfaction.