Global Management of Quality Assurance Systems (MCGRAW HILL ENGINEERING AND TECHNOLOGY MANAGEMENT SERIES)

In today's global industrial environment, the quality of products and services has emerged as the key to competitiveness. If your company is currently doing business abroad, or contemplating expansion into new foreign markets, here is all the information and guidance you need to successfully plan, control, and improve quality to the levels required to compete in the international business arena.Written by two quality experts at the forefront of the movement toward worldwide system standardization, this timely and insightful book offers business executives, managers, and engineers a complete overview of modern quality assurance systems from a truly international perspective. Beginning with a close-up look at the latest developments in the area of total quality management (TQM), the book goes on to carefully examine the impact that innovations in TQM have had on the international management of quality assurance systems, as well as on all-important auditing and systems registration procedures.Placing special emphasis on the role that evolving standards like ISO 9000 play in the international marketplace, the book offers a wealth of practical advice on how to design and implement quality assurance systems that comply fully with the new international standard and similar standards now in effect in North America, Europe, and other countries. You'll find in-depth coverage of such key topics as quality assurance system implementation, evaluation, and improvement ... national and international registration programs ... audit standards and guidelines ... auditor qualification and certification ... accreditation procedures ... and more. Fact-filled discussions on important issues like managing quality in the face of global competition and the challenges and opportunities of meeting a worldwide standard are also included.