An ISO factory is a factory that has been certified as complying with standards set forth by the International Organization for Standardization (ISO). This includes the factory management environment, methods of production, and production quality.
The ISO is an association of the national groups responsible for industry standards in 157 individual countries created to implement minimum standards for production of goods in international trade. The ISO is a non-governmental organization headquartered in Geneva, Switzerland and is comprised of one member for each country.
The ISO has developed more than 18,000 standards and publishes as many as 1,100 new ones each year. The ISO Web site catalogues those standards and lists them by topic number. ISO 9000, “Quality management system in production environments” pertains to factories and a factory must meet its requirements to become ISO 9000 certified.
Factory standards include the requirement that a factory follow a set of procedures that ensure consistency in production, an adequate monitoring process, a system of checking the final product for defects, regular review of the quality systems, initiative for continual improvement, mutually beneficial supplier relationships and a customer focus.
