Customer Reviews

ISO 9001: 2000 for Small Businesses, Second Edition

5 star:		(13)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

Much of the book's explanation of the standard is pretty much a repetition of the words stated in the standard itself so it doesn't add much value and can be quite confusing at times.

The author also fails to explain some very important points of the standard. One example are the clauses on product "verification" and product "validation". These two terms have very different meanings in the standard. The book fails to explain their differences as well as their exact purpose.

I also noticed a number of typos in the text. There is a section in one of the later chapters of the book that, I believe, was not updated because it still used the word "Supplier" when it meant "Organization".

As for the free quality manual, I would not recommend using it. It does not apply for small businesses and the structure is not that comprehendible. The scary part about this is that the author went as far as saying the reader can immediately use the free quality manual by just replacing the sample company name with the reader's own! That sounds a lot like a get-rich-overnight scheme. It never works. You'll have satisfied ISO 9001:2000's requirement to document your procedures, but as for its requirement to implement and maintain it...I highly doubt that's going to happen if you use the sample manual as is.

I'd go for ISO 9001:2000 explained (second edition). Apart from the fact that the authors were members of the group who actually made the standard, the text is very clear and easily understood.

We were in the process of changing our current quality system to the Y2000 version of ISO 9001 and had employed a firm of consultants to help us set things up. Unfortunately the consultancy costs kept on escalating and instead of producing an updated version of our existing system, they seemed bent on making us conform to their "off the shelf" system. Although it had already cost us a lot of money in consultancy fees we decided to try to get rid of the consultants and try to develop the documentation ourselves.

Although there are a lot of books on the ISO 9001 standard, most of these don't fully describe the standard and appear to only be a sounding board for the author's views on his/her own experiences of management. Little more than a repeat of their previous work. It was, therefore, very refreshing to come across the no nonsense approach to this new standard as shown in Ray Tricker's book, "ISO 9001:2000 for Small Businesses". Having described how the new process approach of ISO 9001:2000 is intended to work and explained the content and inter-relationship of process documentation, the majority of the book consists of an example of a complete Quality Management System (consisting of a Quality Manual, Quality Procedures and Work Instructions) that covers all the recommendations and requirements of ISO 9001:2000 and which can be easily customised to suit any business whether a small corner shop or a large conglomerate. Best of all, however, is the author's very generous offer to supply a free softcopy of this his generic QMS to anyone who has purchased the book.

Having taken up this offer, we were even more delighted to learn that the author was also willing to assist us in cost-effectively setting up our system by being available (on-line) to answer questions regarding his generic QMS, how to adapt it in practice and helping us with some of the general questions about quality. We were thus able to complete all of the work internally and (very importantly) at our own pace. We have now fully updated our processes and sailed through our first ISO audit without a problem.

For companies wishing to save money, I have no hesitation in recommending this book, it is an absolute lifesaver!

We decided to purchase a copy of this book (as opposed to the many others that are available on this topic) as a direct result of having read the Amazon.com reviews. Not only does ISO 9001:2000 for Small Businesses provide an exceeding informative, very clear and easy to read explanation of the aims of the new standard, it also gives purchasers the added bonus of being able to download an example of a generic QMS that they can quickly customise for their own use. We certainly have not regretted this decision to buy the book as it has saved us literally hundreds of hours of work and enabled us to quickly upgrade our previous procedural ISO 9002 system to the ISO 9001:2000 process format. With the aid of this book we successfully achieved this conversion with minimum cost and were successful in becoming Registered to ISO 9001:2000 at our first attempt! The author also provided us with an e-consultancy service on the lines of a HELP Desk, which must have saved us thousands in consultancy charges. All in all, ISO 9001:2000 for Small Businesses has been far and away the best book we have every purchased. Thank you Amazon.com and thank you Ray Tricker!

As global competition, tougher customer requirements for quality, and changing technologies make competing ever tougher, more and more small businesses are finding it necessary to become at least ISO compliant. Mr. Tricker's book is among the first I have seen that take account of the recent changes in ISO standards. The book takes the reader through the process, using an example company as a basis for showing the reader what to do. The reader can simply follow the example set forth in the book. Mr. Tricker does an excellent job of this and covers what small businesses need to know. I found the book very useful in getting a small business into "ISO Mode" (my own term).

I have just completed a first read through of "ISO9001:2000 for Small Businesses" and I must say I'm quite impressed. A couple of customers have been pushing us to have a formal Quality System in place and I have recently been doing a lot of research on the subject and I must say that this book has been of enormous help. I was particularly impressed with the example QMS contained in Part 6 and was overjoyed to learn that a softcopy of it was available from the author. This will save me hours of typing and ensure that I have not missed anything! In this world of rising prices it is nice to find something that is not only worth its weight in gold, but realistically priced. Well done.

After the canonical brief history of ISO and where ISO 9000 came from, Mr. Tricker walks the reader through the standard. He gives a friendly treatment to material that is often presented, at least in other books I've read, in a pedantic way. The book introduces the clauses in the standard's order, then explains them, in a conversational, accessible tone.
The book also includes a quality manual, sample procedures and work instructions. I can only speak for myself, but this is what got the standard to "click" for me. Reading the ISO clauses and interpretations was fine, but when it came time to write my own manual, I found myself floundering. Seeing how Mr. Tricker applied the standard for his own consultancy was invaluable. The manual, procedures and work instructions were all in one section, and not dispersed throughout the book as examples, which added to the book's utility. A great reference book

Having been required to implement ISO 9001:2000 to do a defence contract I was looking for as much information on the subject i could muster. Unfortunately i bought this book. Ray Tricker is an 'old school' windbag who has totally lost the plot when it comes to understanding what the new standard is all about. His 'free quality manual' is about half an inch thick. If you use this as your template it will make a great door stop or catch a great deal of dust because no one will ever refer to it. I also spent money on a course at the British Standards Institute, and from that my manual is 4 pages plus the other 4 to cover the mandatory procedures - thats it! The new standard is about processes and documenting them, not making an excuse to fell a rainforest for paper. Sure Tricker's may be compliant if you understand how to put it into terms that fit your organisation, but this work is an horrific misrepresentation of what the standard requires and is a disservice to it. Save your money - don't waste it on this book.

A concise guide to the new ISO9001:2000 detailed in the four pertinent sections that need to be addressed when setting up a quality system. A generous number of charts, outlines and guides are provided by the author. If I have any complaint it would be that there is almost too much information or that it seemed on first read that some of the information became redundant.

Overall it is a great reference piece and very helpful.

This book takes pride of place amongst my ISO reference books. The book is extensive in its coverage and manages to be informative in plain english, a rare occurance in this field. The Author has not only produced a first class reference book but provided a service by making himself personally available to his readers.
The example Quality Manual section of the book proved invaluable when I came to carry out a sanity check on our QMS, highlighting areas for improvement.
Since purchasing this book I haven't picked up another, congratulations Mr Tricker, a job well done.

Charged with the task of taking the company from ISO9002:1994 to accreditation to the new ISO9001:2000 Quality Standard started as quite a daunting task despite being well versed in ISO9002:1994. The new standard calls for a lot more top management involvement and is much more integral to the company's overall management structure, so conversion from old to new is not as simple as dotting a few i's and crossing a few t's. However, after a month or so of feeling my way around the whole thing, I decided some help was required. The budget was definitely not going to stretch to a consultant, so having read the other reviews of Ray's book, I decided to make a purchase - and what a purchase! This book is simply excellent, and in terms of not having a consultant to help, well, this book is the next best thing and of course much much cheaper.

The whole principle behind the ISO9001:2000 system is laid out with each part of the standard reviewed and explained in a real world context. There is a sample manual included in the latter part of the book, but Ray's offer of a "soft" e-copy is not to be missed.

Ray's promise to offer a bit of help if you do get stuck is not pie in the sky marketing promise, it is actual fact - how refreshing!

This book has saved me hours of time over the last couple of months and I am absolutely convinced that the help I have received from the book has been instrumental in enabling my company achieve accreditation to ISO9001:2000 at the first attempt. Granted there are a few wrinkles to iron out, but I know where I will be looking for help and guidance. This book is not yet consigned to the depths of my desk drawer - in fact it will continue to be an invaluable reference for a long time to come. If you are looking for a value for money time saving device for your company, and you are working to achieve ISO9001:2000, then this is the "must have" purchase for you