"Implementing the ISO 9000 Series" by James L. Lamprecht, published by Marcel Dekker, Inc. (270 Madison Avenue, New York, NY 10016) 1994, 262 pp, $45 (list)

A Book Review by Norman C. Frank, PE, CQE, CQA. CER Corporation, Washington, DC

This is the second book on the ISO 9000 Series Standards by Mr. Lamprecht. It is the 40th book in the "Quality and Reliability" series edited by Edward G. Schilling of the Rochester Institute of Technology. This book complements Lamprecht's first book ("ISO 9000: Preparing for Registration") by answering the questions raised by the readers of the first book and providing guidance for interpreting many of the paragraphs in ISO 9001 (ASQC Q91).

Lamprecht covers the history of the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) and the laws, policies, and directives issued by the European Community along with the harmonization efforts underway. The needs of the "ISO Coordinator" are addressed in Chapter 4, "How to Implement Change".

Chapters 5 and 6 discuss the various structures for a quality system and provide some sample documentation for addressing the standard's requirements. Both simple structures and multiple tier structures are covered sufficiently to guide selection of the best system for your company. Considerable attention is also given to the requirement for an internal audit function.

Lamprecht spends considerable time discussing third-party audits (audits by the Registrar), including what questions you probably don't have to answer. The six "most often made mistakes when audited" are briefly discussed, but no extensive help to mitigate the mistakes is given, partly because the actions are obvious. Two case studies/exercises are provided to help the reader gain an understanding of what a third-party auditor must consider during and audit.

The book concludes by looking at the changes proposed by the draft updates of the ISO 9000 Series Standards and the future of the ISO 9000 Series Standards. Lamprecht concludes that although there is considerable and severe criticism of the ISO 9000 Series Standards, these standards will survive beyond the year 2000.

"Implementing the ISO 9000 Series" fills many of the gaps that remained from Lamprecht's first book. Together they provide almost a complete discussion of the ISO 9000 Series Standard and their current affect on USA industry.