Total quality management 449 15.7 Future trends a key change is nearly upon us at this point in time, the Bs EN Iso 9000 series of standards are being revised and the new Iso 9000 (year 2000)version will be published in 2000. The new standard will mark a significant change to many areas of the old Iso 9000 standard and will address many of the key criticisms of the old standard. In particular there will be a change to using the process model approach so that individual businesses can suit the application of the standard to their own operations, rather than have the 20 key system elements imposed on them. Secondly the emphasis of the new standard will be firmly routed in the principles of continual improvement and meeting customer requirements. To this end specific requirements will be needed to measure ar ascertain performance of the business with respect to quality and the ability to meet its customers'demands and requirements, howsoever defined. Finally the new standard will include the requirements to effectively communicate with customers and to manage all relevant streams of information passing through an organisation. In summary the essence of the new standard should help to ensure that you keep your existing customers by focusing on their needs, rather than the internal needs of the business It can also be predicted for the future that the involvement of customers, and particularly retailers, in the production supply chain will continue to grow. Requirements on production facilities to ensure that their products meet the needs of retailers is therefore imperative and the moves towards synergistic business relationships between suppliers and retailers should be encouraged. The continuing use of third party schemes to audit and assess production premises will obviously continue and the current standards being applied will develop with time. The challenge to all involved in this process is to ensure that the spection standards are demanding but technically achievable to ensure safe and reliable food production Given the higher publicity now given to any food safety problem by the media, it is an inevitable consequence that governments will react to the media attention by raising standards through increased legislative input In the UK the launch of the new Food Standards Agency(FSA)will enhance this process. It will be interesting to note whether the FSa will develop a highly prescriptive approach to safety matters or whether it will continue to place the emphasis of control onto manufactures themselves Finally, the environmental pressures being placed on the whole of society will impact on chilled food businesses like all others. TQM systems which seek to address environmental issues as well as production management issues should be applauded and encouraged. The European Union is keen to progress the ideas of an Integrated Product Policy(IPP) within all manufacturing areas. This approach takes a more holistic total life-cycle approach to products and looks into the total environmental effect on all elements of production, packaging, s ensures that the environmental impacts of the individual elements le and that any changes made do not create savings in one area by15.7 Future trends A key change is nearly upon us at this point in time, the BS EN ISO 9000 series of standards are being revised and the new ISO 9000 (year 2000) version will be published in 2000. The new standard will mark a significant change to many areas of the old ISO 9000 standard and will address many of the key criticisms of the old standard. In particular there will be a change to using the process model approach so that individual businesses can suit the application of the standard to their own operations, rather than have the 20 key system elements imposed on them. Secondly the emphasis of the new standard will be firmly routed in the principles of continual improvement and meeting customer requirements. To this end specific requirements will be needed to measure and ascertain performance of the business with respect to quality and the ability to meet its customers’ demands and requirements, howsoever defined. Finally the new standard will include the requirements to effectively communicate with customers and to manage all relevant streams of information passing through an organisation. In summary the essence of the new standard should help to ensure that you keep your existing customers by focusing on their needs, rather than the internal needs of the business. It can also be predicted for the future that the involvement of customers, and particularly retailers, in the production supply chain will continue to grow. Requirements on production facilities to ensure that their products meet the needs of retailers is therefore imperative and the moves towards synergistic business relationships between suppliers and retailers should be encouraged. The continuing use of third party schemes to audit and assess production premises will obviously continue and the current standards being applied will develop with time. The challenge to all involved in this process is to ensure that the inspection standards are demanding but technically achievable to ensure safe and reliable food production. Given the higher publicity now given to any food safety problem by the media, it is an inevitable consequence that governments will react to the media attention by raising standards through increased legislative input. In the UK the launch of the new Food Standards Agency (FSA) will enhance this process. It will be interesting to note whether the FSA will develop a highly prescriptive approach to safety matters or whether it will continue to place the emphasis of control onto manufactures themselves. Finally, the environmental pressures being placed on the whole of society will impact on chilled food businesses like all others. TQM systems which seek to address environmental issues as well as production management issues should be applauded and encouraged. The European Union is keen to progress the ideas of an Integrated Product Policy (IPP) within all manufacturing areas. This approach takes a more holistic total life-cycle approach to products and looks into the total environmental effect on all elements of production, packaging, delivery. This ensures that the environmental impacts of the individual elements are acceptable and that any changes made do not create savings in one area by Total quality management 449