ISO: The International Organization for Thesis

("ISO 14025 Published," 2006.)

ISO 14040: ISO 14040 describes the principles and framework for life cycle assessment (LCA). It covers LCA studies and life cycle inventory (LCI) studies but does not describe the LCA technique in detail, nor does it specify methodologies for the individual phases of the LCA. The standard allows a company to make reliable and reusable Life Cycle Assessments.

ISO 14044: While 14040 describes the principles and framework of LCA, 14044 provides the requirements and guidelines for life cycle assessment (LCA). ISO 14044 complements ISO 14040 described above and the two standards are usually used in conjunction.

ISO 9000: ISO 9000 is a family of standards for quality management systems. ISO 9000: 2005 by itself covers just the basics of what quality management systems are and includes the core language of the ISO 9000 series of standards. It is a guidance document, not used for certification purposes, but it is an important reference document for understanding the terms and vocabulary related to quality management systems.

ISO 14000: ISO 14000 is a family of environmental management standards. The series of standards help organizations to minimize the negative effect of their operations on the environment and provide guidance to them to comply with applicable environmental laws and regulations.

ISO 14001: It is the first standard in the ISO 14000 family and provides the requirements for environmental management systems (EMS). It is a useful management tool that enables an organization of almost any size or type to identify and control the environmental impact of its activities, products or services, and to improve its environmental performance continually. ISO 14001 is generic and flexible enough to apply to all types of organizations including manufacturing units as well as service-providing companies.

Conclusion

As we saw in this paper, ISO standards are a useful tool that helps the global economy and society at large by raising the levels of quality, safety, reliability, efficiency of goods and services. ISO standards have particular relevance to the future of American business in the current environment of economic downturn. It is now widely acknowledged that the basic weakness of the U.S. economy lies in the unsustainable and massive budget deficit that threatens to cross the $1 trillion mark in the coming year. One of the reasons for the deficit is the yawning gap in the country's exports and its imports brought about, in part, by a decline in the quality standards of American goods. Strict adherence to ISO standards by American businesses can help raise the quality of U.S. goods and services, which would boost its exports and reduce the hunger for imported goods in its domestic market.

References

Governance and operations." (2008). ISO: Official Website. Retrieved on November 24, 2008 at http://www.iso.org/iso/about/governance_and_operations.htm

ISO 14025 Published." (2006). GEDNET. Retrieved on November 24, 2008 at http://www.gednet.org/?p=22

ISO Code of Ethics." (2004). ISO: Official Website. Retrieved on November 24, 2008 at http://www.iso.org/iso/codeethics_2004.pdf

ISO Strategic Plan 2005-2015." (2004). ISO: Official Website. Retrieved…