Use of ISO 9000 and Baldrige Award Criteria in Supplier Quality Evaluation

Purchasing and materials managers are increasingly concerned with ISO 9000 registration, both as a prerequisite for participation in global markets and in supplier selection. The ISO 9000 guidelines link certification requirements to quality‐related corporate issues, and can be used as a screening tool for companies when assessing a supplier's process conformance. However, many important areas of quality management are not addressed by ISO 9000. The Malcolm Baldrige Award criteria, on the other hand, provide a comprehensive framework within which to conduct an evaluation of suppliers’ quality systems. The similarities and differences between the two frameworks are compared in a map that is validated using survey data from 314 North American organizations. The results suggest that ISO 9000 registration criteria fail to measure key areas of quality management, including strategic planning, employee involvement, quality results, competitive benchmarking, and customer satisfaction. Based on these results, the implications for the design of supplier quality measurement and evaluation systems are discussed.