TS 6000

TS 6000 is a guidance standard within the quality management and quality assurance family, explaining how quality system standards should be selected and used. It is aimed at clarifying the differences and relationships among definitions and quality concepts, and at guiding the choice of standards suited to internal quality management and external quality assurance purposes. In this context, TS 6004 is cited for internal quality management, while TS 6001, TS 6002 and TS 6003 are associated with external quality assurance applications.

How quality system standards are chosen

In general technical terms, quality management standards support how an organization plans, operates, monitors and improves its processes, whereas quality assurance standards focus on providing confidence to customers or other interested parties that specified activities are carried out reliably. Guidance standards of this kind help distinguish which standard is most appropriate for a given objective. Clear terminology matters because quality control, quality assurance and quality management are closely related but not interchangeable in purpose or scope.

Key boundary in this document

• Conceptual clarification of quality terms and relationships
• Guidance for standards used in internal quality management
• Guidance for standards used in external quality assurance
• Rules for selection and use of quality system standards