Can ISO prevent product defects

That's an important question raised by a reader. Mario (not his real name) is being pushed by management to take the lead in securing an ISO certification within a year.

- REY ELBO

He consulted ChatGPT for guidance and would like to compare my insights. I told him that ChatGPT is a work in progress.

So, if you ask if it can provide accurate answers, ChatGPT will give you the following disclaimer: "It can often provide seemingly accurate answers, it is not guaranteed to be completely accurate and should not be considered a sole source of truth; always verify information from ChatGPT with other credible sources as it can sometimes generate incorrect or misleading information based on patterns in its training data, not necessarily factual knowledge."

That's it. So, what does ChatGPT tell us about ISO? It says "You can get ISO certification without implementing 5S (a mantra for good housekeeping on Sorting, Setting in order, Shining, Standardizing and Sustaining)."

ChatGPT claims "they are separate concepts." I disagree with that. Sure, there are many ISO-certifying bodies that do not force prospective clients to first implement 5S. They don't want to add to the difficulties of their clients, who may find it too cumbersome and lose revenue in the process.

ISO and 5S are closely intertwined. You can't separate the two. It's difficult to fully comply with ISO without strictly implementing 5S and removing all wastes from work processes. In his book GembaKaizen (1997), Masaaki Imai (1930-2023), kaizen guru and international bestselling author says muda (waste) elimination and housekeeping (5S) should precede writing a standard.