A study confirms some quality professionals' view that ISO 9001 is ineffective at improving performance.

It has been a while since I commented on ISO 9001 so it is time to re-visit the topic with some statistical data. More than two years ago, I wrote a column, "ISO 9000: More Hindrance than Help," where I described my regret for championing ISO 9000 in my company. Because we already had a quality-centric culture, I found that ISO 9000 just added expense and overhead to our operation.