It takes both flesh and bones to make up an entire body. So is it with the ISO 9000: 2000 standard released last December by the International Organization for Standardization (ISO).
In a sense, experts say, the "requirements" spelled out in the standard's ISO 9001 document can form the skeleton for companies that want to implement and operate effective quality management systems. But it is the ISO 9004 document--commonly referred to as the second half of the "consistent pair"--that provides the "guidelines," or the meat, that companies need to flesh out those quality management systems, sources agree.