ISO first published its ISO 9001 standard in 1987 and later published an
updated version in 1994. In an effort to address the changing needs of
its users, ISO again updated its standard in 2000 and 2008 and again
in 2015. The newest version is known as ISO 9001 2015.

The ISO 9001 quality management standard applies to areas such as
manufacturing, processing, servicing, printing, forestry, electronics, steel,
food processing, legal services, financial services, trucking, banking, retailing,
drilling, recycling, aerospace, construction, exploration, textiles, pharmaceuticals,
oil and gas, pulp and paper, publishing, petrochemicals, shipping, mining, energy,
telecommunications, plastics, metals, research, health care, hospitality, utilities,
aviation, machine tools, agriculture, government, education, recreation, tourism,
fabrication, sanitation, software development, consumer products, transportation,
instrumentation, computing, biotechnology, chemicals, consulting, insurance etc.

ISO has two kinds of quality management standards: requirements and
guidelines. Together these two kinds of quality standards make up what is
known as the ISO portfolio of quality management standards.

Requirements are the formal expectations that you must meet if you wish
to be officially certified or registered. They are compulsory. Guidelines, on the
other hand, are suggestions and recommendations only. They are voluntary.

In the past, ISO had three sets of quality requirements: ISO 9001, ISO 9002,
and ISO 9003. However, now there’s only one standard: ISO 9001 2015.
ISO 9002 and 9003 have been dropped.

In the past, ISO’s quality guidelines included ISO 8402, ISO 9000, ISO 9004,
ISO 10005, ISO 10011, ISO 10012, and ISO 10013. But most of these standards
have either changed or been dropped. ISO 8402 1994 and ISO 9000 1994 have
been replaced by ISO 9000 2015. And ISO 9004 2000 has become ISO 9004 2009,
while the ISO 10011 series has been turned into ISO 19011.