BS 5750: The Industry View

The number of companies becoming registered to BS5750, the UK national standard for quality systems, has grown dramatically, yet little formal research has been undertaken in the area. The objective of the present study was to determine the view of Scottish manufacturing companies of BS 5750, its benefits and the problem areas associated with it. Questionnaires were sent to 80 companies currently registered to BS 5750 Part 1, 2 or 3. These were randomly selected from the 1990 Scottish Development Agency Register of Quality Assessed Companies, and covered a broad spectrum in terms of size and type of business. A 65 per cent response rate was achieved. Key findings were as follows. Not all of the benefits of BS5750 put forward by the British Standards Institution are being realized in practice, the principal ones are in relation to better company image and increased quality awareness among employees. Sixty‐two per cent of companies believed registration had resulted in significantly higher administration burdens and 70 per cent believed that these would act as a barrier for smaller companies wishing to register. Registration had not removed the need for additional audits by customers: furthermore, 49 per cent of companies were dissatisfied with the external auditing by accredited bodies.