This is an excerpt from a response sent to a manufacturing company who asked what "services" is ISO 9001:2000 focused on, in addition to the "products" they sell:

ISO 9001:2000 wants companies to view what they provide to the Customer as more than just tangible products.  This deals with "relationship selling"... in other words, it takes a relationship with your Customers to establish a long term bond, which will keep your Customers coming back year after year.  That relationship is built not just on the tangible products you sell them, but on the whole package you offer them, i.e. your products and services, and how you enhance them with "delivery and support".  Almost anyone can copy your tangible product... but product is not the only reason your Customers will be loyal to you.  It's your products and your services that they are buying.  That's why the ISO 9001:2000 Standard wants companies to recognize this fact and to make sure that companies control not only how they produce their tangible products, but to also consistently deliver all the supporting services that the Customer has come to expect.  Isn't that what every company would want to do?

Don't take my word for it... just ask your Customers... and that's one reason why this new ISO has introduced the concept of "obtaining feedback from your Customers".  If you have existing Customer Satisfaction data then take a look at what it's telling you.  Many would have you believe that the only thing that matters is PRICE, PRICE, PRICE.  I don't dispute this, but if you analyze and really look at your Customer feedback, you will also see that they think other things are important too, such as "availability" of your products... such as product "delivery" when and where they want it... such as "support" areas like correct shipment documentation with every delivery, traceability on every shipment that can tell the Customer when it was produced, etc..., product technical information, product application information, technical support personnel to answer their questions, current/accurate pricing information, prompt complaint resolution, and the list goes on.

If your Customer feedback information is not giving you hints of these "other customer needs", then I suggest you take a look at the questions you are asking... you could be using too many "product quality" questions and not enough on the "services" they expect as well.

So where does that leave us?... well if you are not sure your Customer satisfaction data will alert or identify these "non-product" Customer needs... then you'll have to try and predict them based on in-house knowledge and experience.  A Continual Improvement program would then take action to address them so you can enhance loyalty with your Customers.

One thing you will need decide on is what "product" categories you have.  ISO defines product categories such as hardware, software, services or processed material... and can be any combination of these.  Second you need to look at what else your company promises in the way of "availability, delivery and support" for each of your "product" categories.

Let's look at an example at a "service" that some manufacturing companies offer in addition to their product, say Certificates of Compliance (C of C's) that perhaps you promise with every shipment.  The product you ship is the "hardware", the C of C is information or the "service" that goes with it... and both are promises you made to your Customer... both are Outputs from a process.  You would therefore need to control the processes that generate these Outputs, document how they are done (in Procedures) and check or inspect them, when these Outputs are produced.  That's the first Step.  Step 2 would be to determine what the Customer needs in the way of "availability, delivery and support" for these outputs (product + information).  For C of C's, "availability" means that Customers can access past C of C's any time they want (availability of information), "delivery" means that the C of C arrives at the same time the shipment is received by the Customer (delivery of the information), and finally "support" means that your company has technical personnel available to explain the information contained within the C of C itself.

I hope that helps and remember... if you think like a Customer... you'll have a very good idea of what the intent is behind the ISO 9001:2000 requirements.