ISO evolution began in 1947 named as International Organization for Standardization commonly abbreviated as ISO. Till today they are 162 member countries and 135 people associated and working with ISO.
First Office of ISO
The first and tiny office of ISO was in some private house somewhere located in Geneva, Switzerland that accommodated 5 active members to work there.
Want to Know What Was First ISO Standard?
ISO 1:2002 Geometrical Product Specifications (GPS) Standard Reference Temperature for Geometrical product the specification is formerly known as ISO/R 1:1951 Standard Reference Temperature for Industrial Length Measurement was published in 1951, and it has been updated many times till now.
The First ISO Journal
In May 1952, the first ISO Journal was published to share technical knowledge with organizations. After the first ISO journal being released, a series of the monthly publication of ISO journal was initiated.
ISO Evolution General Assembly
With 35 members and 68 standards being Henry St. Leger, the Secretary-General, all ISO members came together in Stockholm in 1955.
Establishment of SI – International System of Units
In 1960, ISO 31 was published whose purpose was to replace the formerly published ISO standard named ISO 80,000. The foundation of ISO 31 is SI (Système International d’unités) whose goal was to expand its reach to worldwide organizations so that uniformity can be attained in units of measurement.
How ISO Evolution Start Helping Developing Countries?
In 1961, a separate committee was established by the name of DEVCO primarily to deal with the matters of developing countries. Another advantage that DEVCO was providing to developing countries as they can be informed of International Standardized work without bearing the full cost of ISO membership.
ISO – Revolutionizing the Logistics
In 1968, the first standard of ISO was published worldwide, which deals with Freight containers. Afterward, ISO is very active in revolutionizing the way people used to send goods from one place to another.
Bringing Technical Nationalism to Its End
In 1969, what Olle Sturen (the Secretary-General of ISO) announced about ending technical nationalism was: “Political Will nationalism most probably prevail for as long as we live? Economic nationalism is about to disappear. And technical nationalism has disappeared!”
ISO Making Air and Water Quality Better for Us
The first two technical committees made by ISO was in the environmental field that is to protect water and air quality. Today many environmental experts are a part of these technical committees, and today technical committees have overextended their horizon higher levels like environment management as a whole, renewable sources of energy and soil management.
When was the ISO 9000 Family born?
The ISO 9000 family came into being in 1987 in which the first quality management standard was published worldwide for organizations to implement. The standard is known as one of the bestselling standards of ISO family.
Launch of ISO First Website
ISO goes digital in 1995 by launching its website. However, right after five years, ISO started selling their standards online on their website so that people can get easy access to ISO standards around the globe.
The Birth of ISO 14001
To help, identify, and control environmental impact on our planet, ISO successfully launched an environmental management system standard ISO 14001 that help to strengthen the organization to minimize all the factors that affect the environment negatively.
Top Management Commitment
In 2003, when Alan Bryden was appointed as General Secretary and under his significant period of 5 years not only expanded work horizon but covered new technologies like nanotechnology and biofuels. Bryden was one of the leading men that supported ISO’s social responsibility work, which later on paved the ways to the launch of 26000.
Launch of ISO/IEC 27001
In 2005, ISO/IEC 27001 was launched under a joint technical committee of ISO and IEC. As it was a crying need of many businesses to become digital, so there came the need for business security as well. To secure the information technology and for system security, ISO 27001:2005 came into action and became one of the most popular ISO standards.
ISO Hitting the Red Carpet
In August, 25th 2008, ISO evolution not only hit the red carpet but an Emmy was proudly awarded for the joint effort of ISO, ITU, and IEC for making an advanced video coding standard that enabled sound and moving pictures to get compressed so that the internet is allowed to stream it with minimal quality loss.
Rob Steele Impressive Role as a General Secretary
In 2009, when Rob Steele became General Secretary. He initiated smart ways to make life in lesser time so that ISO can help the fast-paced world.
Launch of ISO 26000
The first standard in ISO evolution that provides guidelines about social responsibility named as ISO 26000, which was later proved as a global benchmark and made a positive impact worldwide.
Energy Management Challenge Accepted
Energy crises turned out to be a severe challenge to the world. To face the most critical problem, ISO launched its first Energy Management standard suitable for public and private sector to introduce energy efficient ways cost reduction solutions, and improve energy saving techniques.
The Cookstove Challenge
In March 2015, the UN Foundation hosted “The Global Alliance for Clean Cookstoves” that consisted of 1300 partners. The purpose of the partnership of Global Alliance and ISO was to help to develop and to apply standards to make sure that the best cookstoves and fuels are made to be available in the market.
ISO Combat against Bribery
The first international anti-bribery Management system named ISO 37001 was published worldwide to help organizations to fight against all the risks of bribery existing in their value chain or operation management. ISO 37001 helped businesses to reduce risk and cost related to corruption and providing a management framework.
ISO celebrates 80 Years and Many More to Come!
Since 1947, ISO evolution had crossed many milestones successfully, and now ISO family comprises of 163 members and 21000 useful standards published all over the globe benefitting many businesses from many years to many years to come!