This work presents a model based on three fundamental elements of a quality system: the responsibility of the Administration, the human resources and materials, and the structure of the system itself These elements allow an objective diagnosis of the elements that compose a quality system. Results obtained in a research in approximately a hundred of companies are presented. The obtained results resulted in a typology of 5 groups of companies, according to the way to organize their quality systems. The model for the diagnosis of quality systems is shown very useful to companies in two main situations: companies that wish to begin a program of total quality, and companies that want to begin their certification projects to one of the ISO 9000 standards. Because the proposed model allows the visualization of strong anaweak points of the existing organization concerning the quality, for the companies in the first case. And it considers fundamental aspects of quality system assurance to others companies.
Quality Systems; Structure of Systems; Diagnostic of Quality Systems