A quality management training system on ISO standards for enhancing competitiveness of SMEs

The purpose of this paper is to introduce and discuss the benefits of on-line training, in quality control and quality management, as a support for professionals and managers of SMEs (Small and Medium Enterprises), to contribute to the improvement of the activities and of business performance objectives of their organizations. This kind of training includes topics on: managing quality, quality process, auditing, total quality, ISO standards, mistake proofing, and more. The paper describes the expected benefits according with the preliminary results of an European project aiming to create and validate an on-line system in the field of quality management and to provide an effective training on quality in the SMEs. The international standards that are covered by the project are: ISO 9001 (quality management system), ISO 14001 (environment management system) and HACCP (Hazard Analysis and Control of the Critical Points). Others users could be also students, disadvantaged people and all people who show interest in the quality management systems.