Quality management needs everyone’s support

In companies that fail, top management views ISO 9001 as a necessary evil to be tolerated, and little more. These companies are typically implementing the benchmark for quality management because of a customer requirement, not because they see the value it can bring to an organization.
Gaining management’s endorsement requires a holistic approach to ISO 9001 as a management system, not just a quality-management system. ISO 9001 is for everyone.
Good ISO programs start with a two things:
• A letter of commitment from the highest authority to each employee explaining why the company is committed to certification.
• Providing authority to the management representative to get the job done.
The next step is to educate managers about their roles in the ISO process and involve them in defining the quality objectives and creating the quality policy. Ask each manager to list 10 items that are important to the company’s success and write them on sticky notes. Place these notes on a wall and organize into groups.
A pattern will emerge and collectively, you will have identified your quality objectives.
The objectives should be SMART, meaning they should be specific as to what you want to accomplish – measurable as in how you will know the objective is achieved – attainable meaning the goal can be accomplished – relevant as in worthwhile and time-bound with designated ending date.
The only criteria are that objectives need to be measurable, but you now have the groundwork for your quality policy.
The most important objective that is usually missed is profitability. You can build the best Cadillac-style widget the world has ever seen, but if your company is not profitable you will not be sustainable and ISO will fail.
By implementing a management system, you will be documenting processes. During this process is the opportunity to eliminate wasted process steps and documentation. The quality policy should be authored by the highest authority and include the quality objectives proposed by the management team. This can then be made into wallet-sized cards or banners for your shop floor, and transforms the quality policy from unknown directives to principles by which the company will strive to fulfill.
The lack of ownership is another failing. The ISO standard only requires the organization to have six documented procedures (4.2.3 control of documents; 4.2.4 control of records; 8.2.2 internal audit; 8.3 control of nonconforming product; 8.5.2 corrective action; and 8.5.3 preventive action).
Companies that are pushed into ISO 9001 compliance by their customers typically rush to a minimalistic approach only documenting what they are required to. The employees have little ownership in their processes and consider their work instructions as rules that must be followed. Or else.
The result? This approach causes a disconnect between the business process and ISO 9001 process with no true ownership.
Each document of the quality system should have established process owners. These process owners are charged with developing, maturing and improving their processes, and should have first refusal of any document or change that affects their processes. They should be held accountable for audit findings and corrective actions and praised for preventive actions leading to process improvements. The process owners also should police their own processes so audit findings do not occur.
Not understanding the intent of ISO is a concern. The intent of ISO is not to create some big paper monster to be sacrificed at the altar of the quality gods. Instead, ISO 9001 is based on eight fundamental principles: • Customer satisfaction.
• Leadership.
• Involvement of people.
• Process approach.
• Systems approach to management.
• Continual improvement.
• Factual approach to decision-making.
• Mutually Beneficial Supplier Relationships.
The eight quality-management principles are mostly business-system oriented and go beyond product quality. Companies forced into quick ISO 9001 compliance typically overlook their intent, and this approach is a path to failure of fully gaining value in the ISO 9001 program.
When you adopt a process approach to documenting your processes, you will find wasted steps and can streamline them. Continual improvement efforts should involve all levels of employees.
An organization and its suppliers are dependent on each other and a mutually beneficial relationship enhances the ability of both to create value.
One of the most important suppliers will be your auditor or registrar. The goal of the auditor is not to fail you but to ensure that the management system is in place and showing continual improvement.
Your auditor cannot consult with you but good auditors will share best practices.
ISO 9001 provides a package of tools … nothing more, nothing less. How you adopt those tools determines their value. If you develop good business processes and create value-added documentation through your ISO 9001 management system, not only will you be certified but you will set your company up for long- term success! •


Jeffrey Hewes is quality manager for NOVA Marketing Services, a division of The Matlet Group in Pawtucket. Contact him at jhewes@novamktg.com.

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