Category "Operation"

Errors or non-conformances cost us big time, but most organizations don't realize it. Not only are there hard costs, but there are many hidden costs that add up to reduced profits - logging the issue, containing it, deciding on a ...

This topic has been batted around for over 30 years, since the first version of ISO 9001 was released. For organizations that like LOTS of documentation these words open up a whole world of possibilities for mountains of documents. The ...

We need to focus on our users when we're designing and improving our management systems. This may seem obvious, but you'd be amazed at how many times a client will ask, "Will the auditor accept this?". Of course we want ...

One way to simplify your management system is to reduce the number of super-detailed text-based procedures. Once they are in place, you might be temped to audit simply to see if everyone's following them. This causes two problems. The first ...

It's all about the risk, these days, and the better we manage it, the better off we are, period! The new Standard calls for it, yes, but it's just good business practice to assess where the potholes are in our ...

...if you choose 'Operator error' as the cause of your latest non-conformance. When Ishikawa introduced the world to his 'Fishbone' for doing root cause analysis, his research showed that employees in organizations make errors, of course, but only about 6% ...

Getting value out of Internal Audits is a constant challenge. Many of our clients found it helpful to change the focus of their audits from 'Are people following procedures?'  to 'Find ways to improve our system'. By getting the focus ...

Have you ever heard someone say, after a non-conformance has been raised, "Who screwed up?". The result? Everyone heads for the hills and tries to find someone to blame. People get defensive and the cause of the problem gets buried ...

  Building Block #10 You need to know for whose sake quality is being designed into your organization Here’s a quote from ISO 9000, clause 2.2.1 – the companion document to ISO 9001: Quality focused organizations embrace a culture that ...

Building Block #8 You may need to break things down into smaller units We’ve seen the Process Approach – taking inputs, performing a number of activities and creating results that get passed on to the next stage. It’s much easier ...