Once a commitment is made to proceed with ISO 9000 implementation, a team and a team leader should be selected. A 'management representative' must also be appointed (often the team leader). The 'management representative' is the person in the company who, independent of other duties, has responsibility for implementation and management of the quality management system (QMS). We'll talk more about the responsibilities of this position in a later post.
An implementation team is not required. In fact, my first implementation was done without a team, the team only being formed when we were close to implementation and most of the work was done. But there is a lot to do, and a lot of buy in required by the various departments in the organization. If others are involved, the implementation will go much easier. More hands on the work will shorten the the implementation cycle.
The members of the team should be decision makers. Since the members will be involved with implementation of the processes developed, middle management members are a good choice.
Remember that team members have other full time work to do. To keep the implementation on track, it is best to have regular meetings with meeting minutes, including action items, assignees and due dates. Keep meetings to a defined amount of time. Start and end the meetings on time.
In keeping with ISO 9000's plan-do-check-act model, the first order of business of the team is the implementation plan. There are many ways to implement ISO 9000, so there is no one best plan. Whatever plan is adopted, document and monitor the plan at each meeting. A gantt chart is a good choice for reporting progress of the plan, and many tools, such as Microsoft Project are available.
With a well formed committed team, a good plan, and the advice of an experienced consultant, a successful certification experience is likely. Contact Rosehill Systems for guidance.
Thursday, May 17, 2012
Wednesday, May 2, 2012
Getting Started
Implementing ISO 9000 must be a company decision. The person responsible for quality may see the benefits of ISO 9000 certification, but unless the management team is on board, implementation may not be successful.
The senior executive must decide that ISO 9000 certification is an important company objective. Implementation requires not only the efforts of the quality organization, but the efforts of a cross functional team of decision makers. Implementation will require effort from a number of organizations, and without their support, implementation will not succeed.
In addition to the effort involved, there is cost. Cost includes the cost of the time of individuals involved and required to do work in addition to their normal work, the cost of a consultant, and the cost of a certification body. Finally, once certification is accomplished, there is the recurring cost of external audits.
Certificatin is no small task. It requires a lot of work from many people. So, when a company becomes certified, it normally advertises this accomplishment to its suppliers, and, in particular, its customers. A company which becomes certified and later decides to de-certify its quality system, may put itself in a poor light with its customers. So, the decision to become certified should not be taken lightly.
Once the senior executive decides to proceed with certification, it is important that all members of the company become informed. All employees involved with products of services will be affected in some way. It is important that they be aware of the company's decision, and their involvement.
Successful implementation requires a committed management team, an involved leader, and professional guidance. For more information see www.rosehillsystems.com
The senior executive must decide that ISO 9000 certification is an important company objective. Implementation requires not only the efforts of the quality organization, but the efforts of a cross functional team of decision makers. Implementation will require effort from a number of organizations, and without their support, implementation will not succeed.
In addition to the effort involved, there is cost. Cost includes the cost of the time of individuals involved and required to do work in addition to their normal work, the cost of a consultant, and the cost of a certification body. Finally, once certification is accomplished, there is the recurring cost of external audits.
Certificatin is no small task. It requires a lot of work from many people. So, when a company becomes certified, it normally advertises this accomplishment to its suppliers, and, in particular, its customers. A company which becomes certified and later decides to de-certify its quality system, may put itself in a poor light with its customers. So, the decision to become certified should not be taken lightly.
Once the senior executive decides to proceed with certification, it is important that all members of the company become informed. All employees involved with products of services will be affected in some way. It is important that they be aware of the company's decision, and their involvement.
Successful implementation requires a committed management team, an involved leader, and professional guidance. For more information see www.rosehillsystems.com
Overview
ISO 9000 is a quality system standard which has been adopted throughout the world. Started by the EEU, it became popular in the US in part because the EEU made ISO 9000 compliance a requirement for doing business with the European economic community.
The standard was first published in 1987 and is based on the Brittish standard BS 5750, but its linneage goes back even further to the US Department of Defense's MIL-Q-9858.
As quality system standards go, and there are many, it does not satisfy all the needs of all industries. It has been written to be general in nature so that it can be applied to almost any industry. Having said that, there are some industries for which ISO 9000 compliance is not sufficient. For example the nuclear industry has it's own standards (10CFR50 Appendix B, being the most common, developed by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission).
Some industries start with ISO 9000 as a base and enhance it to meet special needs of that industry. An example is the aerospace industry. It's standard AS 9100 is similar to ISO 9000, but has additional requirements important to the industry.
Today ISO 9000 is the most ubiquitious quality system standard in the world. It has been adopted by most countries and industries. For the company looking to develop a consistent approach to quality ISO 9000 is a good start. While implementation can seem daunting to the uninitiated, with the guidance of a knowledgable consultant implementation should not be difficult for a well run company
The standard was first published in 1987 and is based on the Brittish standard BS 5750, but its linneage goes back even further to the US Department of Defense's MIL-Q-9858.
As quality system standards go, and there are many, it does not satisfy all the needs of all industries. It has been written to be general in nature so that it can be applied to almost any industry. Having said that, there are some industries for which ISO 9000 compliance is not sufficient. For example the nuclear industry has it's own standards (10CFR50 Appendix B, being the most common, developed by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission).
Some industries start with ISO 9000 as a base and enhance it to meet special needs of that industry. An example is the aerospace industry. It's standard AS 9100 is similar to ISO 9000, but has additional requirements important to the industry.
Today ISO 9000 is the most ubiquitious quality system standard in the world. It has been adopted by most countries and industries. For the company looking to develop a consistent approach to quality ISO 9000 is a good start. While implementation can seem daunting to the uninitiated, with the guidance of a knowledgable consultant implementation should not be difficult for a well run company
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