Archive for November, 2009
Adapting to a Paperless World
We are living in an ever-increasing paperless world. With the advent of e-Readers and Smart Phones, in a few decades we may be viewing paper and print resources as barbaric instruments. While this may be disturbing to some, the digitalization of information and records has increased accessibility and made business more efficient than ever.
One of the best ways to take advantage of technology is by keeping your business ledgers and records in digital form. You can find comprehensive business management software that will allow you to keep track of all of your business practices in one place. Not only will this cut down on the amount of time and paper that you use, but it is more accurate as well.
Obstacles to Sustained Success
What makes a company successful? Is it better leaders? Better products? Better salespeople? What about a better business management system? Any of the above may bring some improvement, but most often sustained top performance can be coupled with one thing; how well people communicate within a company.
In particular, sustained success requires a culture in which open and honest dialogue occurs around even the thorniest topics.
This requires focusing on the issues, not playing political games. It also requires determining the potential consequences of all the solutions uncovered.
It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to know that ignoring problems makes them worse, not better. What prevents problems from being dealt with? Leaders who never learned to facilitate conflict; aggressive personalities who use intimidation to maintain the status quo; and apprehensive leaders who focus on maintaining control, instead of doing what’s good for the company.
When open and objective discussion is missing, so is the possibility for sustained success.
ISO 9004 Satisfying Customer Needs
The upcoming revision of ISO 9004 is based on the principle that satisfying customers may bring success, but to sustain success organizations need to delve much more deeply and satisfy the needs and expectations of all interested parties. This attempt suggests applying quality management principles to the quest of sustained success in an organization, but nothing new is added by way of quality management principles. It is implying that sustained success can be accomplished by intelligent use of the eight quality management principles through a system of hands-on managed processes that:
- Continually monitor and analyze the organization’s environment
- Define the needs and expectations of interested parties
- Establish and maintain a mission, a vision and values consistent with the needs and expectations of interested parties
- Deliberately set out, implement and communicate a strategy and policies for fulfilling the mission and vision which supports the values
- Identify, provide and manage the internal and external resources needed for the accomplishment of the objectives in the short and long term
- Provide products that will continue to meet the needs and expectations of customers and other interested parties, continuously.
- Regularly monitor, measure, analyze and review the continual success of the organization
ISO 9004:2009 Self Assessment
ISO 9004:2009 allows organizations to enhance the quality of product and service delivery to their customers by promoting self-assessment as an important tool to enable organizations to:
- Benchmark their level of maturity, covering leadership, strategy, management system, resources, and processes
- Identify their strengths and weaknesses
- Identify opportunities for either improvements or innovation, or both.
The self-assessment tool may become a key element during the strategic planning processes in any organization.
“The objectives of customer satisfaction and product quality are extended in ISO 9004:2009 to include the satisfaction of interested parties and the performance of the organization. The combination of ISO 9001 and ISO 9004 will allow you to get the most of your quality management system.
ISO 9004 vs. ISO 9001
ISO 9004:2009 provides guidance for the continual improvement of an organization’s overall performance, efficiency, and effectiveness based on a process-based approach. It focuses on meeting the needs and expectations of customers and other relevant parties over the long term, and in a balanced way.
Compared to ISO 9001:2008, which ensures quality management of products and services while enhancing customer satisfaction, ISO 9004:2009 provides a broader perspective of quality management, particularly for performance improvement. It will prove useful to organizations whose top management wishes to move beyond ISO 9001 in pursuit of ongoing improvement, measured through the satisfaction of customers and other stakeholders.
Suppliers: Positive & Negative Affects
Suppliers are an integral part of any organization’s overall process. As such, they have the potential to be a positive or negative force. When suppliers are a positive force, materials arrive on time, materials are processed in a problem-free manner and costs are controlled. When suppliers are a negative force, materials often arrive late, processing problems occurs, and the supplier is of little or no help in resolving such issues. Obviously, it just makes good sense to have good suppliers.
The industry is quickly moving toward requiring their subcontractors and suppliers to be AS9100 compliant and/or certified. By conforming to AS9100 or becoming registered by a third party, suppliers can gain a competitive advantage and benefit from the improved processes and continuous improvement that is the foundation of ISO 9001:2008 certified quality management systems.
General Electric Aircraft Engines (GEAE) was one of the first manufacturers to require AS9000 compliance by all of their direct material suppliers. Currently, GEAE is requiring as9100 certification for all new suppliers, and existing suppliers have a gap audit and a certification audit performed to coincide with their existing surveillance audit schedule.
AS9100 Initial Assessment, What Does It Involve?
The quality certification assessment for AS9100 has two main goals:
- Validating system compliance and implementation
- Determining system effectiveness
Initial assessments are conducted in two stages. The first stage involves determining the company’s state of readiness and defining the approach and duration of the second stage.
Prior to conducting a quality management system AS9100 certification audit, the following should have taken place:
- The documented system has been reviewed and approved
- A complete cycle of internal audits has been performed and the results covered in a formal management review
- You know exactly what SQA will be looking for, so there should be No Surprises
- All identified weaknesses in the system that were discovered in the pre-assessment have been effectively corrected
- The certification assessment date, audit team makeup, and audit schedule have all been developed and agreed upon
Benefits of ISO 9001 Certification
If you are unfamiliar with ISO 9000 standards for quality management, you may be wondering why it benefits your business to meet these standards. ISO standards are designed to ensure that your employees are working to their full potential and that your clients are satisfied. Reforming your business to qualify for ISO 9001 certification will garner both internal and external benefits.
Some of the basic requirements for certification include implementing a set of procedures to cover the basic processes of your business, as well as having a system for checking these procedures. You will also be held accountable for maintaining accurate records and performing continuous reviews of your employees and business practices.
How Much Will It Cost To Become Certified to ISO 9001:2008 ?
Many small companies have shied away from seeking certification to ISO 9001 simply because they perceive that it will cost too much to achieve. Nothing could be further from the truth. Depending on your level of understanding and how developed your business management systems are, the cost will vary greatly. The following information may help when deciding if ISO 9001 is right for your organization:
- Costs vary dramatically depending on the degree of existing documentation and training currently in place.
- Existing documentation requirements for ISO 9001or for AS9100 can usually be adapted.
- Consultant costs can also vary, and it is always good to shop around before hiring someone to assist with your certification needs. For a small company of 2 to 50 people the cost can range from $5,000 to $40,000. Make sure the consultant spells out exactly what you will get for their fees.
- Registrar costs are, for smaller firms, one of the largest individual costs. Registrars will quote in a flexible format to assist in controlling costs.
- A three year Registrar contract for a smaller firm may be possible at a range of $15,000 to $20,000 for the three year period.
- It is not unusual for cost savings to far outweigh this expense
Guidance for the Use Of Configuration Management
ISO 10007:2003 gives guidance on the use of configuration management within an organization. It is applicable to the support of products from concept to disposal.
It first outlines the responsibilities and authorities before describing the configuration management process that includes configuration management planning, configuration identification, change control, configuration status accounting and configuration audit.
Since ISO 10007:2003 is a guidance document, it is not intended to be used for certification/registration purposes.
This is a great tool when tackling the concept of configuration management, a lot of emphasis is placed on this process in the AS9100 certification standard. Using this document along with the assistance of a business management consultant, can reduce the time it may take to plan and implement this process.