Archive for December, 2009
RC14001 Above and Beyond
RC14001:2005 incorporates all of the requirements of ISO 14001:2004 as well as the requirements of the Responsible Care® code. It is the ideal standard for chemical manufacturing companies who want a certified system based on an international standard that is accepted by all types of organizations worldwide.
RC14001® aims for continual improvement and demonstrated product stewardship. The third-party verification further provides credibility, ensuring continuing conformance to all requirements and expected EHS&S performance. There are business management software providers which have excellent template procedures that meet and exceed the requirements of ISO 14001 and RC 14001 for Environmental, health, safety and security to help you fast-track your system!
A Better Way to Manage Internal Audits and Management Reviews
Many organizations struggle with how to manage and maintain their internal audit and management review processes. While no one sets out to deliberately miss manage these processes, they can take on a life of their own. So, how do you better manage these processes? The ISO 9001 standard does not expressly tell you how, but it does tell you what is expected. Does the standard say you have to actually meet to satisfy this clause of the standard or does it tell you that you have to review the necessary criteria at set interval? If it were possible for top management to review all of the in-puts and out-puts of a management review and assign actions with follow-up, without actually sitting in a meeting, how much more time could be spent on actually improving your systems?
Meeting/audit module in CIS Software is a powerful management action item tool and may be used for many other functions other than just meetings and audits. Because of its design and ability to assign action items to a manager or group of managers and to follow-up on these action items until completion, this module is truly invaluable.
By using the meeting/audit module, there is no need to hold follow-up meetings to review and ensure that previous action items from a meeting or internal audit were completed. Since holding these follow-up meetings is the normal management approach in most organizations, this module alone will cut your valuable meeting time by more than 30 %.
Furthermore, the meeting/audit module includes special tools for Process Auditing. Since the management meetings are all shown on the master calendar and audits may be scheduled monthly, quarterly or yearly, the internal audit plan is always at the click of a mouse. Furthermore, the auditor and auditee is always informed of these audits on their personal calendar and on the master calendar
Streamlining Your Business
When I started my own company in 2006, I have to admit, I got in a little over my head. As a recent graduate with an MBA, I thought that I had the skills and business prowess to jump head first into owning and managing my own company. After my first few months, it was apparent that I would need to utilize more than just my business savvy in order to succeed.
Luckily for me, I was able to find business management software that made organizing and coordinating my business less of a headache. Not only did the software cut down on the time on spent managing my business, but it also made operations more streamlined and efficient. Now that I’ve been turning a profit for the last two years, I can definitely point to the software as the thing that got me, and my business, over the hump.
Software applications To Better Manage Your Environmental Processes
Lets talk about the “G” word, Green technoloy. Software applications will be one of the top ways that companies will better manage their green management processes. You not only save a tree, but you also improve your entire business management system at the same time.Elements of your environmental program such as the environmental aspects and impacts are all managed using our preventive action module, special requirements and objectives for improvement.
In fact, this software provides excellent template procedures with CIS that meet and exceed the requirements of ISO 14001 and RC 14001 for Environmental, health, safety and security to help you fast-track your system! These template procedures are easy to modify to suit your specific needs and they all work with the CIS Continuous Improvement Software.
What better way to start an environmental program than to eliminate those blue boxes by eliminating paper completely?
Business Management Software For Sustained Success
Business management software has become a great way to improve an organizations business processes and communications while reducing the amount of time and effort it take to manage the system. Years ago everything was done via telephone, in person or by way of formal letter. In the past few years things have become more immediate with the advent of the internet, e-mail and other software applications such as cis software. We are now able to communicate instantly from anywhere in the world, how great is that!
But what are the real tangibles that come with this new technology? Lower costs from reduced travel needs? Faster resolution of critical business issues? Improved communications with customers and suppliers to make the act of doing business more responsive? Or, is it just the knowledge that your overall business management systems are working 24/7 whether you are there or not? My vote would be, all of it. There is no need to struggle with how to implement and maintain a quality management system that not only meets the requirements of iso 9001, or any standard for that matter, but actually reduces costs and improves productivity.
Follow-Up Of Effectiveness ISO 9001
As a third party auditor we see many common threads where organizations just don’t understand how to implement a particular element of the ISO 9001 standard. For instance, section 8.5.2f corrective action reviewing the effectiveness of the corrective action taken. I have seen this particular requirement missed, more than any other requirement. What does it mean to review the effectiveness of a corrective action? Does it mean complete the action and close it, I done? No, this requirement goes to the heart of continual improvement, because it makes you look at what you have done, and determine if it actually accomplished what you set out to accomplish.
THE TERM CONTINUAL IMPROVEMENT REFERS TO AN ONGOING PROCESS OF PERFORMANCE ENHANCEMENT. CONTINUAL IMPROVEMENTS CAN BE ACHIEVED BY CARRYING OUT INTERNAL AUDITS, PERFORMING MANAGEMENT REVIEWS, ANALYZING DATA, AND IMPLEMENTING CORRECTIVE AND PREVENTIVE ACTIONS.
Corrective action effectiveness should be verified/validated and reviewed by management; if specific actions are not timely and/or effective further or additional action should be assigned. A good practice is to conduct periodic audits of corrective actions to further verify effectiveness of corrective actions. You need to know that what you have done actually worked, and if it didn’t then you need to do something else. The whole purpose for writing a corrective action is to fix something that has caused a problem. If you never go back and look at the affect the change had on your system, how will you know that it worked?
It is so important to make sure all of the individuals involved with your quality management system receive some form of iso 9001 training, so that when the auditor gets to your door, this and other misinterpretations of the standard won’t cause you heartburn.
AS 9100C What Is New?
The focus of the AS9100C requirements added to ISO 9001 is on Aerospace & Defense Industry needs. An important point is that a company currently registered to ISO 9001 that also has automotive requirements such as APQP, FMEA & PPAP built into their system or with staff that is familiar with these requirements will have an easier time upgrading their current system.
Production Process Verification (Basically the “First Article Inspection” FAI) and Work Transfer processes are AS9100 Specific, but companies experienced in PPAP will find that they are quite prepared to meet these requirements.
The chief new requirements in AS9100C focus on: Project Management, Risk Management, and changes to Configuration Management. A company with a strong, documented design and product launch process will find that they meet most of these requirements and will have suitable process to which they can add any additional items required. Companies that do not have proper processes for the above items will find a will get the most benefit in establishing and implementing these processes (Increasing efficiency & quality and reducing risk).
If the organization does not have the internal resources to implement the changes needed to comply with these new requirements, it would be a good idea to get help from a competent business management consulting firm.
How Much Will It Cost To Become Certified To ISO 9001?
Good question, unfortunately, there is no simple answer. How much it costs depends on a lot of factors. It depends on how long you take to develop your quality management system, how many people are involved, whether you hire outside consultants or not, and how much your registrar charges.
So instead of trying to give a simple answer, let’s try to construct your own answer. One approach is to start with a Gap Analysis if you have already developed a QMS. A Gap Analysis will tell you what steps you need to take to upgrade or develop your quality management system (QMS). Once you know what needs to be done, you can figure out how long the work should take, who should do it, and how much it should cost. With this kind of information, you can plan your system development project and prepare a budget.
A good business management consulting firm can help organize and prepare an organization for ISO 9001 certification. There are many options and price structures available today, but you will need to determine what is right for your organization based on your size and culture. The more you do for yourself, the lower the upfront costs can potentially be. But unless you have someone who understands the standard and can implement it, you may end up spending more than you bargained for.
Quality Objectives For ISO 9001
It is the responsiblity of the ISO Auditors tol verify that the organization’s overall quality objectives have been defined, that they reflect the quality policy, are substantially coherent, aligned and compatible with the overall quality management objectives, including customer expectations. If this is not the case, the auditors may further evaluate Top Management commitment to quality.
The fulfilment of quality objectives needs to be measurable and documented.
There is no specified way of identifying or documenting quality objectives, as these may appear through business plans, management review outputs, annual budgets, etc. It is up to the auditors to satisfy themselves that the objectives are adequately documented.
A good rule of thumb when developing quality objectives, is to describe the following:
Example: To improve on time delivery to our customers, from 65% to 95% by December 2010.
- What is the present state of the proposed objective? Where are you now?
- Where do you want to be once you have achieved your objective?
- When do you want to complete the objective? It is o.k. to push the end date out, if it ends up taking longer than anticipated, but you should put a stake in the ground to indicate your commitment to completing them.
Next you will need to show the auditor how you have gotten from point “A” to point “B”. What did you do to achieve your objective? Record all the steps that you took to reach your objective. What is most important is to clearly describe your objective and record progress toward achieving it.
ISO 9001 Software Solutions For Obsolete Documentation
A common criticism of ISO 9001 is the amount of money, time and paperwork required for registration. Opponents claim that it is only for documentation. Proponents believe that if a company has documented its quality systems, then most of the paperwork has already been completed. CIS software can reduce the need for a system based on the production of hard copy documentation, therefore reducing the possibilities for nonconformance’s due to obsolete documentation use. A CIS consultant can open up whole new possibilities for an organization struggling with document control, and much more.
If the only documentation available for use is always current and all obsolete documents are stored in a history tab (Unavailable for use), then the auditor will never be able to write another corrective action based on the use of obsolete documents. Wouldn’t that be great! And just think, how much time will that save when you no longer have to hunt down all the obsolete documents in your facility before the auditor arrives. Bliss