NEW SERIES! ISO9001 for 2021 Week-by-Week - Week 3 Quality management system

This is a 52 week discussion of ISO9001:2015. We challenge you to follow us each week, and review your QMS from top to bottom with us. Each week, we discuss a specific clause of the ISO9001:2015 standard in detail and look for ways to trim the fat from our quality management systems. By year end 2021, you can have your QMS revitalized!  (As an added bonus, I’m now a member of TAG/TC176, the committee responsible for review and revision of ISO9001, which is in discussions for a possible revision in 2023.  I’ll keep you posted on what I learn!)

(It is strongly recommended that you purchase a copy of the ISO9001 standard for reference).

And be sure to do your homework!

4 Quality Management System

What is your definition of a QMS (Quality Management System)?  According to Wikipedia, it is a “collection of business processes to achieve quality policy and quality objectives to meet customer requirements”.

Obviously, this should be well considered and clearly defined for any business as part of its business plan.  It is also a key area that should be addressed at the very beginning of any quest for ISO9001 compliance or registration.  So, let’s start at the beginning.  This week is all about strategic planning.  Start to put a face to your business by creating a profile which describes what your business does and how it does it.  If you are starting your QMS from scratch, spend the next week jotting down some thoughts about this.  If you already have an established system, reflect on how it may have changed since it was first created.  Do you have any new processes or markets?  And new interested parties, neighbors, industries?

Next week, we will go through 4.1 General Requirements with a fine-toothed comb to get you on your way to a successful construction (or review) of your current QMS that will be compliant to ISO9001.

LAST WEEK’S HOMEWORK – Keep yourself accountable!

Did you do get your copy of ISO9001:2015?  Order here.

Did you review all the Terms and Definitions in the standard and evaluate whether these should be reviewed with your team?  Did you get it done or put a plan in place?

THIS WEEK’S HOMEWORK – Keep up the good work and take the next step!

Prepare for next week by getting ready to create a profile of your company and your QMS.  Ask yourself the following.  (We will begin putting this to paper next week). 

1. Why does your business exist?  What does it do?
2. What are your products or services?
3. Who are your customers?
4. What are the criteria, specifications of your products (services)?  And what are your customer expectations?
5. How do you take your product (service) from start to finish?  What processes are necessary to create your product (service) and deliver it to the customer?
6. Do you rely on suppliers to create your product?  How will you manage them?
7. What level of performance do you expect?  What are your objectives for these processes?
8. How will you measure your performance?
9. What will you do when you do/do not meet your objectives?
10. How will you continually challenge yourself to do better?

Work on these 10 questions this week and be ready with your answers.  Next week, we will start reviewing our QMS.  If your QMS is new, you’ll begin writing/framing your QMS.  If you’re doing a review of an existing ISO9001 system, you’ll review your QMS for it’s compliance to section 4.1 of the standard.

Learn more about a great resource to accompany this series in this short video.   Get ISO9001 in Plain English, today and you'll get:

• A clear understanding of the requirements of ISO9001:2015
• Proven tips to build a robust quality system that's easy to use
• Ways to reduce documentation and paperwork (yes, really!!)

Each video is about 15 minutes and targets a specific element of ISO9001, (with over 6 hours of total content!).  We translate all the gobbledegoop into Plain English you can understand and leverage the requirements to get maximum VALUE from your quality efforts. 

For a deeper dive into the process side of your quality system, get Tribal Knowledge - The Practical Use of ISO, Lean and Six Sigma Together, a simple guide to UNITE ISO9001, lean and Six Sigma to create a robust quality system with better results. 

We look forward to taking this YEAR LONG journey with you.  SUBSCRIBE today and the series will come to you weekly to get you off to a great start and your quality system reinvigorated. 

And join me on my journey to always keep improving!