This past week I participated in the very first accreditation audit for Company F to the ISO9001-2008 standard. We had a lot of things going for us. I was familiar with the auditor, we had worked together before. Conversely, the auditor was familiar with my consulting work which, hopefully, gave him a certain sense of confidence. Company F passed the audit with no serious issues. A couple of “opportunities for improvement” were written in the final report, but no nonconformances were written. The looks of relief and happiness were really something to experience. Of course I have been through many audits as a quality manager and as a consultant, so this is nothing new to me. Company F’s management, however, had never been through an ISO9001 audit before and were understandably nervous.
Although the initial preparation for the first audit can be quite time consuming and laborious, the first audit itself is probably the easiest one this company will ever have.
Company F’s ISO9001:2008 quality management system has been in place only for the past 4 months. There has not been much time to create lots of records, lots of evidence that they’re using the system. Auditors that I’ve worked with usually understand this about first-time auditees, and so are not so picky about having tons of records.
Also, since the quality management system has only been in place for a short time, there hasn’t really been much time to allow a good sample for measuring quality objectives. In the four months since Company F started their ISO9001:2008 quality management system, their quality objective measurements show they’re doing a fantastic job. So fantastic that they’ve exceeded all of the quality objectives they set at the start.
I advised Company F that these quality objectives would probably not be sufficient for very long, in fact I thought it would be a good idea to revise them before the registration audit. Management wanted to keep the quality objectives as they were, citing that the sample of data was pretty small, and they wanted to give their quality system more time to gather data before revising their quality objectives. I didn’t have a big problem with this, so the quality objectives remained as they were. The third-party auditor also had no problem with the objectives, for the same reason.
For these reasons, I think the first registration audit is probably the easiest. For future audits, Company F is going to have to demonstrate continual improvement. The quality objectives will be measured prior to management review meetings, and it’s very likely the quality objectives will have to be revised upwards as the company exceeds the goals set earlier.
Why having ISO9001:2008 is more important than ever
Thursday, February 18th, 2010Some companies I’ve worked with view ISO9001:2008 as a necessary evil, and as just one more cost of doing business. These companies are typically short-sighted, and often short-lived.
When taken seriously, an ISO9001-2008 quality management system will not only save your company money, it will help you make more money. Aren’t these good things to hear in this depressed economy?
Consider these:
1. ISO9001:2008 can be thought of as a set of good business practices. Don’t you think it would be a good idea to check out your vendors before you buy from them? After all, what you buy usually is reflected by what you sell, and you want to sell only the best. And if a vendor screws up repeatedly, wouldn’t it be good to keep track of these screw ups, and weed out the bad vendors? ISO9001 will help you with this.
2. Having your ISO9001:2008 certificate sets you apart from your competition. Worldwide, knowledgeable buyers will tend to think that you have your act together, and that your quality is probably better than your non-ISO competitors.
3. Isn’t it a good idea to keep track of your company’s screw-ups, and fix them so that they never happen again? How many hours and dollars has your company spent dealing with the same problem over and over? Wouldn’t it be nice to deal with it just once? ISO9001 will help you with this.
4. Do you really know where you stand with your customers? Wouldn’t it be good to have a formal process to measure customer satisfaction? How can you know where to best focus your improvement efforts if you don’t have data on what areas need fixing?
5. Do you have complete and up-to-date training records for your people? With fewer people on your payroll, you really don’t want to take it for granted that someone has been adequately trained for a particular job. Isn’t it a good idea to periodically evaluate how effective their training has been?
There are so many reasons why having an ISO9001:2008 quality management system is an advantage in today’s economy. I’ve just touched the tip of the iceberg here. I’m sure readers of this blog (all 3 of ‘em!) can provide many more examples of why its so good for your company to have an effective ISO9001 quality system.
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