(ISO) Quality Manual Chat

You don’t really have to measure top management’s commitment to your Quality Management System. This is a topic that quality people often discuss, it can reveal a lot about the potential for success…or disaster…for a company’s quality system.

Does your organization use externally generated documents? Do you wonder if you have to control these? How should you control these?

Do you really need to do a vendor evaluation on your janitor? This has been suggested.

Does your quality management system have a section devoted to customer satisfaction?

Does Design and Development belong in your quality management system? Some say yes.

ISO Training: availability and responsibility.

Will your organization provide the required resources necessary for implementation of a quality management system? Should you include such a section in your quality manual?

Setting up and laying the format for your management review. Example inputs.

Plotting a course and setting measurable goals.

Paper or electronic record keeping?

What is ‘control of records’? Are your records properly controlled?

Have you set aside floor space for your unacceptable shipments?

Whether you are selling critical aircraft components or non-critical motorcycle exhaust systems, is your customer happy?

You’ve just been hit with a CAR, how should you resolve it?

What is ‘document control’ and how do you go about it? Is it required in the ISO standard?

What’s in store for ISO over the next few years? Does self-certification carry any weight?

Should you mess around with a customer satisfaction survey? What other metrics can you use?

When, and how often do you need to do internal audits?

You don’t want to fail the actual audit, but where do you find the time to do an internal audit?

Internal auditing is a dress-rehearsal. But finding the manpower and time can be tricky.

Continual improvement is a goal. How and what do you measure to achieve this goal?

What’s the purpose of the QMS — for show, or for results?

Who assigns corrective and preventative action requests, and who has to remedy them?

What is the right way to inspect incoming product? Are there government-mandated criteria?

Are you saving money by not inspecting your incoming product?

Do you need a dedicated shipping inspector for your outgoing goods?

Can it be that female quality managers are not as organized as male? Naah, it’s probably just my small sample size.