(ISO) Quality Manual Chat

A mandatory component of an ISO9001:2000 quality management system, as well as any good quality management system, is a way to issue and deal with corrective and preventive actions.

Corrective actions are generated to correct a descrepancy that has already occurred. Corrective action requests can be issued by anyone who spots a problem that exists. A preventive action request may be generated to address a potential problem, or one that has not yet occurred. In the real world many more corrective actions are generated than preventive actions. To keep your quality managment system a little simpler, you may use the same form for corrective action requests and preventive action requests.

It may not always be clear who is responsible for addressing a corrective action request. It is often the quality manager, or senior management, who decides who is responsible for addressing a corrective action request. Give it some thought before you assign responsibility.

While a line worker may make a mistake that results in defective product, it may not necessarily be the fault of the line worker. Take a look at all the factors involved. Was the worker following company procedures? Were the correct tools available and being used? Do all your components used in assembly meet your specifications? There are many factors that may have caused your nonconformance. In order for you to have a successful resolution to your corrective action request, it is very important that you assign responsibility to the correct individual, and for the right reasons.

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This entry was posted on Tuesday, February 13th, 2007 at 7:17 am and is filed under General quality system, ISO9001:2000 blog. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.