What’s the Difference? Series: Gap Analysis vs. Internal Audits vs. Pre-Assessment
If you have ever wondered what the difference was between an audit, an assessment or a gap analysis, then you might not be alone. When trying to figure out whether your company meets the requirement of a standard, such as ISO, API, Safety, etc.; chances are you are trying to decide which one of these …
Are You Sure the Procedures Your Organization is Using Represent Your Organization’s Processes? Using Process Mapping Concepts to Develop Accurate Procedures
To work properly, procedures have to match the company processes, and each organization must have their own set of processes which should be different than that of their neighbor. Even when companies build or perform similar activities, each of them has different culture and details that will make them unique and therefore they will have …
We are Just a Service Company, Why Do They Need Us to be ISO 9001 Certified?
Are you a service provider selling project management services, engineering or IT services? Have you been asked more than once whether you are ISO 9001 certified and wonder what is all that about? Before you tell your prospective client they have an error on their forms, see why more and more organizations are demanding their …
Combining ISO 9001 with C-TPAT Requirements: A Simple Approach to Building an Integrated Quality Management System
Sweet Challenge I was called to a prospective client to help them implement ISO 9001. They seemed very interested at improving their processes in order to increase their quality and revenues. After contract negotiations, we were given the green light and quickly began process mapping the company’s main functions. As we moved from process mapping …
Do You Feel Like Your Company is Acting Like a Chicken Without a Head? Find Out What Good Process Mapping Can Do for You!
What is Process Mapping Process mapping is an essential technique for identifying all the processes that take place in an organization as well as their interrelation so that it is easy to understand the sequence at which these processes take place. A good process map should be a high level map of how your organization …
What’s the Difference? Series: Goals vs. Targets vs. Objectives vs. KPI’s vs. Metrics
A Game of Words As an auditor I always ask employees to tell me whether they are familiar with the company Quality Objectives or not. Obviously I may not ask that as a straight question but rather something like this: How do you know if you are doing a good job? Has your company established …
This Certificate Smells Fishy! How to Find Out if an ISO Certificate is Forged or Valid.
I was recently at a meeting with some colleagues and the subject of forged certificates was brought up. We discussed the fact that some organizations do have the audacity of not just creating a fake certificate, but sometimes even wanting to change registrars. Seems odd? Later on, I was asked by a reader for some …
Are You Sure Your Torque Wrench is Capable of the Force You are Using It For? How to Determine Effectively the Equipment Needed for Your Monitoring and Measurement Activities
In case you are not sure if the equipment you are currently using for your monitoring and measuring activities is the most adequate equipment or if you are wondering why such as expensive tool is used to inspect a certain part, then it may be worth for you to understand tolerances, accuracy and what the …
Continual Improvement… It’s Not So Easy, a Caveman Could Not Do It!
When I started my career nearly 20 years ago, the world was a little different. People were still smoking in the workplace, Dilbert was in everybody’s desk and the quality program of the month was the joke du jour. Many things have changed since then for the goodness of the world and the quality of …
Mayday, Mayday…Where Did My Laptop Go?! Nine Basic Information Security Controls Any Company Should Implement
I’m sure you’ve heard of laptops being stolen, but have you heard of laptops being swapped? Lost or stolen laptops and the data they carry are just one of the disasters that may ail you or your organization one day. In reality, there are many more security incidents that can affect the security of your …
ISO and Other Quality Initiatives Can Improve Our Processes, But Can They Improve Our Sales?
When a quality management system is implemented, results are evident immediately: reduction in warranty cost, reduction in rework, reduction in scrap, higher profit margins, etc. Would you agree that ISO and other quality initiatives such as Lean, Six Sigma, 5S can significantly improve any company’s processes -if requirements are correctly implemented? Why, if you know …
When Top Management Believes, Breakthroughs Can Happen
Ok, so we’ve been certified to the ISO 9001 standard for the longest. Yes our processes are better, we have gotten new customers over the years because of the certification, and yes we track our objectives and customer satisfaction. But is there anything else left to be extracted out of our program and its recurrent …
The History Behind MXI-CON-HOU-SOP-2-009-A
Back when the ISO 9001 standard came about over 20 years ago, emphasis was on documentation and unfortunately not much on the organization’s processes. Although the standard was well intended it caused many companies to produce a chart similar to the one below: Most organizations had the exact same chart on their manuals and whether …
What Does Calibration and Approved Suppliers Have in Common?
When you think about equipment that is used for measuring and test activities, you think about important equipment that is used to pass/fail product but may not necessarily find correlation with suppliers. However this very equipment – whether is calibrated in-house or off-site – does involve a supply chain one way or the other and …
Was is Necessary to Revise ISO 9001:2000 to ISO 9001:2008?
Since the inception of the ISO 9001:2000 revision it was clear that this version of the standard was so robust and coherent that more people were able to understand its tremendous value and potential for improving a company’s overall processes rather than being a mere documentation guide. In fact the standard was so well written …
