Lessons in Tragedy: Reflecting on the Tennessee Plant Explosion and the Importance of ISO Standards
First and foremost, I want to express my deepest condolences to all the families affected by the devastating explosion at Accurate Energetic Systems in Tennessee. My heart goes out to every person who lost a loved one, as well as to the community that lost an important employer and source of pride. This tragedy has left […]
Leadership Notes – Don’t Compromise on Quality
To all my colleagues and fellow executives, If you have not made a New Year’s resolution, here is my humble advice for one, from a cohort who also has a company to run…
Key Performance Indicators (KPIs)
KPI stands for Key Performance Indicators. When collecting a lot of data over a period of time, it may be difficult to get a clear picture of what’s going on…
Red Tag, Green Tag: Color-Coded Tags
When it comes to red tags and green tags, which does your company use? A reader shared this material identification issue with us after a recent audit…
Web QMS – How Clients Use It for More than ISO
Okay, I’m interested. What else can Web QMS do for us? Mireaux’s Web QMS quality management systems software is mostly known for being an essential tool for meeting all requirements of the ISO 9001 standard…
Farmington Nights – API Spec Q2 Certification: Not for the Faint of Heart
On a beautiful January afternoon in Houston, I prepare to go to Farmington, New Mexico, a town of 45,000 that most people have never heard of. It’s 60 degrees and sunny in Houston…
Who is in Charge of Customer Satisfaction? Quality or Sales?
If your company is ISO certified or thinking about becoming ISO certified, you may already know that meeting customer requirements and achieving customer satisfaction is paramount to the certification …
Most Frequently Asked ISO Audit Questions
Have you ever been audited by an ISO auditor? If you have, then you should know that there are a set of questions that are frequently asked during audits against various ISO standards …
So When Exactly Should I Use a Corrective Action?
No matter how much we try to meet the continual improvement requirements of the standard, when it comes to corrective action, there are times when we are not sure when to call an issue corrective action or not …
ISO Document Review: Do I HAVE to?
Deciding how to control your documents can be difficult. ISO 9001 requires you to maintain accurate and up-to-date procedures, but doesn’t give a lot of guidance on how to get there. Between the requirements and the implementation lie grey areas and confusion. Let’s take a look at the difference between what is required and what …
What’s the Difference Series: NCRs vs NCNs vs CARs vs PARs vs SCARs vs CAPA vs CPARs vs CIP
So, you think you’ve got it all figured it out, and then, BAM! Somebody else comes with a new acronym to throw you off your game. Well, don’t give up so soon. Quality is not that hard, or at least not as hard as some people expect it to be. It all boils down to …
Are Training Attendance Sheets Appropriate for Measuring Training Effectiveness?
So you’ve heard about measuring training effectiveness but are unsure about how to do this. You have been filling training attendance sheets for as long as you can recall and so far they have served the purpose. So what is this new question all of the sudden a topic of discussion and what exactly is …
Hello Mr. Auditee: Did Mickey Mouse Help in Your Root Cause Analysis?
Ok, so you issued a nonconformity to your auditee or vendor and you are hoping that they will review the problem in such a manner that the current problem will be solved and similar problems will be prevented from happening again. You ask for a formal response and to your surprise, when you see the …
What Suits Your Schedule Best: Conduct Root Cause Analysis 1 Hr. Daily or Fight Fires 8 Hrs. a Day?
There is not a bigger vicious cycle in this world than that of problems which constantly re-occur because there is no time to stop and solve them correctly. Although we all would like for this cycle to stop, Managers can’t afford letting employees waste time with too much researching and employees don’t have the time …
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 …
