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 …
Hey, Mr. Auditor: This Is a Mickey Mouse Nonconformity. Show Me the Value!
Have you ever been audited and felt like the findings the auditor was bringing up were minutia and almost irrelevant in the context of the major challenges and goals setup in your organization? Did you almost feel like they were mickey-mouse or minutia issues compared to the big tidal waves your organization is going through. …
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 …
Five New Year Resolutions for Top Management
Most of us set new resolutions at the onset of every new year. Whether it is losing weight, exercising more (always the top resolutions!) or finishing a degree, we all recognize that a new year and the chance of a fresh start is a powerful combination to motivate us to achieve those goals. So why …
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 …
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: ISO 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 …
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 …
