Hi All,

I have pasted on to the bottom of this thread what I believe to be the 'quality policy' of my company. Can you all have a ponder over it for a few minutes and let me know your opinions and comments.

Any useful advice will be greatly appreciated :D

Regards

Anthony

Our quality policy

Here at Company X we strive to continually provide innovative solutions to meet the changing demands of the manufacturers within the orthopaedic industry.

Through the implementation of our quality management system - and with adherence to ISO 9001:2000 - we aim to provide total commitment to our customers whether responding to inquiries, meeting exceptional demand, or providing specific solutions.

We strive for continual improvement of our business practices to aid in the further development of the company as a whole and the relationships with our customers.

:thanx:

What are your measureables?

Hi All,

I have pasted on to the bottom of this thread what I believe to be the 'quality policy' of my company. Can you all have a ponder over it for a few minutes and let me know your opinions and comments.

Any useful advice will be greatly appreciated :D

Regards

Anthony

Our quality policy

Here at Company X we strive to continually provide innovative solutions to meet the changing demands of the manufacturers within the orthopaedic industry.

Through the implementation of our quality management system - and with adherence to ISO 9001:2000 - we aim to provide total commitment to our customers whether responding to inquiries, meeting exceptional demand, or providing specific solutions.

We strive for continual improvement of our business practices to aid in the further development of the company as a whole and the relationships with our customers.

:thanx:

I've never liked the use of the passive voice in QMS documentation, and I get facial tics when I see the verb "to strive."

Here's the first sentence of your policy cast in the active voice, and with a few superfluous words removed:
We provide innovative solutions to meet the dynamic demands of orthopedic manufacturers.

A similar improvement may be made by getting rid of "aim" in the second paragraph, and just saying "We provide..."

What are your measureables?
Hi Marc,

Our company measurables with regards to quality would be:

Delivery times
Customer complaints - hopefully lack there of
Company growth/improvement - not necessarily size
Nonconformance - again hopefully lack there of
etc

Is this what you mean? I don't see the requirement for this within the requirements of ISO EN 9001:2000.

Forgive me if I have misunderstood you.

Regards

Anthony

I've never liked the use of the passive voice in QMS documentation, and I get facial tics when I see the verb "to strive."

Here's the first sentence of your policy cast in the active voice, and with a few superfluous words removed:
We provide innovative solutions to meet the dynamic demands of orthopedic manufacturers.

A similar improvement may be made by getting rid of "aim" in the second paragraph, and just saying "We provide..."

With this in mind I have changed the last sentence to:

By regular review of our quality management system we are continuously improving our business practices. This will further develop the company as a whole and the relationships with our customers.

Does it read more in the active voice?

Regards

Anthony

With this in mind I have changed the last sentence to:

By regular review of our quality management system we are continuously improving our business practices. This will further develop the company as a whole and the relationships with our customers.

Does it read more in the active voice?

Regards

Anthony

Yes, that's better. Keeping in mind that I tend to be a bit anal about these things:rolleyes:, I would change "...we are continuously improving..." to "...we continuously improve..."

Note that I deliberately avoided opening the continual vs. continuous can of worms, because even I'm not that anal. :tg:

Yes, that's better. Keeping in mind that I tend to be a bit anal about these things:rolleyes:, I would change "...we are continuously improving..." to "...we continuously improve..."

Note that I deliberately avoided opening the continual vs. continuous can of worms, because even I'm not that anal. :tg:

:tg: haha The standard does require continual improvement, but my boss doesn't. After all shouldn't the system be guided by the standard rather than be dictated to?
:D

Great advice from Jim. It's surprising what a difference the active vs passive voice makes. It is a statement though and as such you want it to have strength and be assertive, two things that a passive voice will not accomplish.

That's very true. With Jim's input the whole thing reads more as an affirmation of what we stand for rather than the flimsier 'well at least we're trying' sound that was there before. Cheers Jim. :D:thanx:

Here is how it stands after the input so far:

Here at Company X we provide innovative solutions to meet the dynamic demands of orthopaedic manufacturers.

Through the implementation of our quality management system - and with adherence to ISO 9001:2000 - we provide total commitment to our customers whether responding to inquiries, meeting exceptional demand, or providing specific solutions.

By regular review of our business management system we continuously improve our business practices. This serves to further develop the company as a whole and the relationships with our customers.

:bigwave:

Here is how it stands after the input so far:

Here at Company X we provide innovative solutions to meet the dynamic demands of orthopaedic manufacturers.

Through the implementation of our quality management system - and with adherence to ISO 9001:2000 - we provide total commitment to our customers whether responding to inquiries, meeting exceptional demand, or providing specific solutions.

By regular review of our business management system we continuously improve our business practices. This serves to further develop the company as a whole and the relationships with our customers.

:bigwave:

Hi Anthony,

Are you still open for comments ? Sorry for being late

I suggest to delete ISO 9001 as it becomes redundant when you already mention quality mangement system. This is particularly so, because the policy is flexible enough to accomodate more systems like ISO 13485 in the future :)

Another point is whether you want to add some commitment for employees ?

Another point is whether you want to add some commitment for employees ?
That's an interesting point and certainly one worth looking at. Continual improvement shouldn't just be of the company. I'm wondering though whether this should just be part of the quality manual rather than the quality policy?