Quality Plan in a Service Company - Civil engineering service - Building construction

[Carlos Echeverry]

Hi all:

I'm in charge of a QMS 9001:2000 in a productive company. We have a Mill, etc. This have been basically my experience with this standard. We have quality plans, documents, etc.

But, the other day I was talking with a friend who has a service company (civil engineering service for building constructions). We started to talk about these things, and he's very interested in establish QMS 9001 in his company.

So I put my nose inside his business trying to understand how to do it...just trying to advise things, but fastly I understood it was too hard for me manage service companies terms.

Analyzing chapter by chapter there is one especially who is still hard for me. QUALITY PLANS.

Any idea how it works in service companies? Any examples availables?

Thanks in advance for your help

[Wes Bucey]

Also look at this thread:
ISO and Services?

In my opinion, it is as easy, sometimes easier, to make Quality Plans for a service company as for a manufacturing company.

For just one small example (we consider the "deliverable" to be the finished engineering drawing (design) plus the follow-up service to ensure the building is built to the drawing (finished product)):

There are a number of SOP (Standard Operating Procedures) such as adhering to building codes, performing mathematical analyses to ensure structure will support itself and contents without collapsing, review and approval by experts and by clients of various stages of the engineering drawings which are made to customer requirements and conform to regulatory codes.

Special attention is paid to competence of personnel involved in design and overseeing construction.

Management of the engineering firm is constantly aware of being customer-centric. During the drawing stage, FMEA (Failure Mode and Effects Analysis) can be performed and the changes dictated are merely erasing and redrawing versus modifying existing machinery or purchasing new.

Contract Review can extend to purchasing activities for materials which may be substituted if original design materials are unavailable (concrete shingle versus ceramic tile roof?)

It seems to me the only thing NOT necessary or analogous to manufacturing is SPC because each building is unique for location (one-off in manufacturing world.)

If outside drafters are hired as contract help, it is no different from hiring contract help for any manufacturing task - same with outsourcing (Heating, Ventilating & Air Conditioning?) to specialists just as a machinist might outsource to a plating company.

Where did you see the difficulties?

[MikeL]

Wes has pretty much covered it.

Think of the qualiity plan as the information and recording system you would need if the project group were isolated from their company and were just looking after this contract.

[Carlos Echeverry]

Any example in a service company to figure it out better?

Still hard to understand...as manufacturing company, we use to "see" products.

I hope you undersand my frustation

[MikeL]

If you have ever stayed in hospital you'll know that at the foot of the bed is your quality plan.

Admission forms
medical record
charts
nurses' notes
discharge plan