Implement an ISO 9001 QMS in 3 months - Construction Company - Suggestions welcome

[Stijloor]

Re: Implement an ISO 9001 QMS in 3 months - Construction Company - Suggestions welcom

Hi Guys/Gals

As said previously I am a mere fledgling in the world of ISO 9001. I have been tasked with my employer (a SME Construction company) to implement and audit the whole QMS from scratch.
The timeframe I have been allocated is unachievable i.e. 3 months of allocating 2 days per week.
I have developed a few policies however, is there a benchmark of documentation that I need to have.

Thanks

Donny

Hi Donny,

Let me guess...your company is bidding on a job, and one of the stipulations is to be ISO 9001 certified..... Or, your competitors are certified and Management wants to catch up... Or Management has absolutely no clue about how to implement an ISO 9001-based quality system.

By the way, is your curriculum vitae ("resume" in the USA) up to date?

I wish you wisdom, determination and courage my friend!

Please do come back often; your support system is here at The Cove Forums...

Stijloor.

 

[Ajit Basrur]

Re: Implement an ISO 9001 QMS in 3 months - Construction Company - Suggestions welcom

In addition to my earlier post, what prompted your BOSS to go in for a QMS - is it recommended by your Customers ?

On another note, 6 momnths should be a realistic timeline for QMS implementation of a SME if you are strating from scratch.

 

[Terrisandrew]

Re: Implement an ISO 9001 QMS in 3 months - Construction Company - Suggestions welcom

I am guessing that you need ISO certification due to a pending bid / grant / customer requirement. My fathers (2 person company) had to be certified so they could receive government grants.

I agree with the earlier posts that you would need 6 months of data prior to being certified so a three month time frame is not reasonable. I would propose that you make the following proposal to management:

1. You will work on developing a system in the next three months and implement the system.

2. At the end of the three months run through a cycle of internal audits (you could do this provided you receive some training or hire an outsider). These audits will generate a bunch of corrective actions and preventive actions.

3. A month later hold a management review session. You will have some audit data to present and some CAR, PAR data to discuss as inputs.

4. At the end of five months conduct another series of internal audits. Determine your status and decide when you want to proceed with certification. If all looks good you could try and go for certification at 6 or 7 months.

This plan will not get you certified in 3 months but it demonstrates a plan to get certified. This may be enough for management to go to the customer and say we can't receive certification in 3 months but here is our plan. This plan is still very ambitious.

I hope this helps. Feel free to PM me if you have any specific questions or post back here.

Best of luck,

Andrew

 

[qualitymanager]

Re: Implement an ISO 9001 QMS in 3 months - Construction Company - Suggestions welcom

To all posters who have suggested that ISO 9001 certification can be achieved in 6 months - what company size, process complexity and management commitment is necessary for successful certification, given that it's just the OP who is available for 2 days per week?

 

[Colin]

Re: Implement an ISO 9001 QMS in 3 months - Construction Company - Suggestions welcom

In my experience it is not the development of a quality system that takes most time, it is the implementation.

An experienced quality manager/consultant can produce a procedure in very little time. It is getting people to work with it, comment and refine it that takes the time.

 

[JaneB]

Re: Implement an ISO 9001 QMS in 3 months - Construction Company - Suggestions welcom

In my experience it is not the development of a quality system that takes most time, it is the implementation.

An experienced quality manager/consultant can produce a procedure in very little time. It is getting people to work with it, comment and refine it that takes the time.

I agree. It's mostly the getting it working well that takes the elapsed time, not creating doco.

 

[Pancho]

Re: Implement an ISO 9001 QMS in 3 months - Construction Company - Suggestions welcom

3 months?? Not possible if you want anything useful.

We just completed the process ourselves. We wrote, edited, tested and debugged nearly 1600 documents over the course of about 9 months and the whole organization was intensely involved in the process. Our business includes construction and we were audited at one of our jobsites as well as at our manufacturing facility and our offices.

As other commenters have stated, you and management should take an intro course on the standard and the philosophy behind it, then set realistic goals.

If you complete the process thoroughly, your organization will be much better off. Else, the whole thing will be an exercise in frustration and a total waste of time.

 

[Sam4Quality]

Re: Implement an ISO 9001 QMS in 3 months - Construction Company - Suggestions welcom

Hi Guys/Gals

As said previously I am a mere fledgling in the world of ISO 9001. I have been tasked with my employer (a SME Construction company) to implement and audit the whole QMS from scratch.
The timeframe I have been allocated is unachievable i.e. 3 months of allocating 2 days per week.
I have developed a few policies however, is there a benchmark of documentation that I need to have.

Thanks

Donny

Hi Donny & the Quality team here:

A lot many members have replied to your query, and their recommendations, suggestions, comments were very realistic. I would like to know the comments of the original query poster. Guess she hasn't yet replied after so many posts. Her reply might give some good insight into the subject.

Thanks.

SAM

 

[Mike_H]

Re: Implement an ISO 9001 QMS in 3 months - Construction Company - Suggestions welcom

Can the original poster please give me a heads-up on the type of construction the firm is involved in , "QMS please in 3 months, and ya got 2 days a week to dedicate to it". I'd like to avoid whatever it is that's being "constructed". The foundations may need repouring on that QMS, to coin a phrase.
~Mike~

 

[batman1056]

Re: Implement an ISO 9001 QMS in 3 months - Construction Company - Suggestions welcom

Whist I am not as experienced as some of my learned colleagues, depending on the size of the company, (SME upto 250 employees - so in theory it could be 10!), what processes you have currently in place, when they were last reviewed, the managements buy-in to the whole process and how well you engage with the staff will remit your time frames.

Its more than writing a document, its understanding the inputs, outputs and associated elements, how these are measured and monitored, how they can be improved and how do you reduce the risk of something going wrong.

I dont know what you produce or how many people are in your organisation, but I am in agreement - 3 months - very very tight.:mg: