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I have recently been employed with the main function of assisting in the move from the 1994 standard to the 9001:2000 standard. I am finding it difficult to convince the management that the conversion isn't merely a documentation issue, but involves changing the way they do things (particularly with regards to the process approach, continual improvement, customer satisfaction).
An external auditor raised the issue that our internal auditing procedures need to be adapted in order to comply with the new standard. This is now my task. The problem is that I am having a challenging time trying to convince the management that they need to trust the changes that I want to make.... and their resistance is making me question whether I am approaching this correctly.
Firstly, I believe that the audit plan must extend to include every area within the company. This includes purchasing, planning, development, etc... where before auditing was only done on the manufacturing processes. Am I correct? This morning I had a discussion with my boss who said that we can't plan when an audit must be done, because we can't predict when problems occur - which is an issue on it's own because the company is working more with corrective action rather than with preventative action. In fact, there are no preventative action measures and I'm beginning to doubt their understanding of the difference between the two. They believe that preventative means to prevent it from happening again....
Secondly, Currently the internal audits only check if the procedures and work instructions are being followed. My problem is - How do we know that the procedures and work instructions are giving us the required results? and how can we continually ensure that they follow the standared? To meet this criteria, I have created a form/checklist, but am encountering resistance to the change.
Thirdly, management believe that continual improvement can be solely be covered by the auditing process and as I mentioned above, the auditing style assumes that the process is correct and only checks to see if the process is being followed... I have argued my point a number times and believe that I am making progress is changing the way of thinking (well at least within the quality department)
Essentially I believe that the problem is in the definition of a process. Currently management define 'process' as a step in manufacturing a component, but I need to open their eyes to the the fact that processes exist from when you take the order to when you get customer feedback. These process must also be measured and monitored and they also use equipment that must be included in the calibration system. I've created a process flow diagram of the entire company, now we must created a system that works around it.
I've attached an audit plan that I would like to suggest to the company as well as an audit checklist (I understand that they will still need some work, and I particularly want to double check the referances to the iso standard). I would appreciate any feedback or ideas. Most of all, I would like to know if I'm approaching this in the right way, because all this resistance is making it easy for me to doubt my approach.
Thanks
Nicola
An external auditor raised the issue that our internal auditing procedures need to be adapted in order to comply with the new standard. This is now my task. The problem is that I am having a challenging time trying to convince the management that they need to trust the changes that I want to make.... and their resistance is making me question whether I am approaching this correctly.
Firstly, I believe that the audit plan must extend to include every area within the company. This includes purchasing, planning, development, etc... where before auditing was only done on the manufacturing processes. Am I correct? This morning I had a discussion with my boss who said that we can't plan when an audit must be done, because we can't predict when problems occur - which is an issue on it's own because the company is working more with corrective action rather than with preventative action. In fact, there are no preventative action measures and I'm beginning to doubt their understanding of the difference between the two. They believe that preventative means to prevent it from happening again....
Secondly, Currently the internal audits only check if the procedures and work instructions are being followed. My problem is - How do we know that the procedures and work instructions are giving us the required results? and how can we continually ensure that they follow the standared? To meet this criteria, I have created a form/checklist, but am encountering resistance to the change.
Thirdly, management believe that continual improvement can be solely be covered by the auditing process and as I mentioned above, the auditing style assumes that the process is correct and only checks to see if the process is being followed... I have argued my point a number times and believe that I am making progress is changing the way of thinking (well at least within the quality department)
Essentially I believe that the problem is in the definition of a process. Currently management define 'process' as a step in manufacturing a component, but I need to open their eyes to the the fact that processes exist from when you take the order to when you get customer feedback. These process must also be measured and monitored and they also use equipment that must be included in the calibration system. I've created a process flow diagram of the entire company, now we must created a system that works around it.
I've attached an audit plan that I would like to suggest to the company as well as an audit checklist (I understand that they will still need some work, and I particularly want to double check the referances to the iso standard). I would appreciate any feedback or ideas. Most of all, I would like to know if I'm approaching this in the right way, because all this resistance is making it easy for me to doubt my approach.
Thanks
Nicola
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