ISO 9001 for a REALLY small business

[neelu]

If you are looking for guidance such that you wish to execute the project on your own, there are several guides available specifically applicable to small enterprises. One such guide is ' The Handbook for small business:Advice on the interpretation and application of the ISO 9000 quality system standards' published by American National Standards Institute

 

[Stijloor]

If you are looking for guidance such that you wish to execute the project on your own, there are several guides available specifically applicable to small enterprises. One such guide is ' The Handbook for small business:Advice on the interpretation and application of the ISO 9000 quality system standards' published by American National Standards Institute

Can you provide a link? I could not find it on the ANSI site. Quality Digest had an article mentioning this resouce, but it is more than 11 years old (Aug '97)....

Stijloor.

 

[neelu]

Can you provide a link? I could not find it on the ANSI site. Quality Digest had an article mentioning this resouce, but it is more than 11 years old (Aug '97)....

Stijloor.

Pl try the following site:
www.webstore.ansi.org/iso_small_business.aspx
Electronic version is also available

 

[Peveril]

Judith could sign up for a 40 hour Lead auditor course (everyone says that's the best course, they have fun on that one) and it will tell her nothing about implementation in a small company!

As a matter of fact Judith did the 40 hour Lead auditor course for the 1994 model. And no kidding, it told me absolutely nothing about implementation for our company..........



Lots of great ideas here, thanks for everyones help.

 

[Sorin]

Just throwing my

Unless you face dire peressure from a REALLY important customer (read big bucks) and something along the lines: get certified or we get our business somewhere else I really do not see the need for getting certified.

Get the most of ISO without getting certified. That's all.

If that is not the case and youy REALLY need that certification you need someone with ground experience able to adapt to your needs. And that gets a lil more complicated.

 

[Peveril]

I get the sense some of you think this is cost prohibitive for a REALLy small business, or perhaps that the benefits are not commensurate with the cost of certification?

I realise my next question is some thing like "how long is a piece of string".

But for a small company, that let's say presents a good system, with no major non-compliances, what is the average cost of acquiring certification.

And yes, we pretty much have a smoking gun to our heads! We need to accomplish certification quickly, and I am on a tight budget.

Thanks
Judith

 

[Esthyl - 2010]

In my opinion, implementing ISO 9001 is getting us in small business to be self disciplined. In small business, it is common that a person is multi tasking, hence we will end up with too busy to review what we have done and areas for improvement.

Implementing ISO 9001 'forced' us to sit down to think for quality improvement plan, annual training plan, preventive for nonconformance etc at least once a year, especially when writing the management review. If getting ISO 9001 certified has over your budget and it's not urged by your customers to get it, implementing it good enough. Just remember the thumb of rule --> keep it as simple as possible, as suggested by Jane; manpower in small business is normally insufficient.

Here is a relevant thread which may give you more idea, Would ISO help a small Machine Shop?

Wish you good luck

 

[Raghunath]

Hi,

ISO does not talk about business size as such. It only says that what needs to be done (Requirements of the ISO stantard), it never talk about how. This how could be made out the organisation size or suitability of our organisation.

I understand that you are in retail business you can exclude some of requirements from clause 7. Eg. 7.3, 7.5.2, May be 7.6 if you does not have any measuring device such as weighing mechine, tapes etc.

 

[eaglegear]

Hello Covers,

I did a search on the cove to try to find out this question, no luck, prior to ISO implementation Company A had created and used a form, directly related to quality, (an engineering form).

After ISO implementation the form changed significantly, should Company A now go back and enter old data (some from 2 years ago) using the new form or use the new form just from the time the form was approved?

Thank you so much in advance.
I posted in this forum because we have 6 employees

 

[Sidney Vianna]

should Company A now go back and enter old data (some from 2 years ago) using the new form or use the new form just from the time the form was approved?

Typically, you should not need to retro-act the usage of the new form revision, unless you, your customer(s) or a regulatory body have a compelling reason for that.

Effectivity date of a process, procedure, form, etc... normally defines it's usage from that point, forward.