ISO 9K2K documentation (records) for small scale tool rooms or job shops

[Net123]

My company is in the process of ISO 9000:2000 certification. We make assembly tooling, we will also put in controls (PLC’c, I/O’s Computers, software, logic etc) on automation equipment designed by other companies. Along with this we also service/repair/trouble shoot existing (older) machines in the market. The nature of our work is that of a job shop, we work on a ‘project’ basis. The core business-system of handling the projects varies greatly, (size of a project ~ $500 - $750K standard deviation being very large). When I look at it with the ISO 9K lenses it’s a very complex system, but in reality it isn’t there are only 30 employees who change many hats during the course of the day.

All the people involved in operations and the management (also the owners) are very committed to making quality products, (it just translates into survival for smaller corporations like us). The management is very supportive of my efforts and wants to implement the quality system hand in glove to their business system. I am however finding it increasingly challenging to develop a system of records that satisfy all the requirements of the standard and not translate into loads of paperwork and unnecessary documentation that we do not really use.

With this background I would really appreciate any one giving some ideas/tips or a sample quality manual that addresses small scale job shops or tool rooms.

Second part of the problem (which is a little more specific), I have trouble with the ‘service’ process. When our engineers go out and service some one else’s machines. There is no spec or definitive ‘process’ that they use every time, (each job is different and the ways in which service is carried out is dependant on number of factors: mostly common sense). I have a very loose service procedure and for now service personnel generate a service report which I use as a quality record (IMO, it hardly is); we had started customer satisfaction survey after every service, but stopped it after reports from our feild service guys that clients were getting irritated at large number of surveys. Any suggestions on how to handle service/repair of machines as a process that satisfies ISO 9K requirements in this type of setting?

and sorry for the long post

 

[Wes Bucey]

Welcome to the Cove!

There's nothing to apologize for in the length of your post. It's always best to describe the situation fully to get the most pinpointed responses.

Documentation is often a "sticking point" with small organizations. The first problem is they wrongly assume their system has to match some giant multinational. The entire point in ISO9001:2000 is to create an "appropriate" process which fits customer requirements and still remains usable and profitable for your organization.

I am however finding it increasingly challenging to develop a system of records that satisfy all the requirements of the standard and not translate into loads of paperwork and unnecessary documentation that we do not really use.

With this background I would really appreciate any one giving some ideas/tips or a sample quality manual that addresses small scale job shops or tool rooms.

In terms of "loads of paperwork" - what do you see as the requirement for just ONE CUSTOMER ORDER? Based on that, you can consider a customer-order based system which includes ONLY the information pertinent to that specific order. Often, the bulk of this paperwork is merely a copy (or the original) of what you supply to your customer with the order.

When we kept "hard copy" files for a similar operation, we had a fiberboard multi-section file folder with clasps to hold punched pages of documents. One section contained all correspondence from the customer, including the purchase order. Another section included technical details of the customer requirements. Another section contained correspondence and other information of dealing with OUR suppliers for this particular product. Another section contained internal information on scheduling of machines, personnel, tooling, for the product. Last section included Quality documentation and shipping and billing data. We also had one "Miscellaneous" section where we kept anything that didn't fit in the other sections.

If a customer had five products, each product had its own folder. Sometimes we had to duplicate purchase orders which ordered multiple products. We only shipped and billed product by product, regardless if 5 different products went to the same customer on the same day, there were 5 separate invoices. The upside of this is that customer cannot deny payment of the other four if only one shipment is in question.

Obviously, modern computer systems allow an organization to sort documents in any way it chooses and avoid creating hard copies as often as possible.

The essence of basing the sorting on a product-by-product basis is that you keep information sorted according to the way you actually deal with things in your shop - on a product-by-product basis. If you get a request for a similar product from a different customer, you can use the file for reference.

Similarly, when the second part of your situation arises:

Second part of the problem (which is a little more specific), I have trouble with the ‘service’ process. When our engineers go out and service some one else’s machines. There is no spec or definitive ‘process’ that they use every time, (each job is different and the ways in which service is carried out is dependant on number of factors: mostly common sense). I have a very loose service procedure and for now service personnel generate a service report which I use as a quality record (IMO, it hardly is); we had started customer satisfaction survey after every service, but stopped it after reports from our feild service guys that clients were getting irritated at large number of surveys. Any suggestions on how to handle service/repair of machines as a process that satisfies ISO 9K requirements in this type of setting?

the simple fact in your situation is that EVERY service call is different. However, there are certain "phases" to each service call which are the same, only the details differ:
often service organizations create forms and checklists with plenty of white space to add details (think about the checklist a service writer works with at an auto dealer's service bay - folks come in for everything from a routine oil change to massive accident damage, but the service writer manages to put everything on the same form.) If each service call is treated as a stand-alone event (which it is), then each deserves a separate file folder, just like a product folder.

It is important to note that most computer-based documentation systems are based on hard copy systems. The advantage to computer-based systems is the relative ease of storage and retrieval. The data entry can be easy or hard depending on personnel and availability of equipment. PDAs or notebook computers can help employees in the field, while judicious placement of terminals in production areas will allow personnel to retrieve data for reference as well as enter data based on activity.

Let's take up the topic of electronic document management in another thread, though. It's fascinating, but not necessarily the ONLY solution to your problem as stated.