New to ISO 9001 - Where to start implementation

[Stijloor]

Re: New to ISO..Please Help!

Thanks. Sadly my management team aren't ready to commit to spending any money on this yet. I can't even get a copy of the standard. I'm working from a document called ISO 9001 2008 - Translated into Plain English and trying to produce a rough draft/idea of what's going to be required. Hopefully then 'they' will see the need to get the latest standard. Thanks again

Visiting The Cove is free. And many are available to lend you a hand.

Stijloor.

 

[tony wardle]

Indeed - My advice - and this is not necessarily the same for everyone or every business - but worked for me - is, start at a point. Best point to start with is to get the standard.

Read it. Section 1,2 and 3 are informative.

I suggest start at section 7. This section relates to what you do or make. Then move to 6, what you have in terms of resources, then onto 8, how you measure what you have done with your resources. Leave the rest to last (s4 and 5)

Investigating one piece at time is easier to handle - less scary and - if done well will allow you to produce a quality manual as opposed to a wish list.

When you get to this point, start over again.

As for top management - this is the hardest nut to crack. If you can get the systems going well, and show some continuous improvement - this will make the top guys look good. They may be more keen to assist? Also, from day one - make it clear that it everyones system, everyones responsibility and to eveyones benefit, you are only an administrator. If you dont do this - the ISO thingy will be seen as "something our quality guys do keep us busy" and it will be seen as "your" system.

I say again - take it in bite size pieces rather than dealing with it like a huge tsunami.

Hope this helps.....

 

[Sorsola]

Re: New to ISO..Please Help!

Ouch!!!! You have my most sincere sympathies...

I don't want to sound like the harbinger of doom and gloom... but I hate to tell you that without management's committment, you'll be doing a WHOLE lot of this: I know that first hand... at my previous job, I got almost the same mandate from management... get us ISO certified. After I stopped I told them that I needed a copy of the standard and I wanted to attend some training classes and that it would costs a few $$$. After THEY got done I knew I was doomed.

If your management team isn't even willing to pony up the few dollars for the actual standard, they are going to have a hard time understanding that Management committment to the Quality Management System is a critical part of ISO 9001.

I wish you the best of luck. The good folks on this forum can really help out a lot -- so you are in the right place. For nothing else other than support and advice.

Cheers!!!

Mike

Thanks Mike..and thanks to you all for the advice and support. I'm so pleased I came across this site. You're a wonderful lot!! Off now to do some serious reading up... back in a few hours to post next thread entitled "None the Wiser"....probably.

Ah well. I'm told God loves a tryer...he going to adore me then!

 

[SpongeMouse]

read the article of clauses, then for your "personal" experience, if you have some client/friends who could permit you to join their audit just for a few hours, you can get some ideas how it works.

 

[Sorsola]

Well

Went to the library and joined up. Then requested details on all books and reference guides they had. Total search results = 0!!!

Came back to the office and a lovely librarian had called and left me a message. The ISO standard is available through their website!

If anyone ever wants access to this just email me and I'll send the details over.

Happy days! I have a starting point. Onwards......

 

[tony wardle]

If you can - via the Cove or otherwise, try to get your hands on a GAP Ananlysis checlist - this will help. Also, I suggest you take a look at examples documents from other companies. In terms of SOPs or work instructions - I have opted to go the route of flow diagrams. There are some good articles on the net on the use of these and there is some good freeware for this - as discussed on the Cove. I also suggest you get the people in the organisation to do their own SOPs and get their buddies to audit them for accuracy. This will give you time to concentrate on the other aspects of the standard. Written verbose documents are a breeding ground for ambiguity, mistakes and are a breeding ground for audit findings

Good luck buddy..

 

[SpongeMouse]

Well

Went to the library and joined up. Then requested details on all books and reference guides they had. Total search results = 0!!!

Came back to the office and a lovely librarian had called and left me a message. The ISO standard is available through their website!

If anyone ever wants access to this just email me and I'll send the details over.

Happy days! I have a starting point. Onwards......

how i wish we could have a library as efficient as yours


just take your time reading and if you need some assistance in interpreting those clause, feel free to flood questions here tehehehe

just feel at home (like what im doing now, im just new here but the peeps are very warm and accomodating... and very helpful)

 

[John Broomfield]

Re: New to ISO..Please Help!

Thanks. Sadly my management team aren't ready to commit to spening any money on this yet. I can't even get a copy of the standard. I'm working from a document called ISO 9001 2008 - Translated into Plain English and trying to produce a rough draft/idea of what's going to be required. Hopefully then 'they' will see the need to get the latest standard. Thanks again

Reads like you are writing your quality management system around the standard? If so this is a bad idea. You could end up with a layer of paper called "ISO System" competing with the system that runs the business.

Instead you should be understanding the system that runs your company. Start by analyzing what the company does to convert customer needs into cash in the bank. Seek out the planning parts of the processes in deciding what to sell, understanding customer needs and planning the production/delivery to satisfy those needs with or without the help of subcontractors. This is your core process and will determine most of the key processes you need to include in your management system (see 4.1a).

The other key processes in your system sustain and improve the core process. Processes essential to sustain your core process are readily determined. For example: recruiting, hiring and training for competence and maintaining the computer network to fulfill business strategy.

Processes that can contininaully improve the core process may not exist and you can find these specified in ISO 9001:2008. They include: monitoring processes, obtaining and using customer feedback, collecting and analyzing data, problem solving (root cause removal) for preventive action and corrective action, auditing future process and system performance and investing in continual improvement.

Please do not write your system around the standard, analyze and document the system that runs your company instead. The resulting system can then be used to improve itself as and where needed to fulfill its objectives.

 

[AndyN]

Re: New to ISO..Please Help!

Thanks. Sadly my management team aren't ready to commit to spening any money on this yet. I can't even get a copy of the standard. I'm working from a document called ISO 9001 2008 - Translated into Plain English and trying to produce a rough draft/idea of what's going to be required. Hopefully then 'they' will see the need to get the latest standard. Thanks again

It seems to me that you won't make any useful progress (with or without the standard) unless they understand what's in it for them. Without any money to spend, you are wasting your time! If your management don't see what it is going to do for them, they won't make a commitment - no-one commits to what they don't understand, unless they are foolish (or in 'love' ) - so you have to work on that first.

 

[Marc]

Support your local Library!

Went to the library and joined up. Then requested details on all books and reference guides they had. Total search results = 0!!!

Came back to the office and a lovely librarian had called and left me a message. The ISO standard is available through their website!

I got into quality by replying to an ad years ago where the company wanted someone who had worked with a certain MIL SPEC. I knew nothing about MIL standards, so I went to the Cincinnati public library and got a copy of the MIL SPEC they had in the ad. Back then there was no internet.

I haven't been to a library in probably 20 years so I don't know what the technology is today. Back then there were, of course, the card files. I think it was a librarian I showed the ad to who told me they had the MIL STDS on microfiche cards. I think it cost something like 5 cents a page to copy them from the card reader to paper. I got an interview with the company and the guy was so impressed after we discussed the standard that he hired me on the spot despite my not having known what a MIL SPEC was before I saw the requirement in the ad.

I want to Thank You for bringing up libraries as a resource for some standards and specifications. Support you local libraries and Librarians!