Organization unsure about the ISO 9001 implementation route? Share your thoughts.

C

chris02 - 2011

Hi All,

6 months ago my organisation was all up for going down the 9001 route, now they are not so sure.

Our business is going through restructuring and trying to convince top managers that 9001 is even more valid now is proving extremely difficult, especially my own Director.

I have made presentations to the Board and received very little enthusiasm, they consider that everyone is too busy to be thinking about yet another project, this is not the case. To be honest we appear to chasing our own tails and little thought appears to be being given to long term plans.

Anyway I am not giving up, I have started to put together a paper on the all of the positives along with the negatives of implementing 9001, so they can make a balanced decision as to yes or no.

So far I have the positives and include:

• Meet customer requirements
• Get more revenue and business from new customers
• Improve company and product quality
• Increase customer satisfaction with our products
• Document, understand, and communicate our company processes
• Develop a professional culture and better employee morale
• Improve the consistency of our operations
• Keep management and employees focused on quality
• Improve efficiency, reduce waste and save money
• Achieve international quality recognition.

I have broken each of these aspects down and related them to our business but I am sure I will need more.

Any other thoughts as to why and why not would be greatly appreciated.

Chris
 
Last edited by a moderator:

somashekar

Leader
Admin
Organization unsure about the ISO 9001 route? Share your thoughts.

<snip>they consider that everyone is too busy to be thinking about yet another project, this is not the case.

If this is real, then this is the biggest hurdle. The ISO9001 is not a project. It is the simple and focused way to operate your business. It is not complex, it is logical and the best it can give you back is a sure way to operate your business profitably and successfully.
Best wishes in your efforts to put light on the QMS operations.
 
Last edited by a moderator:

Golfman25

Trusted Information Resource
Just what Top Management needs -- another long boring presentation to sleep thru.

My suggestion is KEEP IT SIMPLE. IF you have to present, then rather than telling them a bunch of boilerplate nonsense of how good they'll be afterwords, take a look at how compliant you are already. Break it down for them. If you show that you are already 80% of the way there and with a little spit and polish you can get the other 20%, then it is a much easier decision. And whatever you do, don't talk about INCREASING documentation (ie; work). If necessary, talk about how it will streamline documentation and reduce workloads by removing unnessesary stuff. Good luck.
 
M

Martin IT

In my opinion, a Quality system (if is properly implemented and managed) allows the growth of the company's knowledge.
The procedures are the experience of the company more than any single employee.
For example, in my previous company, the owner didn't believe on the Quality System and it was convinced that the documents were a waste of time.
When I changed my job position and I moved to another company, I've brought with my self all of my knowledge and they lost what I was able to do.
If I had spent more time to write the procedure, to document the projects, now they would have been able to manage my work properly and more important they would have avoided to make my own past mistakes.
Into a quality system documents you should find the experience and knowledge of the company!
 
D

Duke Okes

Don't worry about ISO 9001. If there's a business case for it (e.g., a potential new contract requires it) then management will support it.

So instead just put in a simple quality system that complies with ISO requirements. Then when you need to get registered you just ask a registrar to do the audit.
 

Jim Wynne

Leader
Admin
Anyway I am not giving up, I have started to put together a paper on the all of the positives along with the negatives of implementing 9001, so they can make a balanced decision as to yes or no.

So far I have the positives and include:

• Meet customer requirements
• Get more revenue and business from new customers
• Improve company and product quality
• Increase customer satisfaction with our products
• Document, understand, and communicate our company processes
• Develop a professional culture and better employee morale
• Improve the consistency of our operations
• Keep management and employees focused on quality
• Improve efficiency, reduce waste and save money
• Achieve international quality recognition.

I have broken each of these aspects down and related them to our business but I am sure I will need more.

Any other thoughts as to why and why not would be greatly appreciated.

Chris

You should be thinking in terms of a business case and not a lot of what appear to be pipe dreams. Other than the bit about documenting, understanding and communicating processes, there's nothing on that list for which you can provide any hard evidence, and hard evidence is what you're going to need.
 
J

JaneB

So far I have the positives and include:

• Meet customer requirements
• Get more revenue and business from new customers
• Improve company and product quality
• Increase customer satisfaction with our products
• Document, understand, and communicate our company processes
• Develop a professional culture and better employee morale
• Improve the consistency of our operations
• Keep management and employees focused on quality
• Improve efficiency, reduce waste and save money
• Achieve international quality recognition.
So, you're saying that at the moment, you:
  • aren't meeting customer requirements
  • don't have enough revenue
  • have 'company & product quality' that needs improving
  • problems with customer satisfaction
  • Don't understand or communicate your company processes,let alone document them
  • don't have a professional culture & have poor/low morale
  • have inconsistent operations
  • have managers & employees who don't care about quality
  • aren't recognised internationally for quality
Yes?
 

Paul Simpson

Trusted Information Resource
I'd have to agree with Jane. The list you have given is of improvements from implementing an effective quality management system, not from implementing ISO 9001. If you want to go for a third party certified qms then the list is much smaller. I suggest:
  • Customer recognition - ISO 9001 is widely understood for the basis of a quality management system
  • Recognition by customers might lead to fewer 2nd party audits
  • Improved bid performance - we get over the first hurdle by having a certificate
  • We get an independent overview by an 3rd party body of the way we manage quality
If you go onto a few 3rd party CB /Registrars web sites they will have a few other ideas. But again you can safely ignore all of their claims that ISO 9001 / 3rd party certification will improve your products and satisfy your customers. You (and your qms) have to do that! :D
 
P

Phil Fields

All good replies.
I would be asking:
• What is the companies Vision, Mission, Business Plan
• What does the company want to achieve as a business
o Then ask how does it plan on achieving it
• In the present state can the business achieve those goals?

Will the implementation of ISO 9000 help to achieve those goals and business plans?
 
J

JaneB

All good replies.
I would be asking:
• What is the companies Vision, Mission, Business Plan
• What does the company want to achieve as a business
o Then ask how does it plan on achieving it
• In the present state can the business achieve those goals?

Will the implementation of ISO 9000 help to achieve those goals and business plans?

I agree with your second, third and 4th questions, but not the first. Partly because I think it is redundant (given the others) but mainly because not every company either has - or needs - anything called a 'Vision' nor a 'Mission'. Some business planning, yes.
 
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