Colin
Quite Involved in Discussions
I would like to share with you a nice success story if I may. Around 5 years ago I was asked to visit a company who had just had their surveillance visit for ISO 9001 certification. The company had only 8 employees and they
manufacture plastic components for 'non-critical' uses i.e. not aerospace, medical, automotive, etc. and had been registered for about 5 years without too many problems. The reason I was invited in was that they had just had 2 major N/C's raised and they needed assistance.
Now if I am honest, it was really one of those companies where they just wanted to do the bare minimum and get the certificate so we sorted out the majors (which, by the way should never have been graded major in the first place) and he agreed to let me re-design the QMS to be more applicable to a small company. We ended up with just 8 documented procedures and some pretty simple processes as that is all they required.
Each year I have been back in to provide a bit of support and this year the MD called me to tell me how he was expanding into other markets, had invested in some new machinery and grown to 16 employees so he needed some more support.
All of a sudden, a light appears to have been turned on in his head regarding the QMS. He now sees the reason for it and how, now he is growing, he needs the discipline it offers him in order to control the business. I persuaded him to let me run the management review this year (rather than him 'filling in the blanks') and he thought it was the most useful meeting he could remember having - he has already invited me to go back next year and he wants to know what else he can get involved with. Needless to say, he got a complete clean bill of health from the surveillance visit yesterday.
Why am I recounting this story? Well, we see so many posts here on The Cove extolling the importance of getting top management buy-in or we should not bother getting involved with a company - I don't disagree that it is ideal if you can. But I think this example shows how you can start with a reluctant MD and turn things around - it isn't quick but it can work.
manufacture plastic components for 'non-critical' uses i.e. not aerospace, medical, automotive, etc. and had been registered for about 5 years without too many problems. The reason I was invited in was that they had just had 2 major N/C's raised and they needed assistance.
Now if I am honest, it was really one of those companies where they just wanted to do the bare minimum and get the certificate so we sorted out the majors (which, by the way should never have been graded major in the first place) and he agreed to let me re-design the QMS to be more applicable to a small company. We ended up with just 8 documented procedures and some pretty simple processes as that is all they required.
Each year I have been back in to provide a bit of support and this year the MD called me to tell me how he was expanding into other markets, had invested in some new machinery and grown to 16 employees so he needed some more support.
All of a sudden, a light appears to have been turned on in his head regarding the QMS. He now sees the reason for it and how, now he is growing, he needs the discipline it offers him in order to control the business. I persuaded him to let me run the management review this year (rather than him 'filling in the blanks') and he thought it was the most useful meeting he could remember having - he has already invited me to go back next year and he wants to know what else he can get involved with. Needless to say, he got a complete clean bill of health from the surveillance visit yesterday.
Why am I recounting this story? Well, we see so many posts here on The Cove extolling the importance of getting top management buy-in or we should not bother getting involved with a company - I don't disagree that it is ideal if you can. But I think this example shows how you can start with a reluctant MD and turn things around - it isn't quick but it can work.
