Re: Where to Start to Implement ISO9001
Kees, I am afraid I disagree strongly with the order of these steps, especially 1, starting with departments! You seem to be saying 'each department has a main process'. This is contrary to the process approach that lies at the heart of the Standard.
Start with identifying PROCESSES! Never never, never start with 'departments'. That way lies madness and frustration. Not to mention contradicts the Standard.
This is nothing more than a variation on a theme. Starting with departments and their immediate processes and then tying together the interaction of processes isn't a big deal, and each department does have processes which are 'main' to them. Purchasing, as an example, has a primary function with processes they are responsible for. It (they) interact(s) with other processes which other departments are responsible for, but purchasing isn't welding (for example) which typically has their own main process(es).
If one is doing an implementation identifying all processes isn't rocket science. You can do it department by department, or you can do it another way. I do not in any way see it as contrary to the process approach that lies at the heart of the Standard. As long as all processes and their interactions are identified, how you approach it isn't a big deal.
I am open to hearing how, for example, purchasing does not have a main process which they are responsible for. It may not be the 'main' process of the business as a whole, but it is specific to purchasing just as design engineering had a definite function and processes which are specific to them which they are responsible for. Their processes interact at places with processes of other departments, but that doesn't mean they don't have processes that they bear the main responsibility for.
Implementation can be done in many ways. I know some people are passionate about how they do their implementations, but they're all variations on the same theme and there simply is no single 'right' "one and only" way to go about implementation. As long as all processes, and their interactions, are identified, how you do it isn't important.
Going back 20 years I always started with individual departments. I would do the same today. We worked our way to inter-departmental process interactions. It never led to "madness and frustration", nor does it contradict the Standard. I am open to hearing *specifically* how it contradicts the standard.
In all the years I did implementations I never had a client which wasn't first audit successful, and many came through their registration audit with zero nonconformances (major or minor) and no observations. I might add many of my clients were quite large and complex such as Motorola and Borg-Warner. I always started with individual departments identifying their main processes and moved on to their interactions with other processes.
There is more than one way to reach the goal of identification of, and interaction of, all processes.
