How Is Your Workplace Related to QMS

How Is Your Workplace Related to QMS

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Introduction

How Is Your Workplace Related to QMS or Quality Management System serves as a framework to lead and guide an organisation towards improved quality practices at all levels of its internal processes, including manufacturing operations. It derives its principles from ISO 9001 which mandates companies to comply with certain standards to ensure the provision of satisfactory services and products to customers. While implementing the QMS principles your workplace engages itself with continual improvement towards shaping, promoting and maintaining quality culture. A sincere and consistent adherence to quality practice rewards you with ISO certification, spurring an impressive rise of profit lines.

 

Workplace Practices To Promote QMS

The successful implementation of QMS requires that your business activities be based on quality principles and standard as specified by the ISO 9000 series. The following discussion throws light on how to orient your workplace in a bid to promote and maintain a continuous quality culture within it.

 

Maintaining customer focus

The ISO principles require that your organisation, at each level of operations, keeps customer satisfaction in mind. To ring in customer satisfaction your company should focus upon:

  • Conducting regular research to understand customer needs and expectations, along with a parallel management of customer relationship.
  • The vision and objectives of the company should be aligned with the needs of the customer.
  • An active communication system to translate quality principles into action at all levels of the organisation.
  • Decision-making and planning on the basis of quantifiable results derived from quality metrics.
  • Implementation of quality operations through a balanced approach to maintaining the interests of all the stakeholders- customers, higher management, employees, suppliers, financiers, environment and local communities.

Committed Leadership

The ISO standards for the fulfilment of quality goals require complete commitment from the top management. In your role as the company’s leader, your responsibility entails:

  • Chalking out realistic and achievable goals and targets, along with a fair allocation of resources to all the departments.
  • Implementing QMS through a unified and centralised structure.
  • Creating, promoting and sustaining shared values of fairness and ethical conduct across the organization
  • To impart training to the staff on issues related to QMS
  • Having an active system of reviews and feedback on employee output, while motivating them for continual improvement.

Adopting a Process approach

A process-based approach for quality tasks execution is widely prevalent in organizations. Under the Process-based approach, your workplace management and employees should perform the following tasks:

  • Clearly defining the set of business plans, mapping processes and activities necessary to obtain the desired result
  • Establishing a team for handling duties and responsibilities related to QMS
  • Devising or installing a QMS software to measure and analyze the capability of key quality functions.
  • With the help of quality metrics conducting reviews and audits to evaluate the impact of plans for customer satisfaction and on other stakeholders.
  • Continually improving the system through measurement and evaluation.

 

Continual improvement

The ISO 9001 stresses upon continual improvement in the organization’s overall performance so that it can deliver quality goods and services to the customers. To this end, you need to ensure:

  • Implementation of a centralised system across the organisation to monitor employee performance through quantifiable data.
  • Providing knowledge and training to staff to follow methods and tools of continual improvement
  • Drawing out specifications and guidelines for process execution and product designing, while keeping customer satisfaction as your predominant goal.
  • Establishing a system of metrics to track continual improvement, while maintaining a system of feedback to the employees.

Factual approach to decision making

The most effective decisions are those based on the analysis of quantifiable data and information. For making decisions based on data, the management should install a comprehensive QMS software which performs the following tasks:

  • Availability of data and information which are sufficiently accurate and reliable
  • Disseminating the data in the pertinent departments.
  • Rigorous and regular analysis of data and acting upon the loopholes or lacunae as reflected by the system.

 

Conclusion

In a bid to outshine your competitors and staying ahead your organisation should adopt and implement the principles of Quality Management as mentioned in the various standards of the ISO 9000 series. The active implementation of QMS would change the very face of your business operations, helping your company in attaining soaring profits.

 

What’s most difficult while implementing a QMS system

What’s most difficult while implementing a QMS system

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Introduction 

QMS or Quality Management System entails and demands from organisations systematic and continual processes of improvement on the quality front. Keeping customers requirements in mind, it encourages organisations to prevent avoidable errors, adverse outcomes and reduction of waste during production.

Auditing – Most Difficult While Imposing QMS

QMS draws it guidelines on ‘quality’ from the standards entailed in ISO 9000: 2000, the latest ISO QMS version. This version is both expansive and exhaustive, thus, posing tenuous challenges to the companies for its fulfilment. The principles and standards of the version are adapted to the new and ever-changing international markets, businesses, and socio-cultural and political conditions of the day. Implementation of ISO in the newer context demands arduous efforts. Most organisations face maximum difficulties in the auditing process. Auditors need to evolve their own unique techniques since no definite method serves as the necessary recipe for their successful implementation of QMS.

What makes Auditing Daunting?

Auditors are placed in sensitive positions charged with maintaining or changing perceptions about their company. Their job while drawing up QMS audits need to be based on the following standards.

Auditing requires new mindset

The expansive scope of standards ISO 9000: 2000 demands newer approaches and style of work from the auditors, stemming from the rather drastically different mindset. In adherence to IAF (International Accreditation Forum) auditors need to constantly work in tandem with numerous certification bodies and registrars, which make new laws and regulations on safety, environment etc from time to time. Companies need to abide by them and provide evidence-based audits the the concerned authorities.

Requires regular and rigorous communication

Auditors need to work with a range of sections in the organisation, which also includes the two extreme ends of the spectrum – the top management and board of directors, and, the shop-floor workers. They have to undergo appropriate training to imbibe intellectual potential and socio-cultural sensitivity to accomplish successful communication. Collection of relevant data and feedback for audits entail vibrant interactions with the relevant departments.

Audits needs are expansive and complex

  • On Governance and Corporate Responsibility

Conformity assessment has significantly broadened for all organisations calling upon compliance with the latest ISO Quality standards. Auditors need to document with evidence the performance of the organisation on governance and corporate responsibility. Auditing principles mentioned in ISO 19011:2000 demand ethical conduct, independence, fair presentations and evidence-based approaches. Continual review of these principles assures quality and to attain it auditors have to have their toes on the track relentlessly.

  • On Practice of Environmental Standards

Environmental laws and regulations have become stringent for manufacturers worldwide, which find their expression in the latest quality management principles of the ISO version. Auditors through their reports establish how the overall results of the output align with the environmental friendly practices in the factories and plants. A positive report is critical for gaining conformities.

Conclusion

The socio-cultural, political and business context of commerce is always in a state of flux. However, in the flux what remains fixed in the heart of all the practices is Quality. ISO 90001 (quality) and ISO 14001 (environment) have brought forth new challenges to enterprises, especially to their auditing teams.

An active and dedicated auditing staff is required to implement the QMS principles so that their organisations attain the desired standards as spelt out by the ISO. Amongst other factors, organisations require impressive audits for their success.