Introduction

Richard firmly believes that there is only one reason for introducing a Quality Management System into a company or organisation, and that is firstly to improve its performance, and secondly that this must be financially evident within a reasonable time.

Richard has developed a standard concept for a Quality Management System, which not only meets the requirements of the various standards, but also enables an organisation to operate and apply it in a simple and easy manner.

He also believes that other things must be taken into account when developing a Quality Management System with Health & Safety at Work and Accounting being two areas to which every organisation should pay heed. Any environmental requirements and other legislative requirements should be examined at the same time.

Consequently the Quality Management System suggested by Richard consists of a number of manuals dedicated as following:

  • Corporate Objectives etc: A Quality Policy Statement outlining the Company Profile, the company's corporate statements on Quality, Health & Safety, Organisation, Scope of Activities, and other pertinent information.
  • How the Company Operates: A Company Manual describing each of the administrative functions carried out defining in detail responsibilities and limits of delegation where appropriate. This covers at least the matters raised in BS 5750 regarding Contracts, Work Instructions, Procurement, Inspection, Stores, Planning, Libraries, etc.
  • Rules for the Work Force: An Operations/Site/Shop Floor Manual/Instructions as appropriate and as needed, defining all the things that employees have to know and abide by, including their responsibilities for Health & Safety at work.
  • How the Company's Quality Management is carried out. A Quality Manual describing all of the Quality Management activities. This defines management responsibilities, and methods for internal audit, vendor assessments, contract audits, quality records, document update & control, and management review.
  • How the Company will Audit their System: An Audit/Responsibility Schedule identifying precise areas and scopes of responsibility, to enable internal audit plans to be quickly and efficiently prepared.
  • Validation of the Quality System: A Compliance Schedule cross referencing the requirements of various standards and regulations to the various manuals.

Richard implements Quality Management Systems in three principle steps, which are repeated as often as necessary to obtain the desired result:

  1. To document the various procedures, starting with the company's operations, and later adding quality management.
  2. To audit the resulting documents against the standards to ensure that adequate procedures exist.
  3. To supervise the conduct by the company's own staff of internal audits to ensure that the system meets the needs of the employees, and is adhered to.

Assessment

It is important when developing a Quality System to define and keep firmly in view the ultimate objective - to become a firm assessed to ISO 9001 - and to achieve this by a target date. This requires locating the right assessment agency, and obtaining from them any additional or explanatory documents - often referred to as Quality System Supplements.