Iso 9001 quality assurance

1. Iso 9001 quality assurance
For virtually every business, an ongoing quality improvement process is a key component
to improving operations and employee morale. Businesses that make a concerted effort to
continuously improve operations ultimately gain a competitive edge.
Market dynamics constantly change and clearly defined QIP (Quality Improvement
Program) forces key personnel to take an objective look at business processes that are
essential to keeping your company profitable.
More importantly, quality improvement is an ongoing process aimed at keeping your
company ahead of the competition. This process includes continuously reviewing and
improving business operations and implementing incremental changes as they develop to
promote ongoing quality improvements. Incremental changes are easier to implement and
measure. Incremental quality improvement efforts can include finding ways to reduce
production and/or operating costs or improve time efficiency in a single business process.
Font-line employees can be a great source for incremental quality improvements. Try
this: Put a suggestion box in the break room and you may be surprised with the quality
improvement suggestions employees come up with.
A simple suggestion box empowers employees to make suggestions on improving the
quality of their work and is perhaps one of the smartest moves business owners can make
to build cohesion between managers and their subordinates.
Another aspect of process improvement is redesign. This approach is more far-reaching
than incremental improvements. Oftentimes, these types of quality enhancements
encompass multiple business processes and require cross-departmental cooperation to
plan and implement. These types of changes must be carefully planned to implement
properly and in a timely and cost-effective manner.
Businesses must be careful how the QIP is implemented. Too often, the QIP only target
clearly defined outcomes and doesn't focus on the means needed to generate the desired
outcome. Managers are always looking at the bottom line, but the primary focus needs to
be on changing the equation that generates the bottom line.
A quality improvement committee should be established to monitor the ongoing QIP
process at your business. The committee must prioritize critical business processes
targeted for improvement and should meet at least monthly to review the performance
metrics of your company. This team could also be tasked with keeping your business
focused on continuous quality improvement.

2. This committee should see the whole picture of the QIP effort and realize the importance
of transparent communications, sticking to the plan and focusing on the critical business
processes that can be improved.
Performance metrics should be defined. Performance metrics objectively measure
specific activities (events) within daily business operations. Discovering how to
objectively improve core business processes linked to these activities (events) is
imperative.
To get started, you should consider the following six steps:
Planning - This is the first step in a true QIP where critical processes are identified for
improvement. In this stage, past business performance data (customer service functions,
sales functions, operational functions, etc.) are analyzed to provide preliminary
improvement opportunities. Critical processes are identified, and improvements to these
processes can be classified as incremental or those that require redesign. Some examples:
Why are inbound telephone calls abandoned? Is there continuity in our overall sales
process? Is our production equipment being operated correctly?
2. Trial - The second step is to initiate a trial run of the proposed changes. This effort
should be implemented with careful measurements and assessments to determine if the
solution should be a permanent part of business operations. It is important to make trial
runs quickly; planning is meaningless unless it is acted upon.
3. Check - The third step is to collect information from the trial run and compare the
results with historical performance.
4. Action - Now that a trial run has been reviewed and found to be beneficial, your
business should act on it by making the appropriate changes to either a process,
procedure or company policy. This step involves communicating changes to all affected
personnel regarding the new process or procedure. Of course, business performance is
continuously monitored at this stage, and findings are reported to the quality
improvement committee.
5. Annual Summary - At the end of the fiscal calendar year, an evaluation of the QIP is
conducted by the quality improvement committee. This summary outlines the goals and
objectives of your organization throughout the year and the progress that has been made
toward those goals. This summary should be communicated to decision-makers
throughout your business. This is essential to keeping everyone on the same page and
reinforcing that the company is committed to delivering quality products and services to
customers.
6. Collaboration - After the annual summary is submitted, the committee should
collaborate and solicit ideas for future improvement. Remember, QIP is an ongoing
process. At this point, the cycle repeats and goes back to the planning stage for the next
fiscal calendar year.

3. Following these steps will ultimately improve the quality of your core business processes.
Employees take notice of the enhancements, even if they are not directly involved in the
quality improvement program. Making the effort to improve quality informs these
employees that management is addressing concerns and taking action to improve
business operations.
Ultimately, all facets of your organization benefit. Employees tend to perform better and
in the end, your company improves the likelihood of becoming more profitable.
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