Activa Consulting Newsletter – Quality Managers

 

What should a quality manager be doing - and when?

 

We are frequently being asked what a quality manager should be doing in between each visit from the certification body. Well the short answer is maintaining the quality system, but that should include all of the following:

 

• The collation and analysis of non-conformities and subsequent control and review of corrective actions.
• The management of preventative actions.
• Working with process owners to help them improve process performance as part of a continual improvement programme.
• Collating process performance data to report to review meetings.
• Conducting and or overseeing internal quality audits.
• Ensuring documents remain controlled and available and records remain retrievable. Updating procedures and forms as they change within the company and making sure revisions are covered in audits.
• Ensuring management are aware of the outputs of the quality system - process performance, results of audits, implementation of corrective actions.
• Representing the needs of the customer in the company. This is done in several ways - examples are: getting questionnaires and analysing them, by talking to customers, by ensuring the sales staff are looking at future customer needs and reviewing customer orders, and by analysing returns.
• Liaising with certification body
• Checking for changes in any standards, directives, or technical publications etc of external origin
• Publishing mgt review minutes or at least actions from it and also agreed continuous improvement actions so staff know what the company is trying to get better and how they might contribute to these goals.

 

Obviously the timing, frequency and manner of all these actions on your own "to-do" lists will differ from company to company. In some cases the role of the quality manager may be split or undertaken by more than one person.

 

What should the quality manager expect during a surveillance visit from a certification body:

 

Certification bodies will normally give you advance warning of the areas they would like to see, but if for some reason someone or something is not available at the time of audit - no problem - they'll ask to see it another time. IF they start down one path, it may lead off in a direction unplanned by the auditor. Normally they will stick to plan and come back to where they were originally going, but not always. One thing an external auditor will always want to see is that the general management of the system is operating properly - this means they will want to see evidence of the non compliance, corrective actions, preventative actions, management review and audits every time they visit. What is the most important thing for you to do before an external auditor visits? Make sure you have taken any corrective action that you agreed with them at the previous visit! And if the plan didn't get implemented for a good reason - fair enough but you will need to demonstrate what you did instead to address the outstanding non conformity.

 

What is different during a full initial assessment compared with a surveillance audit?

 

Initial Assessments cost more money! Why? Because the certification body needs more time to firstly review your documented system and then audit your system in it's entirety against all the requirements of the standard rather than just some of them.

 

If you need help preparing for an audit or you would like help with the ongoing maintenance of your quality system then please contact us by replying to this e-mail or give us a call on +44 1799 506151.

 

For further information regarding converting your QMS to ISO 9001:2000 please email David Murfet – david@activa-uk.com

 

We would also extend our invitation to participate in our forum which is accessible from our home page – http://www.activa-uk.com/home.htm is this we would hope you can meet other companies seeking to exchange ideas about continual improvement and the running of business performance systems.