How to get the most from your Management Review

Now this is a crucial part of your QMS mainly because it is often the area that auditors start with in order to gauge how well the system is being maintained.  If you think about you can understand why as it defines several aspects all in one document. How is the system fairing; are things [...]

How to check if you are ready for that 9001 audit

I often get asked this as sites get close to bringing in the auditor so I put together this summary of what I would expect to see in relation to the five main paragraphs so it is possible for anyone to gauge if they are ready. How much of the system? The QMS should have [...]

When passing an ISO 9001 audit with ‘flying colours’ flatters to deceive

Over the years there have been many instances when I see sites pin their ‘flying colours’ to the mast after their audit and it makes me wonder because I know for a fact that the site in question has major issues,  For example, the system hasn’t been managed for months; internal audits haven’t been done and customers have [...]

Be clear on the three ‘actions’ in your ISO system

One of the most confusing aspects for management representatives to get their heads round when taking on a quality system has to be the concept of Corrective, Preventative and Preventive action.  As they return weary eyed from their auditor course and laden with notes and forms they have to be clear which one to implement and [...]

ISO 9001 Training Guides videos start to make a difference

It is pleasing to hear that these guides are actually starting to make a difference to my subscribers with one recently responding: “So far you have already helped me with our supplier quality management and prompted me to add audit corrective actions onto the database I use for product non-conformances so I can review them [...]

Sample ISO 9001 Training Guides released

I have been well pleased with how positive the feedback has been for this series of  Training Guides.  In addition it has been fascinating to hear of the diverse reasons people have had for subscribing in the first place.   With several groups now running the next stage is to make some sample vids available [...]

Quality Manual at the beginning – or the end?

Where do you put the manual when you are creating a quality management system? Some start with it so that it maps out what procedures and work instructions or standard operating procedures need to be written. Others leave it till the end so they can capture all that has been created in the second and [...]

Mistakes when auditing

I have been getting a bit of auditing done myself around a site or two these past couple of weeks which made the videos on auditing in the first of the series of ISO 9001 Training guides somewhat opportune. After all, I must practice what I preach! With interest growing nicely for the videos I [...]

ISO 9001 Training Guides launched

Companies who install quality management systems are often left to their own devises once the system is installed. To me this is the time when they need the practical support so they get their house in order before the audit. Having worked with many sites to put a system in, I have been very staggered [...]