Ever wondered what soft skills you need for that QMS?

Once you are in the driving seat of that QMS you soon start to realise that there is more to running that 9001 system than just knowing the standard inside out and being qualified to do the internal audits. You are the key person in your organisation and to be effective you will need to [...]

“9001 – The Collection” if you want to learn cool stuff in a hurry

Recognising that businesses need information as quickly as possible in order to implement it and gain benefits,  I am now offering the full set of ISO 9001 Training Guide videos under the banner “9001 – The Collection”.  Rather than work through the free series each fortnight for six months you can be in total control [...]

It doesn’t say you have to use Flowcharts – does it?

The use of flowcharts causes much discussion, with everyone having an opinion as to the best style and structure. However, what’s all the fuss about when they are not even mandated as part of a QMS?  9001 states that the QMS can be recorded on any format so why not carry on doing what we [...]

Get your Site sorted as well as the System for that Stage 2 audit

Understandably a lot of focus is put on getting the quality system ready for that final audit but the need to do likewise around the site shouldn’t be overlooked. Whilst some may view these as very basic, those undertaking this audit for the first time might benefit from the prompt. Housekeeping is an obvious one [...]

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 [...]

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 [...]