For the past year, I have been assisting a company with their ISO9001-2015 compliance project.  Except for a few final details, we have finished that project.  A year ago, they were not ISO compliant – so we brought the company into compliance for the first time. Some final thoughts… ISO9001-2015 compliance enhances their marketing message.…

ISO9001-2015 certification is about quality.  The quality manual is all about process management and for good reason. I have never understood how some people contend process management isn’t important.  If your company provides a product or service, your employees do their job in a certain way.  Whether they follow a process provided by your company…

ISO9001-2015 takes a process view of your company.  You need to have all of your processes in place.  You need to have them documented.  The auditor will want to see that you follow those processes. There is a lot of work to be done.  You will be writing a quality manual.  You will be writing…

ISO9001-2015 takes a process view of your company.  The auditor wants to know that you have all of your processes in place and documented.  They want to know that you follow those processes. Years ago, I wrote about a company being a collection of processes.  I am helping a company with their ISO9001-2015 compliance and…

Being ISO 9001-2015 compliant has many rewards.  The certificate is important but may not be the most important. I am helping a company become ISO compliant.  The focus of ISO 9001 is quality and they have been focused on quality for years.  They provide an acknowledged quality product.  Where they need improvement is in documenting…

Last week’s blog addressed risk management.  This week I will address risk assessments. In order to be ready for an audit, you need to have prepared lots of documentation.  At the top of the list is your quality manual.  The manual will be more than 50 pages, so you have some work to do. Included…

Last week’s blog addressed risk management.  This week I will address risk assessments. When addressing risk, your company may have anywhere from no problems to lots of problems.  It is risky to not perform frequent assessments.  If you don’t perform risk assessments, how will you know if you have problems? Your procedure may look like…

Risk management isn’t just about people getting injured.  There are many facets to risk management. They extend from making sure that your company stays in business to avoiding costly errors in process or in deeds.  Let’s look at the flood potential in Houston for an example. Likelihood of flooding in Houston There is some flooding…

Customer Satisfaction ISO9001-2015 is not just about quality management, it is about your company meeting its customer’s requirements.  ISO certification shows that your company is focused on improving its business practices and its customer satisfaction.  ISO certification should improve business for several reasons: Improved quality will increase demand for your product or service ISO certified…

As I am working through creating a quality manual with a customer, I will address a few sections. One section is titled ‘understanding your organization and its context’.  In it, ISO 9001-2015 calls for a Documentation Hierarchy and it identifies 3 levels. Level 1 – The Quality Manual The top level is the quality manual…