I was posed with a question the other day: how to address Configuration Management in AS9120? In essence, the client was having a customer self-audit and wanted some suggestions as to how to answer the following question: Describe how your firm manages parts obsolescence and manages configuration changes. So since I have some AS9120 exposure, […]
My latest course, “How Not to Fail at ISO9001” is now available on Udemy, which is the famous online training and educational store. Here’s the link: https://www.udemy.com/course/how-not-to-fail-at-iso9001/learn/lecture/34733460#content This course is for newly appointed ISO coordinators, process owners, and other business professionals who need to know how to apply the clauses of the ISO standard to […]
As a public service, we are going to talk about the ISO9001 Fast Track Failure Modes. I’ve decided to write some more about this because it is important. “ISO9001 Fast Track” is where you go out and buy/borrow/download some quality system documentation. You then “adopt it.” Then give the registrar a call, tell them you […]
This is the second part of the unpredictably long story involving “safety shoes”, as required by various companies. Based on a few minutes of research, there is an excellent probability right now that everybody’s safety shoes are undocumented and not auditable. Here is Part One. (Link) Disclaimer: If your research is different from any of […]
In addition to my various auditing jobs, I also “get audited” once a year. I have far from a perfect record in this regard, but when I get a CAR (Corrective Action Request) I use it as a learning experience. This particular case is interesting in that it illustrates best practices, or lack of, with […]
I’ve worked as an auditor for three registrars. I “get audited” in my role as quality manager by a fourth. My consulting clients “get audited” by 5-6 others. Therefore I, a person with exposure to 10 different registrars, have something to contribute on the topic of choosing an ISO9001 Registrar.
I am in 50 businesses a year, and the most common and serious problem I see is lack of an effective corrective action program. Your corrective actions aren’t working for a reason. The corrective action program is the most important thing in ISO. Without it, you don’t change anything. Nothing improves.
We need to talk about this. One of the reasons people go through all of the ISO registration stuff in the first place is to lower the consumer’s risk. When a consumer buys a article or does a service, he or she benefits from some assurance from a third party that it is all legal […]
This is a scenario I see all the time: The quality manager in a place leaves, and a replacement is hired right before the audit, (this may be you). There is a last minute panic about how to prepare for the audit. Quite often, not always, the new quality manager is less experienced and there are high expectations. This is a chance for the replacement to be the hero or heroine.
In the course of my travels, the most common question I get is “How do you become an ISO auditor?” This is an interesting job, it has its benefits, and there is an excellent chance that it could lead somewhere if you want it to. A further blog post will be written later on the […]
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