It is not unusual for a company to set an objective to reduce the number of customer complaints that they receive. No one wants complaints therefore if you can eliminate them this must be a good thing. However, it is hard to get people to raise an issue as a complaint in the first place… read more
ISO14001: 2015
As with the revision of ISO9001, ISO14001 Environmental Management Systems is also undergoing revision, the planned publication date being early 2015. Here is a link to an LRQA Whitepaper providing background on the likely changes to the document. LRQA WHITEPAPER As with ISO9001 we are keeping our eyes on the revisions to enable us to… read more
ISO9001: 2015
You may or may not be aware that ISO9001 is currently undergoing revision with a planned publication date of late 2015. Certification Bodies are already providing guidance on what the likely changes will be. Here is a link to the new BSI Whitepaper which provides some background history and some idea of the likely changes… read more
Complaints
At home we are currently having some work done and the company have not done a good job at all. So we complained. Their response? Woeful!!! They don’t respond to calls, take days to respond to emails, turned up early to meet us to discuss the issues but left before we arrived and before the… read more
Human Error
Human error does not have a place in Quality Systems When investigating customer complaints or noncompliances I often find that customers enter as the root cause “Human Error”. I always react by saying, emphatically, that there is no such thing as Human Error? At first there is usually some surprise at this. Now I think… read more
Forestry Stewardship Council (FSC) Schemes
We have all I am sure seen the Forestry Stewardship Council FSC logo which appears on products derived from wood sources, providing assurance that the wood is from a sustainable source rather than from some illegal logging programme. The FSC scheme requirements cover anything from wooden furniture and building structures to copier paper and toilet… read more
Supplier assessment
When on holiday recently I spent time with a friend of mine who has his own business consisting of 2 people. He was completing supplier assessment forms into the evening, covering quality systems, training and Health and Safety. I appreciate that it is important to learn whether your new supplier is suitable but in my… read more
Preventive Action
ISO9001 Quality Systems clause 8.5.3 is titled “Preventive Action”. What is preventive action? From time to time I see that the meaning of this is misunderstood, even within certification scheme documentation and by 3rd party assessors. Preventive action is often seen as the action that is taken to prevent a nonconformance from recurring. No, this… read more
Basic Controls
BS5750 and subsequently ISO9001 has been around since the 1980’s and the impact on how quality is viewed within the UK has changed dramatically in that time. Despite this I can still find myself implementing basic process controls within established companies. These are controls that are essential to provide a platform for a Quality… read more