ISO 9000 refers to a set of three Quality Management System (QMS) documents: ISO 9000, ISO 9001, and ISO 9004, produced by the International Organization for Standardization.

• ISO 9000 contains the definitions and terminology used by the ISO 9001 standard.
• ISO 9001 contains the actual QMS requirements used for certification or registration audits.
• ISO 9004 is a set of guidelines that can be used to develop a quality management systems.

Although,  the three documents make up the ISO 9000 set, the main one that everyone concerns themselves with is the ISO 9001 standard itself.  About every seven years a new ISO 9000 set is released.  The release date is then added to each set to complete the naming convention.  So, ISO 9001:2008 is the full name of the standard and the current release used for ISO registration.

What is the difference between ISO 9001, 9002 and 9003?

We no longer use ISO 9002 or ISO 9003.  These names were used in the older ISO 9000:1994 standard that was obsoleted by the ISO 9000:2000 version, which in turn, was obsoleted by the latest ISO 9001:2008 version.  This may sound confusing but ISO rules require the standards to be reviewed and updated periodically to stay current with technological and market developments.  We don’t expect the next update until ISO 9001:2015.

What’s the value of process improvement? One way to look at it is by examining the reason for having a quality system in the first place. Let’s start by understanding the basics of six sigma, which define the maturity level of an organization’s management system. By that, we don’t just mean just a quality management system, but your entire system of management.

Sigma Levels

• 1 sigma = 67% error rate (or “2 out of 3 transactions are in error”)
• 2 sigma = 33% error rate (1 out of 3 transactions in error)
• 3 sigma = 6.7% error rate (1 out of 15 transactions in error)
• 4 sigma = 0.63% error rate (1 out of 160 transactions in error)
• 5 sigma = 0.02% error rate (1 out of 4,300 transactions in error)
• 6 sigma = 0.00034% error rate (1 out of roughly 290,000 transactions in error)

We define a system as “in control” when an organization’s processes exhibit a “3 sigma” (6.7%) or lower error rate.  If your organization has not defined its processes, effectiveness criteria, and competencies, it’s more likely that you’re at a 1 or 2 sigma level.  In order to achieve the “3 sigma” level, your company must consistently make no more than 6.7 errors per hundred — that’s a 93.3% success rate.

“Improve constantly and forever the system of production and service,
to improve quality and productivity, and thus constantly decrease costs.”
From W. Edwards Deming’s “Fourteen Points”

Are You Operating at a 93.3% Success Rate?

Let’s say you see 60-70% as normal, which is about 2 sigma (66% success). The “delta”, or difference, between 2 and 3 sigma is about 27%. We believe that by adopting a quality process improvement program, you should see your success rate rise from 66% to 93%.  That’s a 41% improvement over your current rate! What organization wouldn’t be interested in that?

Once you hit 3 sigma, your next goal is to improve to a 4 sigma level, then 5 sigma, and finally 6 sigma (which is as close as you can realistically get to “zero defects” in most operations).

Now quantify the benefit.  What is 27 percentage points of success worth to your customers? The cost of implementing a six sigma process improvement program is small compared to the benefits to your customer (and, of course, to your bottom line). Process improvement practically guarantees customer retention, and can lead to customers advocating for you.

But if that’s not for you, don’t implement a quality program. Learn to live with a 2 sigma error rate — and hope your customers can live with it, too.

Obviously, we’re not out of the woods yet, economy-wise. Sure, the National Bureau of Economic Research says we are officially no longer in a recession, but most businesses are finding that hard to swallow. The money supply is still pretty tight, investors are still pretty anxious, and we have yet to see meaningful job growth.

However far away an actual recovery may be, businesses of all sizes and types are well advised to be ready to move when the time comes. Sooner or later, the business cycle will come around to expansion and companies like yours will begin hiring once again.

And when you do, will your new hires know what to do? Do you have clear, accurate, and up-to-date policies and procedures that will make their entry (or reentry) easier? If you have an effective quality management system in place and you’re continually improving it, little by little, regardless of the circumstances around you, you’re able to accept and embrace change.

All kinds of training solutions are available to get your employees “up to speed” in their jobs. The most effective solutions are those that mix a number of tools and techniques. They use a “holistic approach”, balancing various learning techniques to arrive at the best possible outcome — performance excellence, the right product at the right time in the right place, and customers who are more than satisfied.

That starts with knowing what to do and how to do it. Your policies and procedures are an integral part of the learning experience. They’re key to achieving consistently high performance and results!

We’re all looking forward to expansion but you — more than most — will be prepared for it.

* * * * * * *

Time for you to “sound off”. Tell us what you think.

Remember when Ford’s tagline was “Quality Is Job 1″? No? Well, maybe this will jog your memory.

Back in the 1980′s, Ford, GM, Chrysler, and AMC¹ were quickly losing ground to Japanese automakers². Rumors that U.S. auto workers were deliberately sabotaging cars on assembly lines gained traction; these rumors were alleged to have been started to divert attention from the obvious and growing inequities between American and Japanese vehicles.

Fact is, American car buyers were turning away from domestic cars simply because their Asiatic counterparts were cheaper to buy and much cheaper to operate. The bad reputation American cars were saddled with then — a consumer perception of poor quality — persists to this day, even though Toyota — which leapfrogged all American automakers in 2007 to become the world’s #1 vehicle producer precisely because of its reputation for quality — has turned out to be the modern-day emperor with no clothes.  It looks as though quality took a back seat to profits.

Then there’s BP, whose failed wellhead in the Gulf of Mexico “will live in infamy”³, mainly because it appears the company would not spend a little on safety because that might eat into profits. This story has been thoroughly covered in the news, on blogs (including ours), and in company emails.

Now add the computer maker Dell to the list. Dell is now in court for allegedly selling millions of defective computers from 2003-2005 — computers that it supposedly knew were defective — hurting companies that relied on its reputation for quality manufacturing and customer service.

What’s the common thread running through all of these cases? Corporate hubris? Maybe.  A message running throughout these companies that “quality be damned — just get it out fast and make a big profit”? Quite possibly. Is their profit more important to you — the consumer – than a quality product and your satisfaction?

When do we, as consumers, demand that quality be placed before price? It catches up with the producer — eventually — but why wait for the inevitable? Why chase the elusive promise of “newer and better”? (Look at what Apple’s going through with the iPhone 4.)^{4, 5} Also, when do we, as corporate citizens, begin to see that our responsibility to give our customers quality isn’t incompatible with healthy profits?

It’s often said that we get what we deserve. If you think you deserve better, demand — and hold out for — quality.

Notes:

¹ Yes, they were still around, though not for long. AMC was put down for good in 1988.

² Except for body rust; that problem plagued Japanese auto makers for decades. My first two new vehicles were Japanese-made and I logged 18 years and several hundred thousand miles between them. If not for the severe case of “car cancer” they both caught, I believe they would’ve given me 20 or more years, combined.

³ My apologies to the late Franklin D. Roosevelt only.

⁴ http://abcnews.go.com/Technology/apple-iphone-hit-class-action-suit/story?id=11066239.

⁵ http://news.cnet.com/8301-30677_3-20008919-244.html.

Further Reading/Viewing:

1. Enderle, Rob, “Dell and the Cost of Cover-Ups“, IT Business Edge post, 30 Jun 2010.
2. Evans, Joel, “Is Apple Covering Up the Real Problem with Its iPhone?“, ZDNet blog post, 4 July 2010.
3. “Product Recalls“, Back in Black, The Daily Show, 6 July 2010.

What is it about us that makes change so hard to accept and even harder to manage? Where does resistance to change come from and what can we do about it?

“There is nothing wrong with change, if it is in the right direction.”
Winston Churchill, 1874-1965

Well, there is no ready solution (especially not in the space of this blog post). The word “change”, in whatever context, has always made people react with varying degrees of fear, frustration, and/or anger (or “FUD”). Yet, change goes on all around us, all the time. Much of change (the expanding waistline,  for instance) happens so slowly and subtly that we don’t notice it until well after it’s taken place.

Some change is thrust upon us. We hear around the office that “change is in the wind” and we feel threatened and anxious.  Let’s say your company has elected to implement a quality management system. Even if the current situation is not good — your customers are letting you know your product quality has slipped by walking away — many of us would still rather have the status quo.  Better the devil we know than the one we don’t…right? (“We just have to make our stuff better…that’s all.”)

The organization has to deal with resistance on a personal and an institutional level. Each is difficult to overcome and, like it or not, both must be dealt with.

Personal Resistance

If I say to you, “We’re going to change the way we do things around here”, what’s your reaction?  You have an emotional reaction, don’t you?  Probably a mixture of shock, anxiety, apprehension, and a few other gut feelings.

“The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again
and expecting different results.”
Albert Einstein, 1879-1955

You may feel unprepared. You may fear being left behind. Certainly, if you’re like most you don’t like the idea of leaving safe, familiar territory. (Besides, you haven’t done anything wrong.)

Experience may tell you to anticipate interpersonal conflicts in the course of change. It might also tell you to watch out for interoffice conflicts (power grabs, backstabbing…that kind of thing).

Institutional Resistance

Larger companies have a harder time with change, due to inertia (i.e., “It’s the way things have always been done around here”). With the current state of the world economy, there’s the question of where and how to expend your limited time and other resources, not to mention that as resources are harder to come by, the company’s focus narrows considerably. (“We need to increase sales now!“)

Then there’s that 800-pound gorilla in the room — office politics. Whenever — wherever — there is change, some stand to lose power and others, to gain and consolidate. People forget about what’s best for everyone and concentrate on self. “Office politics” is probably the single biggest obstacle to change. Let me amend that — office politics has a hand in change, but not the change we really need.

“Change is the only constant.“
Heraclitus, 535-475 BCE

Understand that resistance to change exists.  It may take unusually strong leadership — someone with uncommon vision and fortitude — to overcome individual and organizational resistance to change.

Make no mistake, though — change is a part of us. Are you taking an active role in change, or do you passively submit to it? Which of those will bring the kind of change you want and need?

Is change — or change management — a problem for your organization? If you were in charge, what would you do differently about the problem?

When was the last time you had to manage a “critical” project without the support of top management in word and deed? If it’s happened once, it’s happened too often.

Yet, this happens all the time with quality management systems. Quality management systems are commonly — and wrongly — viewed as a “necessary evil”. That is, your company’s top management feels a QMS project won’t have an immediate and positive effect on the bottom line but they’re going ahead with the project because “they’re making us do it!”

A customer may require its vendors (and maybe you’re one of them) to have an ISO-9001-certified QMS in place. Or, maybe you deal in a product or service that’s highly regulated, so you’re implementing a QMS only “because it’s the law.”

ATTITUDE

If your attitude is “we have to” instead of “we want to”, you may be setting up your QMS  to fail before you’ve begun.

Think about it. You always perform a task better when your heart and mind are in it, right?Isn’t the same true of your employees? If you’re not sold on the QMS as a win-win, your employees won’t be, either. And neither will the certification auditor.

Besides management having a poor attitude, there are other ways to sink your QMS project. Here are just a few:

• No development plan or one that’s insufficient
• Unrealistic expectations
• Lack of management support
• Poor communication
• Not enough resources
• Lack of user involvement

NO DEVELOPMENT PLAN

Just as with any other project, a QMS is more likely to yield desired results when a realistic plan is drawn up in advance. It’s just that simple: thorough project planning leads to a greater likelihood of success than relying on chance.

When you started your company, you drew up a detailed business plan before you went to borrow seed capital. True, the bank required you to have a business plan, but not because they just “felt like it”. They wanted you to succeed so they’d get their money back and so you’d become a regular customer.

The same is true of your QMS project — plan now for success, or pay dearly later.

UNREALISTIC EXPECTATIONS

Without bothering to put a plan together, top management will say, “We need a functional QMS in three months and we can spare one person from the staff to work on it.” It’s just a QMS, right? You only need a half-dozen procedures and a quality manual and you’re done, right?

WRONG! If you don’t do the research, you ensure that your expectations will NEVER be met. Realistic, achievable objectives come only from careful research and planning. If you don’t have a history of QMS projects, look at other projects.

Look at what other companies have done with their quality management systems. Ask around — maybe you know someone who’s been through the experience. The point is to have a clear idea of what you’re getting into and what to expect.

Next, we’ll look at four more reasons why QMS projects fail. In the meantime, I’d like your comments. Why do QMS projects fail? Why does any kind of project fail?

Thanks for your time.

It was nearly a year ago that the Bizmanualz Quality Management System (QMS) was certified to the ISO 9001:2008 standard by Platinum Registration.

Nearly a year has passed since that ISO certification audit and, as required, Platinum returned last week to conduct a surveillance audit of our QMS. That is, they reviewed our quality documentation and records to verify that we were in compliance with ISO 9001 and our QMS is healthy.

I’m happy to say we passed the ISO 9001 surveillance audit. We didn’t get through the audit completely blemish-free, but that’s to be expected. (In fact, I’d be rather suspicious of an auditor if he/she didn’t identify something that needed improvement.)

Your registrar should find opportunities for improvement. Your QMS isn’t expected to be perfect. No matter how long you’re in business, you will never do things perfectly. That’s why continual improvement (clause 8.5) is in the international quality standard.

“Don’t worry about perfection. You’ll never achieve it.”
(Salvador Dali, 1904-1989)

Our ISO auditor did identify a few “issues”. If her concerns had been serious enough – if, for example, we didn’t have a quality manual, as clause 4.2.1(b) requires — she would be correct in writing major or minor findings. We’d be required to address those concerns…those findings…in a timely manner or risk losing our certification.

However, our ISO auditor identified several “statements of fact” (also called “observations”), which aren’t nearly as serious. We could ignore observations, which are a way of saying “you’re in compliance, so you don’t have to do anything.” Instead, we’ll use the auditor’s statements of fact to improve our QMS further.

You see, merely passing an audit isn’t good enough. Posting “ISO 9001 Certified” on your office wall, your stationery, and your product means nothing if you don’t back that term with action. If you don’t, your customers will see right through you.

That’s why customer satisfaction (clause 8.2.1) is a key requirement of the quality standard. In fact, you could argue customer satisfaction is the KEY requirement, and few would differ with you.

In the coming days, we’ll use the auditor’s statements to improve our system. And throughout the coming year, we’ll be doing a number of other things to continually improve our QMS. We have another surveillance audit in about a year from now and a recertification audit in 2012. We also have customers to take care of.

The Moral of the Story: Always practice the quality you preach and you’ll be ready for anything at any time. Right? Do you disagree?

We had a customer ask us this week about obtaining “ASO certification”. Here, in a nutshell, is what we said in reply:

“We’re unfamiliar with ‘ASO’ certification (one of my cohorts “googled” the acronym and didn’t think any of the results fit, so we assumed they meant “ISO” – if we’re wrong, we’ll hear about it). However, if a company wants to obtain ‘ISO’ certification, it has to do the following:

1. Develop a quality management system (QMS);
2. Implement the QMS and collect data;
3. Review the data collected and use it to drive improvement;
4. After several cycles of the QMS, you should have an indication of whether it’s working. When you’re sure it is…
5. Apply for a certification audit.  Your country’s ISO member body should have information on certifying bodies, registrars, etc.;
6. A few weeks after you’ve been through the audit, the certication auditor will tell you if you passed (or if you didn’t, where you were weak and need improvement). If you passed, ring the bell! Have a party! Tell all your friends (Facebook and real), family, and business associates! Your Quality Management System is now ISO certified! And…
7. In the event you didn’t pass, make the necessary changes (at the bare minimum) and reapply for a certification audit.

One thing we didn’t tell the customer initially is, “Don’t have unrealistic expectations.” Developing and utilizing the QMS — as well as the subsequent audit — are going to take time and effort.

If you’re doing it purely for marketing’s sake, if you think you can knock out a QMS and pass a certification audit in a matter of months…you’re in for a load of grief. You’ll never get a solid QMS under you AND you’ll never make deadlines, because they’re unrealistic.

If you build a QMS because you want to provide your customers with the best everything — if customers are the reason for everything you do, including the QMS – you’ll take the time you need to get it right, you won’t set unrealistic goals and deadlines, and you won’t drive yourself crazy trying to figure out why you never meet expectations.

OK, so they’re not really easy steps…but the concept itself isn’t at all complicated. Each of the steps above is broken down into successively smaller pieces (things, activities, people, etc.) but if you start with the “big picture” and keep the big picture handy, you’ll do fine. Refer to it continually as you build. That’s where a lot of companies go wrong — they focus on just one part of the whole story as if that were the whole story, like the blind men and the elephant.

Keep your perspective. Remember — you’re in it for the long haul.  Best of luck in your QMS journey, and let us know if you’d like our help.

When we talk about helping companies obtain ISO 9001:2008 certification, people often ask us, “Why does our company need to be ISO 9001 certified?” Good question. ISO 9001 is the quality management system (QMS) standard and it produces numerous benefits for any company willing to go that route. So, why should your organization obtain ISO 9001 certification?

1. Meet Customer Requirements

Many companies want to get ISO 9001 certified just to satisfy one customer requirement. The customer states that it will only do business with vendors that are certified as ISO 9001 compliant, so to get (or keep) the business they need that certification. The problem with these companies is that they’re looking for a short-term payoff.  They see nothing but that one benefit — we need money– and ignore the long-term benefits, like “if we keep the customer well satisfied, they will want to come back again and again”.

They don’t embrace the concept of quality through continual improvement. They don’t understand that continued customer satisfaction is the ultimate goal of a QMS. In other words, these companies haven’t “bought into the program”. See, you may obtain a piece of paper (that ISO certificate) that claims ISO 9001 certification without seeing much actual quality or improvement. Focusing only on that one benefit — your immediate gain — without putting the customer in front will end up costing you much more in the long run. Hopefully, some of the quality management system ideas may rub off and eventually stick…but wouldn’t you rather have a plan than trust to luck?

2. Get More Revenue and Business from New Customers

Once you earn your ISO 9001 certification, you can advertise your quality certification and respond to requests for quotes (RFQ) from companies that make ISO 9001 certification a “must-have”. ISO 9001 certification can open up new markets you were virtually unable to do business with before your certification.

3. Improve Company and Product Quality

A quality management system standard is all about quality (really!) so, of course, one result of adopting a QMS should be an improved level of quality for the entire organization — every process, and every product. There are many definitions of “quality”, but Philip Crosby and Joseph Juran provide two of the best. Crosby defined it as “conformance to requirements”; Juran called it “fitness for use”.  A well-designed, effectively implemented ISO 9001 Quality Management System will put your company on the Road to Quality.

4. Increase Customer Satisfaction with your Products

Quality means whatever you produce will work as your customers expect. You will meet not only their stated requirements — you will meet more of their implied requirements, too.

Quality also means far fewer complaints and doing a better job of resolving those you do.  If your quality management system is working correctly, you should know what your customers expect and you should be providing it, resulting in increased customer satisfaction.

5. Describe, Understand, and Communicate Your Company Processes

The ISO 9001 QMS standard requires that you identify and describe your processes using business metrics, the purpose of which is to better manage and control your business processes.  Quality objectives form the center of your system.  Metrics are used to understand and communicate your system’s performance relative to your quality objectives.  If you make an honest attempt to conform to the requirements of ISO 9001, you’ll learn more about your business.

6. Develop a Professional Culture and Better Employee Morale

Implementing an ISO 9001 Quality Management System can empower employees. Your QMS will provide them with clear expectations (quality objectives and job descriptions), the tools to do their job (procedures and work instructions), and prompt, actionable feedback on their performance (process metrics). The result? An improved company culture and a more professional staff!

7. Improve the Consistency of Your Operations

What is consistency? Well, one way to think of it is “decreased variation”.  Reducing the variation in your processes is the definition of consistency. Is your customer better served by you supplying them with a consistent product — same dimensions, same weight, same tolerances, same output every time — or by your products being unpredictable and “all over the place”? (I hope you’re not thinking too hard on this.)

Of course, they won’t accept variation, and neither should you! And how do you decrease variation?  Increase control of your processes!  Control comes from having a clear target to shoot for (objective), collecting data on the process (metrics), and understanding how to adjust the process (procedures and work instructions) to maintain the target output.  If your ISO 9001 QMS is working, you should be increasing operational…and product…consistency.

8. Focus Management and Employees

We’ve discussed quality objectives, metrics, and procedures used within an ISO 9001 Quality Management System. Having the right objectives, metrics, and procedures, management and employees should be able to focus better on what’s important.  Yet, this isn’t always the case — it’s easy to lose focus over a period of time.

The ISO 9001 QMS has a way to ensure the company stays focused, and that’s quality auditing.  Internal audits, registration (and surveillance) audits, and self-process audits. ISO 9001 requires that the company periodically audit its quality processes. Regular process audits and as-needed audits, when done correctly, provide the objective feedback needed to correct any deviations from the quality path and keep the company focused on its goals.

9. Improve Efficiency, Reduce Waste, and Save Money

An ISO 9001 Quality Management System isn’t perfect; no process and no one is perfect.  (Why else would the standard devote a clause to “continual improvement”?) A well-run QMS does enable your company to approach perfection.  As your processes improve, become more consistent, and you achieve your target objectives with greater regularity, you will see tangible results. Your process waste will decrease, for one.

Waste is money lost forever. Waste results from poor quality and inefficiency.  Inefficiency results from variation and inconsistent processes.  Reduce variation, improve consistency, and you’ll have less waste…and more money.  It’s that simple!

10. Achieve International Quality Recognition

ISO 9001 is a worldwide standard administered by the International Organization for Standardization (ISO), based in Switzerland. ISO 9001 is currently in use by close to one million organizations around the world!  It is truly a world wide standard for quality! Obtaining ISO 9001 certification puts your company in a very select group.

Why Should Your Organization Obtain ISO 9001 Certification?

Recapping the article, your company’s certification to ISO 9001 will help you:

1. Meet customer requirements;
2. Get more revenue and business from new customers;
3. Improve company and product quality;
4. Increase customer satisfaction with your products;
5. Document, understand, and communicate your company processes;
6. Develop a professional culture and better employee morale;
7. Improve the consistency of your operations;
8. Keep management and employees focused on quality;
9. Improve efficiency, reduce waste and save money; and
10. Achieve international quality recognition.

To learn more about improving your processes, attend our How to Create Well-Defined Processes Class, coming this spring to our St. Louis, Missouri, offices.

Thanks to recent reports across all media (ex., “Toyota’s Slow Awakening to a Deadly Problem“, 1 Feb 2010), we’re beginning to see the enormous scope of the acceleration error that has prompted the recall of millions of Toyota vehicles.

Toyota, a company long considered a paragon of lean manufacturing virtue (hence, its assuming the mantle of “World’s Largest Car Maker” from GM), appears to have a serious defect in many of its highest-selling products. “Unintended acceleration” has resulted in hundreds of accidents (reported so far) and the loss of untold lives. In the last two weeks, Toyota shut down the production lines of some of its most popular vehicles to address the situation.

Could it be, as some have suggested, that Toyota has been “hoist with (its) own petard”? Or, to put it another way, was Toyota done in by the very system designed to make it efficient and prosperous?

Just today (1 Feb 2010), Toyota “officially” announced it had found a way to correct the problem (one that goes beyond replacing or doctoring floor mats), but many people aren’t satisfied the manufacturing giant has found the real solution. And even if it has, it will be a long, long time before Toyota recovers from the damage it has done to its reputation.

Questions abound, including “Why didn’t Toyota conduct a thorough investigation when it first learned of the problem (back in 2007?)”, “Why did the company stay with the ‘floor mat’ explanation for so long?”, and “Why didn’t safety bodies (like the NHTSA) do more when they realized there was a problem?”

Toyota’s TPS system appears to be in need of a corrective action — the question is, “Where?” Is the problem in manufacturing only? Customer service? Marketing? Design & development? Outsourcing? Or, did Toyota get too big for its own good?

Toyota’s not the only organization incriminated in this scenario. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration doesn’t come out of this situation unbloodied and unbowed. There are allegations that it could have and should have done more to keep the defect, whatever its root cause, from getting out of control.

In a half-hearted defense of NHTSA, they appear to have been ahead of many of their counterparts around the globe. Recalls in Europe and elsewhere followed the recalls in the US. Furthermore, every government body is hurting. There isn’t anything they don’t need — the authority to inspect and recall, or enforce laws; more people; more training; and a degree of autonomy, so they’re not called on the carpet (truly, no pun intended) for doing their job.

No amount of corrective action, though, can begin to make up for the people who’ve already lost their lives. (Interesting how in a situation like this, we tend to say, “Lives were lost needlessly“, when the opposite is true. Too many times, lives have to be lost — often in numbers — before action is taken.)

Lessons we might take from this at this “early” stage? One: corporate management is increasingly susceptible to hubris as a company grows.   Maybe Toyota was afflicted with the same disease financial services caught — we haven’t seen a problem in so long, they must all be licked. Not that corporate “attitude” is the root cause of Toyota’s problem, or even a proximate cause, but the “floor mat” story should have given us all pause to reflect.

Two: nothing can completely take the place of testing and inspection. We have safety standards, regulations, etc., in place in the aerospace and food businesses. For better or worse, more is on the way. Why not make the automotive world jump similar hurdles (i.e., make safety mandatory)?

Three: the best designed, most rigorous systems eventually come apart when they’re not paid attention. CAPAs, like anything else in your Quality Management System, have to be applied continually in order for your company and your system to improve. Toyota has said it in so many ways: “Satisfactory” isn’t.

So, what happened? Your ideas?

(P.S. – Not like Toyota needed more bad news, but now they have a braking problem on the newest Prius. What do you think of that?)