This month our theme is voice of the customer.  This is very coincidental because this is also the month we have undergone our ISO 9001 Certification audit (as anyone following our blog surely knows…).

The connection between these two items is the customer-centric nature of ISO 9001.  In fact, you could say that there are two overarching aims of the ISO 9001:2008 Quality Management System Requirements:

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Implementing a Quality Management System (QMS) that complies with ISO 9001 requirements can be challenging.  That’s why a useful approach may be to implement the QMS in phases, where you focus on different elements of meeting the ISO 9001 Standard in progressive stages. 

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In this series of articles we are discussing implementing an ISO 9001 Quality Management System (QMS) in four distinct phases. By breaking the implementation into stages, it becomes more manageable and less overwhelming. In phase one, the general requirements described in Clause 4 of ISO 9001 QMS requirements are implemented, and in phase two the elements of continual improvement from Clause 8 are set in place and practiced.

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If your goal is ISO certification, the best method is to create a compliant QMS in stages.

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Creating a Quality Management System (QMS) that fulfills the requirements of the ISO 9001:2008 Standard can seem like a daunting task.  But it doesn’t have to be. 

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Interactive learning style helps students become familiar with using the ISO 9001 Standard as criteria for auditing, the importance of an audit program along with basic auditing principles.

St. Louis, MO – February 27, 2009 – Bizmanualz, Inc., a business publications, training and consulting company based in St. Louis, MO, today announced the launch of a completely redesigned version of its ISO 9001 QMS Internal Auditor Training course.  This ISO training course demonstrates requisite auditing skills to beginning auditors, and is also valuable to experienced auditors and quality managers looking for a refresher course or the opportunity to discuss innovative approaches.

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Last week we identified the most common process maturity level in many organizations, phase one — Reactive.  Few organizations are able to advance much farther up in management system maturity.  This week we will look at the next two levels in our process maturity model that describe the phases in which an effective management system comes to life.  The Documentation and Stability Phases.

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Your management system consists of business processes that interact with each other through documents and records.  Yet in many companies the system appears to be functioning whether anything is documented or recorded.  Can this be an effective management system?  It depends on the process management maturity of your organization.

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Many companies appear to run relatively smoothly under the status quo, so they may not think about organization improvement. Minor product inconsistencies or customer complaints are normal, and the owners might think that overhauling an entire system to save a little money might not be worth it. But those same business owners would be surprised to learn that a few simple process changes and a small amount of effort can save thousands of dollars through cutting waste and improving customer quality.

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The present economic downturn looms over the heads of business executives (and their employees) like the Grim Reaper.

How do you ensure your company doesn’t fall prey to the hype or the financial crisis and actually maintains — or even grows! — during this economic downturn? How can you use this time to focus and develop more sustainable customer relationships to increase your customer satisfaction or customer quality?

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