How many times has someone asked you to do something like “Draw up a plan for ‘X’” that you complete, only to have them say, “That’s not what I wanted!” or “That’s not how you do it!”  You might be thinking, “You didn’t tell me exactly how you wanted it done.”

If you find yourself saying “That’s not right” to your employees after the job is supposed to be complete, you have a communication problem — one that’s resulting in general inefficiency, as well as bad feelings and low morale.  Perhaps it’s time you thought about creating a Policies and Procedures Manual.

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Over the last four weeks, we have focused our discussion on process maps. We’ve tried to answer some of the most common questions about process maps by taking a look at seven different types of process maps and how they’re used to describe processes.  A process is a structured set of activities that transforms inputs into outputs, but the way we describe a process may vary dramatically, from a text-based procedure to different forms of process maps.

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Lean approach simplifies the ISO 9001:2008 quality procedures manual and clearly points out the required QMS procedures and records.

St. Louis, MO – June 18, 2009 – Bizmanualz, Inc., a business publications, training, and consulting company based in St. Louis, MO, today announced the release of the updated ISO 9001 Policies and Procedures Manual. The company has greatly improved its product by modeling its policies and procedures on the Deming (“Plan-Do-Check-Act”) Cycle.

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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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Question of the month:  Does complying with the ISO 9001 Standard have to be a “document nightmare?”

The old adage frequently applied to ISO 9001 is “Say what you do and do what you say.”  Some organizations seem to take this to mean “Write down everything you do,” but that is really not required by the standard.  The actual requirement is that processes are well-defined and responsibilities clearly communicated.  This can be accomplished through a lot of methods that require little documentation, such as training. 

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In the two previous articles of this series we discussed two important aspects of a Lean ISO 9001 Quality Management System: a Lean Quality Manual and Lean Quality Management System (QMS) Procedures. But what about other documentation that may be needed?

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In last week’s article I attempted to convince you of the value and sense of a Lean Quality Manual. But how useful is a Lean Quality Manual if the Quality Management System (QMS) procedures are burdensome books, with tons of detail but little real value?

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Lean ISO 9001? To many of you this will seem like a contradiction in terms. The term Lean and ISO 9001 are not generally used together, but why not? Does a Quality Management System (QMS) have to be complicated and cumbersome?

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Compliance with AS 9100 Quality Standard is a required element of doing business in the aerospace industry.

St. Louis , MO – May 16, 2006. Bizmanualz, Inc, a business publications and consulting company based in Clayton, Missouri, today announced the release of a new AS 9100 Aerospace Quality System Management Policies, Procedures and Forms Manual.

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