Lean Value Stream Mapping
Implementing an ISO QMS
Implementing the ISO 9001 Standard as a Lean Quality Management System (QMS) can improve your business. It can make your organization more effective, and therefore more competitive. While ISO Certification is a lofty goal, a Lean ISO implementation is worth far more than that. (See “Top Ten Reasons Why You Need ISO 9001“).
Bizmanualz Lean ISO Approach
Bizmanualz consultants have the knowledge to build Lean ISO Quality Management Systems that get results FAST. At Bizmanualz, we have helped a number of small to medium sized businesses with ISO 9001 implementation–move from having no real QMS to becoming ISO 9001 certified in three to six months.
We start by evaluating your company’s core processes and establish clear metrics and objectives for each process (ISO 9001: clause 4). Next we work with you to align your customer’s needs (voice of the customer) with your company’s quality policy and objectives (ISO 9001: clause 5), as well as your resources (ISO 9001: clause 6). Next we align your production and service provisions (ISO 9001: clause 7) to conform with Good Manufacturing Practices (GMP). And finally, we work with you to develop continual improvement, or conduct occasional internal audits to keep you on track (ISO 9001: clause 8).
How a Lean ISO QMS Implementation Helps You
Problem
Colliers Turley Martin Tucker (CTMT) is one of the nation’s most successful real estate and facility management companies, but their responsibilities at an IT data center facility for a prominent finance company in St. Louis exceeded their typical duties. For this client, CTMT had to meet very strict requirements to prevent power outages, as well as reduce human error.
For CTMT’s client, a loss of processing ability or information is simply unacceptable. The task of ensuring that the data center did not lose power fell to the CTMT Data Facilities Team led by Senior Manager John Scheer and Data Center Manager Chris Wanger. How could they improve on a system that was already very effective? They didn’t want to wait for a system failure to learn where they were vulnerable.
Approach
The facility managers at the site determined that the best option for maintaining control of the critical area was to institute a Quality Management System like that specified by ISO 9000. Instituting a Lean ISO Quality Management System would help them assure that they were assessing risks and addressing the critical areas needed to reach their goals and satisfy their customer.
CTMT called on Bizmanualz to help them evaluate their current internal control systems and to plot a course for implementing an ISO Quality Management System. They needed a system that fit their particular needs and that would lead them toward ISO 9001 Certification.
Solution
CTMT began their journey in early June, and by early that December they had become only the second data center facility in the U. S. to achieve ISO 9001 Certification. “While they were meeting their goals, putting an ISO 9000 Quality Management System in place raised their level of confidence significantly?” said Steve Mundwiller, the Lead Project Consultant from Bizmanualz. “They are more in control and more prepared, and therefore more capable of fulfilling their responsibility.”
Results
For CTMT, being ISO 9001 certified meant more consistent and recorded preventative maintenance. The required routine power system checks were now well-documented, and a training program ensured that team members were aware of, and used, procedures and forms.
Company managers that see ISO 9001 Certification as a piece of paper to frame and hang on the wall are missing an opportunity to improve. A quality management system can be more than checks and controls; it can be a system of continual improvement that institutionalizes learning and propagates innovation. CTMT used ISO 9001 Certification to not only feel more confident about being able to satisfy their customer now; they used it to ensure that they would only get better in the future.
