Tuesday, September 22, 2009

ISO 9001 & ISO 14001 Blog

Some of the new blogs on ISO 9001 Standards & ISO 14001 standards was found as below:
http://iso14000standards.blogspot.com/
http://iso-9001-standards.blogspot.com/
http://iso14001environmentmanagementsystem.blogspot.com/
http://iso9001qualitymanagementsystem.blogspot.com/
http://iso9001qualitymanual.blogspot.com/
http://iso9000standards.blogspot.com/
http://iso9001-standards.blogspot.com/
http://iso14001standards.blogspot.com/
http://www.iso14000store.com/blog
http://www.iso9001-standard.us

Saturday, September 12, 2009

Quality Control Software

ISO 9001 Standards Software
Companies that need quality management systems realize that products like ISO 9001 software are important tools to insure their product safety, consistency and profitability. Using ISO 9001 software can help guarantee that any company can monitor productivity, customer satisfaction and product quality with reports that contain solid information.
This information is now vital to management in order for maximum efficiency in any industry. This is why ISO 9001 software is vital to any sized company. Continuous improvement means continuous profitability. Here are just a few reasons why:
o Companies increase sales because of better performance, quality, and delivery. This propels you ahead of your competition.
o ISO 9001 software helps retain employees and attract more highly qualified employees because they are assured of a controlled and consistent work environment.
o The experience of a more professional workplace boosts employee morale.
o Reduced operating costs dramatically increase your company’s productivity, leading to higher profitability.
o Customer satisfaction and higher profitability expand your market share and demand for your consistently higher product quality.
o When you’re compliant or certified to the appropriate standard, the businesses that work with you know that quality objectives, continuous improvement, and customer satisfaction are your goals.
Many companies require that their suppliers are ISO 9001 compliant; therefore, once you’re certified, your opportunities increase. ISO 9001 software has be utilized and has developed experience of helping manufacturing, service, and distribution organizations to be more efficient and more profitable through continuous improvement programs. We help you to implement the time-tested methods of continuous improvement to measure performance, analyze data, and apply the appropriate process changes. This includes using ISO 9001 software.
ISO 9001 software also offers a suite of modules to enable you to manage the document management and ISO 9001 Compliance Management process. These modules enable complete transparent system measurement with targeted action items ensuring all persons are notified of tasks and carry them out in a prompt and efficient manner. ISO 9001 software provides training in there software and also bring extensive experience in implementing the ISO 9001 software in various environments.

ISO 14001 And The Environment

The ISO 14000 family of International Standards on environmental management is a relative newcomer to ISO’s portfolio – but enviroment-related standardization is far from being a new departure for ISO.
In fact, ISO has two-pronged approach to meeting the needs of business, industry, governments, non-governmental organizations and consumers in the field of the environment.
On the one hand, it offers a wideranging portfolio of standardized sampling, testing and analytical methods to deal with specific environmental challenges. It has developed more than 350 International Standards (out of a total morethan 12000) for the monitoring of such aspects as the quality of air, water and soil. These standards are means of providing business and government with scientifically valid data on the environmental effects of economic activity.
They also serve in a number of countries as the technical basis for environmental regulations.
ISO is leading a strategic approach by developing environmental management system standards that can be implemented in any type of organization in either public or private sectors (companies, administration, public utilities). To spearhead this strategic approach, ISO establish a new technical commitee, ISO /TC 207, Environmental management, in
1993. This followed ISO’s successful pioneering experience in management system standardization with the ISO 9000 series for quality management.
ISO’s direct involvement in environmental management stemmed from an intensive consultation process, carried out within the framework of a Strategic Advisory Group on Environment (SAGE),set up in 1991, in which 20 countrie, 11 international organizations and more than 100 environmental experts participated in defining the basic requirements of a new approach to environment-related standards.
This pioneering work was consolidated with ISO’s commitment to support the objective of “sustainable development” dicussed at the United Nations Conference on Environment and Development in Rio de Janeiro in 1992.
Today, delegations of business and government experts from 55 countries have participate actively within TC 207,
and another 16 countries have observer status. These delegations are chosen by the national standars institute concerned and they are required to bring to TC 207 a national consensus on issue being addressed by the commitee.
This national consensus is derived from a process of consultation with interested parties.
From its beginning, it was recognized that ISO/TC 207 should have close cooperation with ISO/TC 176, Quality management and quality assurance, in the areas of management systems, auditing and related terminology. Active efforts are under way to ensure compatibility of ISO environmental management and quality management standards, for the benefit of all organizations wishing to implement them.

Friday, September 4, 2009

Introduction to ISO Certification

Certification is a way to attest, by the intermediary of a third-party certifier, to a company’s ability to provide a service, product or system in accordance with client requirements and regulation requirements. ISO and IEC give the following definition:
Procedure by which a third party gives written assurancethat a product, process or service complies with the requirementsspecified in a benchmark.The ISO 9000 family of standards corresponds to all the management best practices benchmarks as regards quality, which are defined by ISO (the International Organisation for Standardization).
ISO 9000 standards were originally written in 1987, with revisions taking place in 1994 and 2000. Thus, the 2000 version of the ISO 9001 standard, which is part of the ISO 9000 family, is written “ISO 9001:2000″. The ISO 9001:2000 standard mainly focuses on the processes used to produce a service or product, whereas the ISO 9001:1994 standard was mainly focused on the product itself. Here is an overview of all the different standards in the ISO 9000 family:
ISO 9000: “Quality Management Systems – Basic Principles and Vocabulary”. The ISO 9000 standard describes the principles of a quality management system and defines the terminologyISO 9001: “Quality Management Systems – Requirements”. The ISO 9001 standard describes the requirements relative to a quality management system either for internal use or for contractual or certification purposes. Therefore, this standard is a group of requirements that companies must followISO 9004: “Quality Management Systems – Guidelines for Improving Performance”. This standard, which is intended for internal use and not for contractual purposes, focuses particularly on continually improving performanceISO 10011: “Guidelines for auditing quality management and/or environmental management systems”.

Requirements for Product Environmental Quality Assurance

All Mandatory Requirements for Product Environmental Quality Assurance need to be carried out in the following manner1. Establish a system that meets all requirements2. Ensure the system is stable and efficient.3. Document the processes and procedures4. Keep records of the system’s performance.
The assigned management of the supplier shall establish a system to prevent BannedSubstances from being used in the products and packaging.(1) To determine policies and methods for ensuring Product Environment Quality.(2) To assign a person to be in charge of managing Product Environment Quality(“Product Environmental Quality Management Representative”)(3) To establish an organization in managing Product Environment Quality,determine responsibilities, authorities, roles of each department and familiarize allmembers in each department with the importance of Product Environment Quality.(4) To establish a “Cadmium-Free Factory”(5) To review the adequacy and efficiency of the system.
Maintenance of the SystemThe supplier shall maintain the system in a condition to be able to respond to therequests for Product Environment Quality and instruction letters to suppliers),ensure the system is properly functioning.(1) Plan and carry out an internal audit at least once a year.(2) When Non-conforming Products or defects are found in the system, the suppliershall conduct an internal audit immediately.(3) The assigned management for Product Environment Products at the suppliershall revise the system according to the results of the internal audit if necessary.
Documents, Data and RecordsThe supplier should manage documents, verification data related to ProductEnvironment Quality.(1) Keep documents, verification data for three years or longer, if required by law.(2) Provide documents and verification data when requested.(3) Review the documents regularly and keep them updated instructions
Selection of Materials and PartsThe supplier has to comply with the following request when selecting material and parts.(1) “No Use of Banned Substances Allowed” (or equal) must be mentioned in allrelevant documents (specifications, blueprints, purchase orders, etc)(2) Materials must not contain any Banned Substances.(3) Only purchase Designated Raw Materials from Green Partners.

Monday, August 31, 2009

Why is Six Sigma Fascinating in ISO 9000?

Six Sigma has become very popular throughout the whole world. There are several reasons for this popularity. First, it is regarded as a fresh quality management strategy which can replace TQC, TQM and others.
Many companies, which were not quite successful in implementing previous management strategies such as TQC and TQM, are eager to introduce Six Sigma.
Development process of Six Sigma in quality management
Six Sigma is viewed as a systematic, scientific, statistical and smarter (4S) approach for management innovation which is quite suitable for use in a knowledge-based information society.
Second, Six Sigma provides efficient manpower cultivation and utilization. It employs a “belt system” in which the levels of mastery are classified as green belt, black belt, master black belt and champion. As a person in a company obtains certain
training, he acquires a belt. Usually, a black belt is the leader of a project team and several green belts work together for the project team.
Third, there are many success stories of Six Sigma application in well known world-class companies. As mentioned earlier, Six Sigma was pioneered by Motorola and launched as a strategic initiative in 1987. Since then, and particularly from 1995, an exponentially growing number of prestigious global firms have launched a Six Sigma program. It has been noted that many globally leading companies run Six Sigma programs (see Figure 3), and it has been well known that Motorola, GE, Allied Signal, IBM, DEC, Texas Instruments, Sony, Kodak, Nokia, and Philips Electronics among others have been quite successful in Six Sigma. In Korea, the Samsung, LG, Hyundai groups and Korea Heavy Industries & Construction Company have been quite successful with Six Sigma.
Lastly, Six Sigma provides flexibility in the new millennium of 3Cs, which are:
• Change: Changing society
• Customer: Power is shifted to customer and customer demand is high
• Competition: Competition in quality and productivity
The pace of change during the last decade has been unprecedented, and the speed of change in this new millennium is perhaps faster than ever before. Most notably, the power has shifted from producer to customer. The producer-oriented industrial society is over, and the customer-oriented information society has arrived. The customer has all the rights to order, select and buy goods and services. Especially, in e-business, the customer has all-mighty power.
Six Sigma with its 4S(systematic, scientific, statistical and smarter) approaches provides flexibility in managing a business unit.

Quality Characteristic in ISO 9000

Any feature or characteristic of a product or service that is needed to satisfy
customer needs or achieve fitness for use is a quality characteristic. When
dealing with products the characteristics are almost always technical character-
istics, whereas service quality characteristics have a human dimension. Some
typical quality characteristics are given below.

Product characteristics
1. Accessibility Functionality Size
2. Availability Interchangeability Susceptibility
3. Appearance Maintainability Storability
4. Adaptability Odour – Strength
5. Cleanliness Operability -Taste
6. Consumption Portability – Testability
7. Durability Producibility Traceability
8. Disposability Reliability – Toxicity
9. Emittance Reparability Transportability
10. Flammability Safety – Vulnerability
11. Flexibility Security – Weight

Service quality characteristics
1. Accessibility Credibility – Honesty
2. Accuracy Dependability Promptness
3. Courtesy Efficiency – Responsiveness
4. Comfort Effectiveness Reliability
5. Competence Flexibility – Security

These are the characteristics that need to be specified and their achievement
controlled, assured, improved, managed and demonstrated. These are the
characteristics that form the subject matter of the product requirements
referred to in ISO 9000. When the value of these characteristics is quantified or
qualified they are termed product requirements. We used to use the term quality
requirements but this caused a division in thinking that resulted in people
regarding quality requirements as the domain of the quality personnel and
technical requirements being the domain of the technical personnel. All
requirements are quality requirements – they express needs or expectations that
are intended to be fulfilled by a process output that possesses inherent
characteristics. We can therefore drop the word quality. If a modifying word is
needed in front of the word requirements it should be a word that signifies the
subject of the requirements. Transportation system requirements would be
requirements for a transportation system, Audio speaker design requirements
would be requirements for the design of an audio speaker, component test
requirements would be requirements for testing components, and management
training requirements would be requirements for training managers. ISO 9000
requirements are often referred to as quality requirements as distinct from other
types of requirements but this is misleading. ISO 9000 is no more a quality
requirement than is ISO 1000 on SI units, ISO 2365 for Ammonium nitrate or
ISO 246 for Rolling Bearings. The requirements of ISO 9000 are quality
management system requirements – requirements for a quality management
system.