Is your vendor ISO certified? Have you verified the status of their certification with their registrar? In a world economy in recession/depression these are questions that everyone in a position of responsibility should ask. Tough economic times are forcing some companies to drop their ISO certification and cut corners that should not be cut.

ISO 9001:2008 is all about securing a stable supply chain. All of the components of the standard contribute to this. ISO provides tools and methodologies that can be used to select, qualify, monitor and dis-qualify vendors in the supply chain. How a vendor is selected is up to the buyer and team members. However, once selected the vendor must be qualified in a way that ensures that they have their act together. Can they provide a consistent product on-time and at a fair price. This is where ISO comes in.

Qualification:

Nothing beats an on-site audit. Get in their face and ask questions. Ask to see (more…)

The Management Review component of ISO 9001:2008 is very important. Unfortunately most organizations do not take advantage of the benefits the Management Review component offers. The Management Review component tracks the major components of the ISO system in place. Most organizations meet twice a year in a formal Management Review Committee to review the 6 month history and performance of the system. Its a joke when you think about it. By the time you review the issues and their effect on the system the issues are old and stale. Its a struggle to remember and then you have to take the time to pull documentation if you even decide to take action on an issue. Meeting twice a year for several hours doesn’t accomplish much.

I have found that holding the Management Review Committee every day works great. The meetings are held immediately after the morning production meeting when (more…)

ISO 9001:2008 is not that much different from ISO 9001:2000. There are clarifications, changes in terminology and greater emphasis on basic ISO tenets. A greater emphasis on basic ISO tenets is what we found to be the most important feature. These ISO components affected range from management review, internal audits, vendor audits, corrective actions request (CAR) and preventative actions request (PAR).

Corrective and preventative actions now incorporate a philosophy called (more…)

Its been a while since I’ve had any free time to post anything to my blog. Most of my free time has been spent learning everything I could about ISO 9001:2008. As the Executive Manager of Quality and Engineering at Electropac Co., Inc. www.electropac.com the responsibility to manage our bid for re-certification was mine. We already had a working ISO 9001:2000 system in place. Unfortunately the ISO coordinator responsible for managing our current system had moved on to another job. I had years of experience working with ISO system. However, I never had to coordinate an official recertification initiative. Hence my need for a crash course! To make a long story short, the team and I were able to pass the certification process. Electropac Co., Inc. is now ISO 9001:2008 certified, certificate number US-4174b.

The certification process required (more…)