Adoption of the Process Approach in Quality Management System

Adoption of the Process Approach in Quality Management System

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ISO 9001:2015 QMS standard promotes adoption of process approach. It is one of the seven quality management principles, on which ISO 9001:2015 QMS standard was developed. Let us understand first, what is a process? An activity that comprises set of interrelated or interacting activities which transform inputs into outputs can be termed as a process. In organization's activities, output from one process can form the input to the next process. The application of a system of processes within an organization can be said the 'process approach'. Process approach requires determination of processes, interaction of determined processes and their management. Management of determined processes and the system as a whole can be achieved using a PDCA methodology with an overall focus on 'risk-based thinking'. Risk based thinking helps at preventing undesirable outputs.

Thus, we can state that the process approach is a way of thinking about and organizing work that emphasizes the importance of understanding and managing business processes. In the context of ISO 9001:2015 QMS, the process approach is an overarching philosophy that underpins the entire quality management system (QMS) standard. It is the intention of ISO 9001:2015 QMS standard that the organization must adopt process approach when developing, implementing and improving the effectiveness of its quality management system. The main objective behind adoption of process approach is to enhance customer satisfaction by meeting customer requirements.  

 

The process approach involves breaking down an organization's activities into individual processes, each of which is designed to achieve a specific objective. These processes are interconnected and depend on each other to achieve overall organizational goals. By understanding and managing these processes, an organization can improve its efficiency, reduce waste, and ensure that customer and legal requirements are consistently met. A desired output (consistent and predictable result) can be achieved more efficiently when all related resources and activities are understood and managed as a coherent system that functions as interrelated processes. To function effectively and efficiently, an organization has to determine and manage numerous linked activities.

 

The process approach also involves a focus on continual improvement. By monitoring and measuring key performance indicators (KPIs) related to each process, organization can identify areas for improvement and take corrective actions to address any issues that arise. Over time, this can help an organization achieve better results and create a culture of continual improvement.

 

Overall, the process approach is a powerful tool for an organization seeking to improve its operations and deliver better products and services to its customers. By adopting the process approach, an organization can create a more efficient, effective, and customer-focused quality management system that can help them achieve its goals and objectives.

 

In short, process approach may be termed as managing organization's processes as a system as a whole. Organization using process approach along with PDCA (Plan-Do-Check-Act) cycle and risk-based thinking brings, takes advantages of opportunities and prevent undesirable results. The process approach involves managing an organization's processes as a system, which means taking a holistic view of how different processes interact and work together to achieve organizational goals. By using the PDCA cycle and risk-based thinking, organizations can identify opportunities for improvement and take corrective actions to prevent undesirable results.

 

The PDCA (Plan-Do-Check-Act) cycle is a management tool that supports the process approach by providing a framework for continual improvement. The cycle involves four stages: planning (P), executing (D), evaluating (C), and taking action (A). By following this cycle, organizations can identify areas for improvement, develop and implement solutions, evaluate the effectiveness of those solutions, and take corrective actions as necessary.

 

Risk-based thinking is another key component of the process approach. By identifying and assessing risks associated with different processes, an organization can take proactive steps to mitigate those risks and prevent potential negative outcomes. This can help organizations avoid costly mistakes and improve overall performance.

 

In short, the process approach, along with the PDCA cycle and risk-based thinking, can help an organization take advantage of opportunities, prevent undesirable results, and continually improve its operations to achieve their goals and objectives.

 

Process approach is helpful in ensuring: understanding and consistently meeting requirements, consideration of processes in terms of added value, the achievement of effective process performance, and improvement of processes based on evaluation of data and information.

Benefits that may be derived from use of 'process approach' principle include:
- Effective use of resources
- Lower cost
- Shorter cycle times
- Improved, consistent and desired outputs

 

Best wishes,

- Keshav Ram Singhal

Please have your comments / reaction.

To train your employees with ISO 9001:2015 QMS Awareness, please supply them “TRAINING HANDBOOK ON ISO 9001:2015 QMS AWARENESS” (ASIN‏: ‎B093YFFY7Z), which is available worldwide at Amazon. 

Thanks.

ISO 9001:2015 QMS Standard and its Certification

ISO 9001:2015 QMS Standard and its Certification

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ISO 9001:2015 QMS standard is a standard developed by the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) that outlines requirements for a quality management system (QMS). Requirements of this standard can be implemented by an organization. The standard is designed to help organizations ensure that their products and services consistently meet customer requirements and that their processes are continually improved.

 

ISO 9001:2015 QMS standard outlines a number of requirements that organizations must meet in order to achieve its certification. These requirements include establishing and maintaining a quality management system, defining processes and procedures, setting objectives and targets, monitoring and measuring performance, and implementing corrective actions when necessary. Please note that certification is not a requirement of the standard, however ISO 9001:2015 compliance certification can be valuable for organizations seeking to demonstrate their commitment to quality and continuous improvement. Certification is typically achieved through an audit process conducted by an independent third-party certification body.  

 

When an organization seeks certification to the ISO 9001:2015 QMS standard, it should select a certification body that is accredited by an International Accreditation Forum (IAF) member accreditation body. The IAF is an international organization that facilitates the exchange of information and cooperation among accreditation bodies and other stakeholders involved in conformity assessment activities.

 

Accreditation bodies are responsible for evaluating and accrediting certification bodies to ensure that they meet internationally recognized standards for competence and impartiality. Certification bodies that are accredited by an IAF member accreditation body have demonstrated that they meet these standards and are therefore considered to be reliable and trustworthy.

 

When selecting a certification body, organizations should ensure that the certification body is accredited to certify organizations to the ISO 9001 standard and that it has the necessary expertise and experience to meet their specific needs. By choosing an accredited certification body, organizations can be confident that their certification is valid and that it will be recognized internationally.

 

In India, National Accreditation Board for Certification Bodies (NABCB) is an IAF member accreditation body. NABCB is a constituent board of the Quality Council of India (QCI) and is responsible for accrediting certification bodies in India that provide certification services in various fields including Quality Management System (QMS) certification to ISO 9001:2015 QMS standard. NABCB's accreditation is recognized by the IAF, which means that certification bodies accredited by NABCB are also recognized internationally.

 

It is important to note that organizations seeking certification to the ISO 9001:2015 QMS standard in India should select a certification body that is accredited by NABCB or another IAF member accreditation body to ensure the validity and international recognition of their certification.

 

- Keshav Ram Singhal

Please have your comments / reaction.

For training of your employees, please read “TRAINING HANDBOOK ON ISO 9001:2015 QMS AWARENESS”, which is available at Amazon. Thanks.

Why Should Organization Consult ISO 9000:2015 Standard?

Why Should Organization Consult ISO 9000:2015 Standard?

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ISO 9000:2015, Quality management systems - Fundamentals and vocabulary is an standard that was developed by ISO/TC 176.

ISO 9000:2015 standard describes the fundamental concepts and principles of quality management. It also provides the terms (and their associated definitions) that are applicable to all the quality management and quality management system standards developed by the ISO technical committee ISO/TC 176.

It is essential that users of ISO 9001 have an understanding of the fundamental concepts and principles given in ISO 9000 before seeking to apply ISO 9001:2015 QMS standard.

In addition, users need to be aware that there are many words and terms used in ISO 9001 which may seem familiar in your day-to-day language, but which have a very specific technical meaning in the standard; these have been formally defined in Clause 3 of ISO 9000:2015 standard.

Further, there are several words and terms used in ISO 9001 for which a formal definition has not been created, but for which a specific dictionary definition has been applied. A Glossary of these terms has been created to assist users.

The fundamental concepts and principles of quality management are universally applicable to the following:

- Organizations seeking sustained success through the implementation of a quality management system;

- Customers seeking confidence in an organization's ability to consistently provide products and services conforming to their requirements;

- Organizations seeking confidence in their supply chain that their product and service requirements will be met;

- Organizations and interested parties seeking to improve communication through a common understanding of the vocabulary used in quality management;

- Organizations performing conformity assessments against the requirements of ISO 9001;

- Providers of training, assessment or advice in quality management;

- Developers of related standards.

Hence, the organizations implementing ISO 9001:2015 QMS standard must consult and refer to ISO 9000:2015 standard alongwith ISO 9001:2015 QMS standard so as to understand the right meaning and intention of the standard requirements. 

Thanks, 

Keshav Ram Singhal

Why ISO 9001 QMS still more implemented

Why ISO 9001 QMS still more implemented

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Why ISO 9001 QMS still more implemented in organizations in comparison to other standards? A question is generally asked by many people.

 

International standards are mostly developed by International Organization for Standardization (ISO). ISO 9001 is ISO's most popular standard. ISO 9001 is the world’s best-known quality management standard for organizations of any size and any type.

 

ISO 9001standard sets out the criteria for a quality management system and is the only standard in the ISO 9000 family that can be certified to (although this is not a requirement of this standard). It can be used by any organization, large or small, regardless of its field of activity. In fact, there are over one million organizations in over 170 countries certified to ISO 9001.

 

International Organizations for Standardization (ISO) has developed more than 24500 International Standards covering almost all aspects of technology, management and manufacturing. ISO has 167 members representing ISO in their country. There is only one member per country. It has constituted 809 Technical committees and subcommittees to take care of standards development. Among more than 24500 International standards, ISO 9001 QMS is the standard that is more implemented in organizations in comparison to other standards. Why? I enquired the reasons by asking a question to members of a group and I received their fantastic replies with their varied opinion. And those are reproduced for information.

 

Mutaz Almardi (Sudan) provides his opinion in support of ISO 9000 by stating, “Customer seeks for best Quality and best price... any actions aim those two issues will be implemented by organization.”

 

Hozyfa Ahmed (Sudan) puts the reason for implementing ISO 9001, “Due to approach adopted that makes it easy to understand and application.” Similar to this opinion, Kenneth Remy (Bangalore, India) says, “ISO 9001 has a systematic approach utilizing the best practices in the industry which are time tested to suit the requirements of the customer.”

 

Ako Samuel Stinger Ojonuba (EHS advisor) opines, “Because ISO 9001 is customers focused which is what most organizations are after. This leads to more satisfaction, more sales and more demand for plant/equipment/raw materials availability which ensures production is running.”

 

Nehal Mehta (Rajkot, India) pinpoints four reasons for ISO 9001 popularity that are (1) easy to understand, (2) easy to implement, (3) covering all the necessary points including risk-based thinking, and (4) affordable certification cost.

 

Eswaran Thangavel (Tiruchchirapalli, India) puts his opinion, “ISO 9001 standard is naturally covering the business process of almost any kind of business in the world.”

 

Ashish Garg (India) states clearly, ISO 9001 helps any business to demonstrate the ability to consistently supply products and services that meet customer and applicable statutory and regulatory requirements.

 

Jennifer Sto Domingo Alinsunurin says, “ISO 9001 is like a generic standard and basically applies to almost all types of organization .... its high-level structure is aligned to a number of standards. If an organization wishes to let’s say apply for any ISO standard's certification, I can say that it is better that the organization should go first with ISO 9001 QMS.”

 

Ivo Brauns (Germany) states, “ISO 9001 is the mother of all QMS standards. It is based on fulfillment of customer needs and on improvement of those efforts, and it regards management risks of the organization. So good quality correlates with customer's satisfaction. Other QMS standards are driven by the requirements of certain industries, like pharma, medical devices, automotive, aviation. The QMS in automotive industry is driven by the needs to control the sun-sub-sub-suppliers. ISO 13485 is the QMS in medical device industry. It is based on the legal requirements on product safety. So, it is expected that good quality correlates with meeting all legal requirements.”

 

David Couldrey has a different opinion. He says, "I work in the food industry and companies tend to go with BRC standard instead." However, Enrique Sierra (Miami, Florida) states that every organization should implement ISO 9001 QMS.

 

Ramraj Sudukattan (Chennai, India) says, “ISO 9001 has a systematic approach utilizing the best practices in the industry which are time tested to suit the requirements of the customer.”

 

Ma Han Lay opines, “Because of, more consideration and prevention by using risk-based thinking approach.”

 

Alexio Maseka (Quality Practitioner, Zimbabwe) states, “ISO 9001 is the harmonized standard upon which all other management systems standards’ elements (requirements) sit.”

 

Binh Truong (Nhuan, Vietnam) is surprised by saying, “In project management field, I still wonder why not much people/companies use ISO 19650 instead.”

Quality is a concept associated with the expectation of every individual. In other words, quality means meeting customer needs. ISO 9001 is the standard that includes customer perception

 

Quality is a concept associated with the expectation of every individual. In other words, quality means meeting customer needs. ISO 9001 is the standard that includes customer perception. To me, there are many more reasons for the popularity of ISO 9001, some of those are -

 

- The customer comes first and the standard asks the organization to become customer focused to fulfill the needs and expectations of its customers.

- Leaders establish unity of purpose and leadership is the central theme of the standard.

- People at all levels are essence of an organization. Quality happens through people and the standard emphasize the importance of peoples' engagement.

- All work is part of process and the standard promotes the adoption of process approach.

- Improvement never ends and is necessary for consistent growth. The standard mentions continual improvement as a requirement.

- Analysis of data provides effective decision and the standard supports evidence-based decision making.

- Relationship creates value and the standard is based on relationship management.

- The standard's requirements are generic and applicable to any organization regardless of its type, size and product / service.

- Implementation of the standard is based on PDCA (Plan-Do-Check-Act) cycle.

 

Hope information provided in this article are useful.

 

Thanks to all participants.

 

Regards,

Keshav Ram Singhal 

Seven Quality Control Tools

Seven Quality Control Tools

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Please read blog article by clicking the tool name -

(1) Check Sheet 

(2) Pareto Chart or Pareto Diagram 

(3) Cause and Effect Diagram 

(4) Control Chart 

(5) Histogram  

(6) Scatter Diagram 

(7) Stratification 

Best wishes,

KRS

Organizations should be customer focused

Organizations should be customer focused

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A video of a flight coming from the Turkish city Istanbul to Delhi is going viral on social media. In this video, a heated argument is taking place between the air hostess and a passenger over food. According to an information, this video is of 16 November 2022. In this, during an argument, a passenger tells the air hostess, "You are the servant of the passengers." Responding to this the air hostess says, "I am an employee, not your servant... I am not your servant." Different reactions of users are being seen on social media regarding this video. At present, I do not want to give any specific judgment on the incident of this video, nor do I want to give consent to the rude speaking of the passenger, but on the basis of experiences, I want to tell that the organizations and their employees should be customer-centric and customer-oriented.

A passenger books Jain lunch during the journey while booking his flight tickets and during the journey he is told that Jain food is not available, take some alternative. It should be noted that the passenger made the choice of his food much before the start of the journey. Here the airline company has a lack in its system. The airline company needs to improve its system.

When the mother (who operates the account and is also a joint account holder in that account) asks for an ATM card for the minor daughter's bank account, she is told by the bank employee that there are no arrangement to provide ATMs to the minor's accounts. Whereas, according to the rules of the Reserve Bank, ATM card can be given in minor accounts. Here the bank needs to improve its system. If there is a need to issue a circular, then the circular should be issued and also short-term training programs should be organized from time to time, which will increase the awareness of the bank employees.

A depositor of a bank wants the name of the nominee to be printed on his deposit receipt and the bank staff defers to the customer saying that the system does not support printing the name of the nominee. The fact here is that there is a gap in the knowledge of the employee, which needs to be rectified. If there is a need to issue a circular, then a circular should be issued and also short-term training programs should be organized from time to time, which will increase the awareness of the bank employees.

A customer sends communication to a bank-branch by email. Neither an acknowledgment nor a reply is given by the bank-branch. The attitude of the bank here cannot be called appropriate in any way. Here the bank needs to improve the system. As soon as an email is received on the Bank ID, an automatic acknowledgment for the same should be issued with an acknowledgment number indicating the number of days to respond to the case on the customer's email. This step of the bank will definitely improve the customer service.

I repeat one thing again - Organizations should be customer focused. If the customer is not taken care of, then it is certain that the future of the organization will not be good.

Incidentally - The coming era will be of "Lean Banking" and on this I have written a Kindle book "Future Banking Is Lean Banking" which can be obtained from Amazon. The ASIN ‏ number of this book is B09FZ4FX33. Kindle Unlimited members can read this Kindle book for free.

Regards,

Keshav Ram Singhal

Awareness Article Series on Risk Management

Awareness Article Series on Risk Management

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I have started writing a series of awareness articles on risk management in Hindi, which can be read on my blog. These articles are written in Hindi, but the blog has Google Translate system, so you can read the translation of my articles in the desired language.

The link to my Risk Management Awareness Blog is given below.

How do you like the awareness article, please comment. Your suggestions are invited.

Regards,
Keshav Ram Singhal

Please CLICK HERE for the Risk Management Awareness blog.

World Quality Day

World Quality Day

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World Quality Day is observed every year on the second Thursday in November. This year, it is on today 10 November 2022.

 

World Quality Day was introduced with the aim to raise awareness and the importance of quality performance of professional responsibilities and tasks across nations and in organisations to strengthen the improvement of innovation, growth and sustainability. The purpose of this day is to raise quality awareness and provide support to individuals and organizations for the achievement of economic prosperity and the adoption of high-quality standards.

 

Every year, the theme of World Quality Day is decided by the Chartered Quality Institute (C.Q.I.). This year's theme is “Quality conscience: Doing the right thing.”

 

Best wishes,

Keshav Ram Singhal

Theme of the Quality Month 2022 - Quality conscience: Doing the right thing

Theme of the Quality Month 2022 - Quality conscience: Doing the right thing

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World Quality Day - 10 November 2022

World Quality Week - 7 to 11 November 2022

World Quality Month - November 2022

 

Theme of the Quality Month 2022 is “Quality conscience: Doing the right thing.”

(1) "Quality Conscience" is a state of having an awareness of right and wrong, good and evil.

 

(2) Another way to look at quality conscience is 'Quality Consciousness', which is when people are aware of standards and what they are trying to achieve.

 

(3) A culture of quality consciousness is one in which employees are aware of the importance of quality in their day-to-day work.

 

(4) A culture of quality consciousness is the desire to provide the best possible service or product.

 

(5) Awareness towards the culture of quality consciousness may be achieved through constant training and development, as well as a supportive work environment.

 

Let us promote "Quality conscience: Doing the right thing" at every stage of our life. It will certainly improve the quality of our life.

 

Best wishes,

Keshav Ram Singhal

Quality Month

Quality Month

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World Quality Day - 10 November 2022

World Quality Week - 7 to 11 November 2022

World Quality Month - November 2022

Organizations, all over the world, celebrate the month of November as Quality Month. The purpose behind celebrating Quality Month is to raise the level of quality awareness in the organization and to recognize the efforts and contributions of quality professionals.

This celebration is also an opportunity to celebrate the success organization and its people have achieved in the recent past. This celebration brings together the people, ideas and tools that make our world better.

The theme of 2022 World Quality Week (#WQW22) is "Quality conscience: Doing the right thing". We request members of the group to post banner, poster, slogan, poem on this theme.

Best wishes,

Keshav Ram Singhal

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