Keeping Up With ISO

Back in 2016 I worked with Lewis Yasenchak, MBA, BS, a senior plastics consultant and supply chain engineer on a series called Keeping Up with ISO. This series took a year and laid out a practical, step-by-step roadmap to ISO success wth the ISO 9001:2015 revision. Here, I welcome Lewis back to take a look at how to measure the success of your ISO 9001 quality management system.

One of the universal trends in the management of quality has been the drive by businesses of all types to become certified to the quality system standard published by the International Organization for Standardization known as ISO 9001. ISO certification is rapidly becoming a prerequisite for doing business, not only in the European Community but worldwide.

The ISO 9001 standard defines and specifies the elements of a quality system. The quality system can be viewed as the organizational structure, the documented procedures, and the resources that an organization uses to manage quality. The ISO 9001 requires only that all the elements of the system be in place and working. The quality system may be highly effective or grossly ineffective (industry-specific professionals vs. generalists).  However, the ISO 9001 standard recommends that the effectiveness of the quality system be measured.

Although there are many measures possible, ranging from the counting of defects to sophisticated customer satisfaction surveys, the measures of most general interest are likely to be financial. Money is the universal language of business and is at least a consideration in most other enterprises. For this reason, ISO 9001 Standard recommends a financial measurement of quality.

By reporting quality system activities and effectiveness in financial terms, management will receive the results in a common business language from all departments.

It is important that the effectiveness of a quality system be measured in financial terms. The impact of an effective quality system upon the organization's profit and loss statement can be highly significant, particularly by the improvement of operations, resulting in reduced losses due to error and contributing to customer satisfaction. By reporting quality system activities and effectiveness in financial terms, management will receive the results in a common business language from all departments.

Today he offers a free Quality Costs Implementation Guide with everything you need to know about the cost of quality presented in an assessment (audit) format and updated with expanded coverage of quality costs in specific plastics processing, materials, and machine shops companies.

This guide also includes:

• Case studies on the quality costs associated with education and workforce development
• A thorough examination of quality cost systems in supporting the “total cost” of OEM value-chain relationships and reducing a shop’s "total cost of ownership."  
• Principles of quality costs
• Guidance on implementing and using a quality cost system
• A special focus on small businesses
• Activity-based costing
• Supplier quality costs
• Effective ways to educate management on the costs of quality
• Quality costs in team-based problem-solving
• Customer satisfaction and its impact on sales revenue
• Treatment of quality costs in the automotive, medical and defense industries

Click here to get your free copy.