Quality Improvement Activities

ISO9001:2000 insist on having quality improvement program in the organisation. This is to assure there will always be continual improvement to maintain the system and assist in boosting the employees morale. Improvement activities normally involve teamwork, and such encourage the participation of the employees from bottom up. Except maybe ESS (employee suggestion scheme) which individuals can contribute to the improvement program, most activities such as 5S, Kaizen, QCC(Quality Control Circle), TQM (Total Quality Management), Benchmarking, JIT (Just In Time system), Six sigma, Lean Management, ERP(Enterprise Resource Planning) and etc. The above activities has been develop for years, it range from simple low-tech activities to high-tech big budget investment from the organisation, which both hope to gain return of investment through reduction of waste, product rejects by utilising the resources and increase the sales by the increase of customer satisfaction. These will contribute to the bottom line and that eventually lead to business growth and sustainable business.
However to ensure the success of this program, improvement activities must be consistent. The top management must play a crucial role to support and be involved in the program. One way to encourage the employees participation is through insentive program or an additional bonus in their yearly appraisal for those who involved in the program apart from doing their core job. There're more success stories found in other businesses and can be apply in your own organisation, however, we need to ensure high quality of human resource, more RELEVANT training can coaching must be given to ensure employees are able to contribute continually to the program.

Why product quality is important?

The comic illustrates the why quality control is crucial especially when safety criteria is involved. Most people thought that quality of product is the least important agenda for the manufacturer, however is it the priority of all end user. We expect good product because we pay to get a good product. If we don't get it, we either complain, never return to the supplier or request for refund. Either way, the manufacturer or supplier will lose customer confidence and sales in the long run.The demand is even greater now that tainted milk product found in China dairy product has lead to their consumers health hazard. The government and private organisation is striving even more fervently to tighten the products quality control. Public awareness on product quality has increase through media and internet exposure on (food) products quality. Therefore more consumer will choose to go for products that has Quality certification for example UKAS (United Kingdom Accreditation Service, ASQ(American Society for Quality), Japan Quality Association (JQA) and SIRIM (Standard and Industrial Research Institute of Malaysia) and etc. For HACCP (Hazard Analysis Critical Control Point) certification, it is accreditated by the accreditation bodies such as the above mention. The HACCP is a systematic analysis to identify food hazard and it is an important measures to ensure food safety assurance. So next time when you shop for home essential, please ensure your product is certify by genuine certification bodies.

Quality Improvement - 5S

What is Quality without continual improvement, one method to include in the improvement project will be the 5S projects. It could be simple as housekeeping activities to more refine such as conducting monthly audit and award system. Either way it works toward achieving quality workplace.
5S practice is a technique to establish and maintain quality environment in an organisation. The 5S's are a group of techniques to promote workplace organisation, ensure adherence to standards and foster the spirit of continuous improvement.

Principles/ Key Attributes
To successfully convey the message of 5S across the organisation, achieve total participation and systematically implement the practice, establishing effective quality processes as pre-requisites for good products and services, the following step-by-step approach should be adhered:

• Organisation (Seiri)

The objective of organisation is to get rid of unwanted items by focussing on the core items that are needed to fulfil the requirements of the job and discard items that are not needed. This could focus on the elimination of excess inventory affecting, warehouse space, transportation, labour costs, needed items, and redundant parts, for example.

• Neatness (Seiton)

Neatness focuses on efficiency, with the main objective being on how quickly one can get the things needed and how quickly those things can be put away. This is achieved through locating a specific place for specific items of a specific quantity, where needed.

• Cleaning (Seiso)

The objective of cleaning is to identify abnormalities and areas for improvement. This is achieved through a combination of cleaning the workplace and at the same time focusing on the identification of abnormalities or out of control conditions.

• Standardisation (Seiketsu)

The objective of standardisation is to consolidate the first 3 S’s by establishing standard procedures. This activity is carried out to determine the best work practices and find ways of ensuring that everyone carries out an individual activity the same ‘best’ way.

• Discipline (Shitsuke)

The objective of discipline is to sustain improvements and make further improvements by encouraging effective use of the ‘Check-Act-Plan-Do’ cycles. This is achieved through strict adherence to current improvements and the development of an environment for future improvements.

The Impact on functional Activities
The approach embodied with 5S will effect everyone and everything within an organisation. The technique of 5S begins with a promotion plan for the sole purpose of promoting the establishment of the 5S’s. This incorporates everyone within the organisation from the highest level to shop floor level consisting of a blame-free environment. To instill all viewpoints at each level a steering committee is formulated and is responsible for the implementation of 5S.
The next stage is Awareness Training focusing on the dissemination of the 5S plan and its objectives and incorporating suggestion schemes for the ‘buy-in’ of all employees. An Internal Audit highlighting areas for improvement.

What are NCRs?

What is the point to have a quality control in the process if the top management tend to overwrite their decisions? Like in the comic-strip?Non-conformance Reports or issues of reports when a company, process or auditees does not follow the documented procedures which could lead to customer dissatisfaction. The reports will contained the type of non-conformance, where the problem occur, who in charge of the process, when the problem found. The auditor will hand over the NCR to the auditee/QMR and the auditee/QMR will need to reply the NCR within 2 weeks. They will need to state the corrective action taken to rectify the issues.
NCR is initiate in order to prevent further damage on the products. So it is better to avoid unneccessary rejects and get a return sales from happy customer.

Many faces of auditors

Auditor Grades

There are five grades of certification, most auditors progress from provisional auditor to the auditor grade and then to either lead or principal grades (these last two are considered the most advanced grades). The internal grade is a specialist grade but many auditors use this as a starting point before moving to the other grades.

A specific description of each grade within the criteria for each auditor is summarized below:

Internal Auditors

• Are those who conduct internal audits of their organization's management system.
• Recognizes: personal attributes, education, professional and technical competencies

Provisional Auditors

• Are entry level/trainee auditors seeking a career in auditing and experienced auditors taking a break from auditing or moving into management
• Recognizes: personal attributes, education, professional and technical competencies

Auditor

• Are audit team members
• Recognizes: auditor competence and contribution as an effective member of an audit team

Lead auditor

• Are audit team leaders who typically work for certification bodies or perform supplier audits for large organizations
• Recognizes: competence at managing audits and leading teams

Principal auditor

• Are experienced auditors who operate on their own (i.e. as a team of one, performing sole audits). We designed this grade as an alternative to the lead auditor grade
• Recognizes: experience and competence of two categories of auditors:

1. consultancy background: competence in implementing management systems and performing all aspects of the audit process
2. lead auditor background: competence in audit management and team leadership