Principles of Quality Management Systems - Essay Example

Topic: Principles of Quality Management Systems The quality management system standards -- ISO 9000:2000 revised series -- are based on eight principles. These principles are the basis for achieving performance standards set by organizations. They are taken from accumulated knowledge and experience of renowned experts of ISO Technical Committee ISO/TC 176, quality management and quality assurance, credit-worthy of creating and sustaining ISO 9000 standards. An organization can bring about total quality management (TQM) culture by pursuing these principles of quality management systems passionately. In a TQM approach, quality is given topmost consideration. Total quality states the culture and attitude of an organization with the sole purpose of satisfying its customers with its products and services. The culture element in quality control is all pervasive in a company’s operations, removing the faults at first notice to achieve total quality control standards set in the principles of quality management systems. TQM is essentially customer-driven. It is run by top management, where improvement is a continuous process to satisfy customer needs as fast as possible. Products and services are improvised on the basis of collected data and its analysis. The employees participate in the best of team spirit feelings to attain a TQM culture and environment. All departments of an organization work for customer satisfaction – becoming internal customers first by operating as customers to some functions so that any loopholes may be checked and rectified before the product is Okayed for supply to venders. Thus, different parts of a company first become customers of its own products for some functions, then supplier to venders, who play a positive role in the process of total quality management for customer satisfaction. Products are developed in a TQM environment, where attention is paid to enhance and add quality and value to a product by checking errors instead of negative criticism. In a process-oriented atmosphere, team members interact with their internal customers to attain total quality. Venders, who are external customers, become a part in the process of fulfilling customers’ demands, expectations, wishes and needs. Another important principle of Quality management systems is its “process approach”. This stress on process approach is fundamental to Quality Management Systems BS EN ISO 9001:2000.This standard is the "granddaddy" of global quality management system standards, and is designed to be used by any organization as the foundation for a QMS. It also serves as the basis for many other QMS standards. ISO 9001:2000 remains the most popular QMS standard by far around the world. It ensures complete assimilation of QMS into routine operations of a business. It involves only those systems in an organization, which originate from within the organization business process, more relevant with process-based approach. The term ‘process approach’ means: “A desired result is achieved more efficiently when related resources and activities are managed as a process”. This principle of ‘process approach’ is applicable in steps. First of all, it requires defining the process on how to gain the wanted result. The inputs and outputs of the process need to be recognized and checked. Next step in ‘process approach’ is to recognize the interfaces of the process with the working of the organization. It involves guesswork on the potential impact of the results on customers, suppliers and other investors. Process has to be managed with responsibility of reaching at the final result with the help of inputs like designing process, process steps, training, equipment, information, material and methods as well as other resources. Thus, the process of a product development involves many inter-related jobs like gathering the information that define products and processes, which is used to create a product, followed by other tasks. Planning of a process is the key to its success. The top management has to play a key and crucial role in quality control systems. A successful TQM environment is only possible with the active involvement and commitment in inculcating and practicing quality values relevant with the targets of the company. Company management has to invest in those systems and methods to attain the goals. Management should reward and recognize the good work of its work force to stimulate its employees to be active partners in realizing TQM standards The basis of quality management systems are international standards – the most popular one being ISO 9001:2000 and others, which lay specifications and standard rules to produce goods and services. By following these specifications any organization can compete in world market for those goods and services. Such as Hallmark sign in gold is a standard specification for its purity, ISO range of different standards is a guarantee of an organisation providing quality products and services as laid in QMS eight principles – the foremost being customer satisfaction. An organisation reacts with continuous competency by making efforts to produce according to customer standards as well as applicable regulatory requirements. The system of process approach is followed in logical steps as explained above to enhance the quality and performance of a product. It requires the improvement process to be a never-ending activity as new and better than before products with updated customer requirements and invention appear on the horizon of international market of a product. Producing a product by following standardised procedures and specifications based on international standards leaves no room for complacency; it has to conform and apply regulatory requirements for improved performance. It becomes possible by applying the elements of quality assurance needed to maintain total quality management. Quality assurance of products and services is determined by quality assurance elements, which help in establishing and maintaining TQM in an organization. First of all, an organisation must have clear vision of its objectives, which stipulates strategy setting and planning on how to perform routine activities. Planning involves collecting essential resources to achieve the objectives set out in an organisation’s future vision. A close link between objectives, vision, strategy, planning and its implementation by motivating work force to achieve TQM can become possible if management at corporate level work in the right direction by organizing, controlling and maintaining the varied processes of quality assurance as set out in ISO 9001:2000 specifications and standardised procedures for international standards. It is very important to maintain close link among all elements of quality assurance to provide a coherent picture. Again, the role of management in motivating the work force as well as internal and external customers to work collectively to achieve specified standards in TQM is very important. Another important principle in QMS is verification of a company’s auditing procedures to determine standards in supplier quality assurance. There are three types of auditing: First Party, Second Party and Third Party Auditing. In first party auditing, employees of a company perform the internal audits. Most management systems perform standard first-party audits. Second-party audits are external audits, performed by vendor’s representatives, who are customers of a supplier, known also as “supplier audits”. Third party audits are performed by an organisation, not having any link with the related company. The purpose behind auditing from an independent qualified organisation is to become certified according to the conditions specified in QMS standards. The objective of carrying second party audits is to give assurance to the vendor’s representatives about the quality system used in supplying goods and services. It also helps in adding value – making something more useful than before -- through the auditing process. ISO 9000 series of auditing standards add value to a company’s products. The process approach auditing sees to the linkages, whether they are working or not and suggests methods to improve process linkages within the supplier’s system of second party audit. The process approach of auditing is quite dissimilar to using checklist approach, which is a traditional system of checking quality controls. Checklist auditing is not transparent and loopholes can’t be patched. It may provide the comfort of predictability, which creates problem in shifting and accommodating to process auditing approach. The purpose of checklist auditing is to navigate the checklist to see whether do’s and don’ts are being followed by the internal auditing done by first party – employees of an organisation. Checklist auditing doesn’t conform to the set ISO 9000 compliance standards, as customers also want quality processes, possible with process auditing. Annex 5 of the Rule 2nd Edition helps supplier to shift from checklist-driven approach to process-driven approach. There is difference in major and minor non-compliance to QMS standards. For example, in California dairies, a compliance score decides whether non-compliance to quality controls is major or minor. A dairy representative answers a list of questions to either “Yes” or “No” with a third choice of “Not Applicable”. The survey team decides a ranking from 1 to 10 to individual assessment for non-compliance. In some industries four to five minor non-compliance answers are taken as major non-compliance. Total compliance in dairy profession is not realistic but prohibition of treating cows with rbST, feeding antibiotics to boost growth or feed efficiency, and animals leaving the farm that required assistance to walk, is a major non-compliance. Thus, adhering to the principles of quality management systems is must to get ISO certifications. Works cited list Internet resources: http://www.iso.org/iso/en/iso9000-14000/understand/selection_use/maintaining.html http://www.iso.org/iso/en/commcentre/pressreleases/2006/Ref1021.html http://www.iso.org/iso/en/ISOOnline.frontpage http://jds.fass.org/cgi/content/full/88/4/1595 http://www.nsf-isr.org/newsroom/auditingexpectations0405 Read More