How do we manage quality system training for employees who are on site for short periods, perhaps only two or three hours or days? For example, many temporary employees are hired by the day from union halls. They will work in many different companies and environments.

I helped to prepare a Pulp Handling Handbook for a marine freight forwarding company, for use in the warehouse by temporary employees. It was very simple with pictures of damaged (nonconforming, unaccept­able) and non-damaged (acceptable) pulp and the applicable forms. Employees who had been on site for only a few hours could recognise a nonconforming situation in a contained environment and inform their immediate supervisors.

These employees often suggested improvements to the quality system based on their experience of conditions and processes along the waterfront. “Best practices” became obvious as more and more employees recognised what was working for them and making the job easier.

No need to discount temporary employees’ contribution to continuous improvement. Best practices discovered during such employees’ brief tenure can translate into improved customer relations and economies of time and labour.

One part of quality system costs can be monitored by introducing a tick box on the Purchase Order to track all items and services purchased for the quality system. Quality system purchases can be separated from stationery. toilet paper and pencils.

This information will be useful for the Man­agement Review of the quality system, which has to take place at least once a year. ‘Cost of the quality system’ is always on the agenda. It will also be useful for Measurement and Analysis.

User publications are sometimes given short shrift in design development plans and processes.

Consider the following carefully:

• how well does the author need to know the product?
• at which stage should the author(s) be brought into the design process?
• what does the reader (user) really need to know, as opposed to what the author thinks is a good idea?

Bring the author in at the earliest possible stage –  the earlier the better: in fact, as soon as the design process is under way, at preliminary design stage.

Before the task of maintaining document security becomes too

overwhelming or shamefully neglected, it is prudent

— and will save time and later frustration — to look

at the number and nature of records involved. For

ISO9001:2008 AND AS9100 quality system development,

all documents included in the processes listed below are
“quality records”.

Contract, statutory, regulatory, jurisdictional,

Purchasing (approved supplier records),

Receiving and shipping,

Inspection and testing (on and off site)

Design and development (including design reviews),

Production and

Administration (where applicable, e.g., marine freight forwarding)

The documents affecting the needs of other interested parties

(particularly customers) should also be considered.

Any document that affects the outcome to the customer, or is included in any process affecting certification must be considered a quality record.

The days are gone when expectations between customer and supplier could include a degree of ambiguity.   The global, and yet most immediate, business environment is unforgiving of error which there is often insufficient time to correct before disaster strikes. Casual arrangements such as those expressed by Leonardo da Vinci trying to get work from the Duke, Lodovico Sforza should definitely go in the bin:

“I can construct bridges very light and strong, and capable of easy transportation, and with them pursue or on occasion flee the enemy, and still others capable of resisting fire and attack, and easy and convenient to place and remove;  and I have methods of burning and destroying those of the enemy.”

(Leonardo didn’t get the job).

The supplier who is accepting a contract will need a Customer Requirement Checklist containing at least the following:

Do I have questions for my customer?

Have I considered the implied needs of the customer which have not been expressed in the Request for Proposal or Quotation?

Am I taking on more than I can handle?

Are all interested parties included in contract review,  such as  engineering, purchasing, quality assurance?

Is our approved subcontractor\suppliers list current and status of suppliers verified against our quality system requirements?

Do we have scheduled contract reviews until our responsibility under the contract ceases?

Do we have a risk management plan, especially for contracts  involving sole source and distant suppliers, security arrangements?

Do we hold supplementary contract reviews at suitable intervals?  (capacity, labour, supplies)?

Do we  have experienced and qualified verification personnel to cover this contract?

Do we  have a procedure for handling customer complaints?

The responsibility for making sure that contract conditions are right rests as much with the customer as with the supplier.  At this stage it is easy to make the assumption that small errors can be ignored or can be compensated for at a later stage.  Good business sense, let alone the new standard, requires that capturing and recording small essentials at the initial contract stage is just as important, if not more important, than capturing and recording the processes of the product or service you are offering.

You will need to consider your customer’s needs (evident and implied) at all stages of product and service delivery.

HAVE YOU SUBSCRIBED FOR THE QUALITY POLICY MANUAL? YOU NEED THIS TO HELP YOU IDENTIFY WHERE YOUR RESPONSIBILITIES LIE WITHIN THE ISO9001:2015 QUALITY SYSTEM.