- Cost of Quality
- Customer Satisfaction and Value
- Data Quality
- Environmental Manag. and Sustainability
- Global Quality
- Inspection
- ISO 14000
- ISO 9000
- Leadership
- Metrics
- Metrology
- Problem Solving
- Basic Quality
- Process Management
- Product Development and Recall
- Project Management
- Quality Assurance
- Quality Control
- Quality Management
- Quality Tools
- Reliability
- Six Sigma
- Social Responsibility
- Software Quality
- Standards
- Statistics
- Supplier Quality
- AS9000
- ISO/TS 16949
- ISO 26000
- Compliance
- Certification/Registration (management system Standards)
- Risk Management
- Food Safety
- Economic Case for Quality
One Good Idea: Act the Fool
Almost every workplace has a few heyokas and they are vital to the organization’s survival....
Standards Outlook: World View
The global economy has provided organizations with many opportunities that didn’t exist even 10 years ago. On the other hand, the internet and extensive outsourcing have “flattened” the Earth, presenting organizations with many new risks....
Expert Answers: April 2013
Root cause analysis tools ... Calibration data for a fee ......
Expert Answers: March 2013
Supplier audits ... Requiring ISO certification...
Standards Outlook: Confidence Game
For the second time in my 55 years on this Earth, we are seeing a crisis of confidence. This stems from many factors, including the devastating recession of 2008 to 2009 and the slow and painful global economic recovery we are witnessing....
Five at the Forefront
ISO 19011:2011 is an international standard that provides guidance on auditing management systems. Using ISO 19011 is not mandatory, and organizations are not required to reference this standard in their auditing procedures....
Apples to Oranges?
Consumers around the world demand safe food. Through the years, retailers and food companies have pushed their suppliers to have food safety systems and improve on them. The drive started with suppliers being required to have third-party good GMP audits....
Before the Fact
The FDA has ratcheted up its surveillance and inspection activities on the suppliers of food and dietary supplements. Growing concern over protection of America’s food chain has been voiced by the FDA’s commissioner of food and drugs....
Standards Outlook: Keeping Watch
Supply chain management is important to ensure organizations can compete in the global market. Organizations continue to focus on core competencies, resulting in greater dependence on high-quality materials and services from suppliers....
Lessons in Labeling
What kind of care would you want for a loved one fighting cancer? This is the question the experts at Cancer Treatment Centers of America ask themselves every day and motivates employees to create a culture where continuous improvement becomes a habit....
Why Certify?
These stories are told by people at different stages of their careers. One of the things they have in common, however, is they’ve carefully considered the costs and benefits of ASQ certification....
Career Corner: Trade Your Expertise
Most readers have an idea of what a mentor is. Perhaps you have received counsel or knowledge from an experienced mentor or mentored a person seeking your advice. But there is a lesser-known mentoring relationship—a peer-to-peer relationship....
Expert Answers: December 2012
A better supplier scorecard ... Inspecting your suppliers ......
Expert Answers: November 2012
Surveys in the toolbox ... Auditing it all ... Reference materials in ISO 17025 ......
Pointed in the Right Direction
Last November, ISO published a new edition of ISO 19011—Guidelines for Auditing Management Systems. This marks a further evolution in management system auditing and in ISO’s approach to the drafting of management system standards....
Expert Answers: September 2012
Sustaining excellence ... Blood bank error...
Standards Outlook: On the Lookout
Audit program managers have always dealt with risk in some manner. They’ve analyzed and evaluated risk, as well as monitored and reported it. Now, all of those activities are becoming a formal part of an audit program manager’s duties....
Back to Basics: Good to Great
Quality systems audits provide a great opportunity for an organization to reinforce its strengths and minimize its weaknesses. Throughout the process, auditors play the major role in maximizing the value of the audit....
Volviendo a los Fundamentos: Visión de Conjunto
La competencia empresarial es una carrera sin fin con medidas multifacéticas de éxito. Un factor de éxito es la productividad: la proporción de valor añadido—tal como servicios prestados o productos elaborados—respecto al coste asociado....
Back to Basics: The Big Picture
Business competition is an unending race with multifaceted measurements of success. One success factor is productivity: the ratio of value added—such as service rendered or products produced—versus the associated cost....
Standards Outlook: Game of Chance
Risk is a popular word being added to the standards and procedures lexicon, but it’s a massive topic that can be confusing. It can get even more complicated when you try to put risk in a box....
Standards Outlook: Group Effort
When users think about AS9100, they typically think only of the AS9100 quality management system standard and not about the other products and services the International Aerospace Quality Group provides to the aviation, space and defense industry....
The Audit Answer
Graduate students at Bowling Green State University studied the Quality Systems Educational Collaboration, a program that addresses workforce and technical assistance needs for organizations, and disclosed areas for improvement using Six Sigma methods....
Back to Basics: Solid Proof
In general, the audit process is similar across most industries. To effectively evaluate risk, we need an understanding of the reliability of the audit evidence obtained. But how do we best assess the reliability of audit evidence?...
Expert Answers: April 2012
The right way to roll out Six Sigma ... Dealing with troublesome auditees....
Expert Answers: February 2012
The best way to eliminate errors ... Adjusting to a new auditor....
Perspectives: Taken for Granted
The ISO 9000 series is Quality 101, and as quality practitioners, we should never forget it....
Lead On
In today's business environment, any organization that wishes to exceed customer expectations and stay competitive needs effective supplier management. Emotional intelligence plays an important role in dealing with suppliers....
Standards Outlook: Clearly Defined
It seems that everyone knows the difference between a system and a process. We know processes and systems are related, but most of us aren’t sure when one begins and the other ends....
Expert Answers: January 2012
Cost-of-quality reporting ... Auditing options ......
Tribal Quest
The continuing abundance of news stories about quality failures in the manufacturing, food, pharmaceutical, healthcare and education sectors is a reminder that award-winning organizations are islands in a sea of quality indifference....
Salary Survey 2011: Part 1, Section 14: Salary by Organization’s Quality Infrastructure
com 144 SPonSoreD by Quality department size by organization size / Table 1 Number in quality department 1 to 9 10 to 19 20 to 29 30 to 39 40 to 49 More than 50 10 or fewer 33 11- 100 475 31 101- 500 528 192 52 13 501- 1,000 197 97 36 14 13 23 1,001- 5,0...
Standards Outlook: The Missing Link
In most organizations, quality and finance behave like independent silos, resulting in excessive costs and unhappy customers and investors....
Online Tables Standards Outlook
Developed the following business process measures: 4 � documented results of management review meetings 5 � Customer satisfaction measures 5 � Measurable objectives used in product or service improvement 1 � balanced scorecard ( please indicate measures ...
Measure for Measure: Under the Microscope
Audits are chances to see where improvements can be made and to find areas that can be improved upon. If you approach an audit with the right mindset, it can be a great opportunity for all parties involved....
Supporting Role
The ANSI/ISO/ASQ Q9000 Series of Quality Management Standards consists of three component standards. Taken together, the standards are components because they form a complete tactical approach to quality management....
The Secret to Sustainment
Of all the problems and projects encountered by most continuous improvement professionals, the most challenging is making change last. In fact, sustaining change tends to be an afterthought for many....
Standards Outlook: Variation Reduction
With the latest revision of the common standards in early 2009, it was also time to do a major update of the auditor authentication process....
Expert Answers: August 2011
Connecting SOPs and IT ... quality assurance vs. quality control ... looking for remote audits....
Standards Outlook: Hand in Hand
Beginning July 1, all aviation, space and defense (AS&D) quality management system (QMS) certification body audits were required to be conducted according to a newly released AS&D QMS standard....
Standards Outlook: Taking Control
Organizations need controls to ensure objectives are achieved. It’s management’s job to establish, implement and monitor controls, and the auditor’s job to determine whether they are adequate....
Best of Both Worlds
Combine flowcharts and turtle diagrams to simplify the presentation of information and clarify process interactions, making employee training and quality management system auditing easier....
Standards Outlook: Revisionist History
The latest version of ISO 9001 was published in December 2008. Since then, ISO/TC 176 has created a task group to consider concepts for inclusion in the next revision, which is scheduled for publication in 2015....
Go With the Flow
In an effort to implement lean Six Sigma initiatives, many companies forget that data flow and material flow are two sides of the same coin. This starves the Six Sigma methods of data, which causes the enterprise to run at a suboptimal level....
In Case of Emergency
Time management is one of the main challenges any auditor faces during an audit. When time is limited, knowing what questions to ask and evidence to seek is crucial for an effective and efficient audit....
Standards Outlook: Remote Control
When you start talking about remote auditing—or e-audits—around a group of auditors, you will hear plenty of strong opinions. Some auditors are vehemently opposed, while others are open to the idea....
Salary Survey 2010: Part 1, Section 4: Salary by ASQ and RABQSA International Certification
For four straight years, the number of survey respondents not holding any ASQ certifications has fallen. This year, 59.1% of respondents reported that they have one or more ASQ certifications, and 24.9% said they hold two or more certifications....
Salary Survey 2010: The Complete Report
experience by gender / FIGURE 2 More than 20 years 10.1- 20 years 6.1- 10 years 3.1- 6 years $ 6,000 Male Years of experience in quality profession Years of experience in quality profession Female $ 4,000 $ 2,000 0 $ 2,000 $ 4,000 $ 6,000 1- 3 years Less...
Expert Answers: October 2010
Assessing your audit ... control charts and process capability ... keeping lab instruments in check....
Word Power
By using this practical guide, quality auditors, managers, engineers and other professionals in the field will be able to clarify their written messages and inspire their readers to constructive actions....
Brace for Impact
There are two main problems with internal audits, but both have a solution that has produced good results in real-world situations. It’s called an “audit for impact.”...
Quality in the First Person: A Different Perspective
My journey in quality began 1996, when I was studying industrial engineering at Mexico City’s Autonomous Metropolitan University. I was attracted to this field because a friend’s father had a small voltmeter assembly factory, and to sell its products...
Get Your Ducks in a Row
The ISO 9001 quality management system has been around since 1987, and it is generally acknowledged that the system produces some fairly significant benefits, including improved profitability, higher sales and better employee morale....
Dealing With Disconnect
"Tips" was retiring. He was smiling, and with good reason. I was not, and with equally good reason. As the company’s senior auditor, his leaving meant things would never quite be the same....
Standards Outlook: The Bottom Line
Quality and environmental managers need to understand the language of finance and the effect of operations on the bottom line, while financial managers need to know how quality and environmental managers can help improve results....
Measure for Measure: Calibration Evaluation
What do you do when a supplier does not have accreditation to the required quality standard? How about when the particular test or calibration item is not covered under the scope of accreditation?...
Sustainable Future
The new international standard ISO 9004:2009—managing for the sustained success of an organization—a quality management approach, brings quality management to a new area of sustained success. The standard adds a new term, sustained success...
Standard Outlook: In Transition
The 30-month transition period for the aviation, space and defense (AS&D) quality management system (QMS) standard began Jan. 1. With plenty of time to get familiar with the QMS documents, organizations are striving to meet their requirements....
Bull's-eye
All companies want to build a stronger brand by ensuring customer satisfaction. Along the way, of course, the companies want to make a profit....
Standards Outlook: Better Together
Even if everything is done appropriately during an audit, following up on the findings is just as important because it gives meaning to the audit....
Discussion Warranted
Warranties are important attributes of most business transactions. Their comprehensive impact on a company’s bottom line, however, is not always clearly understood—even by the people who deal with product quality and reliability on an everyday basis....
Career Corner: Lesson Learned
In fall 2009, when I remarked to university educators that a particular decision-making tool was widely used at Toyota, their response was respectful interest. When I did the same this February, a similar group laughed derisively at the comment...
Brewed Awakening
Manufacturers often rely on an established network of distributors to move finished goods to retailers and consumers. A typical U.S. beer maker may depend on a network of 500 distributors to deliver its beverages to more than 700,000 retail accounts....
Test Run
In 2008, 14,906 people took ASQ certification exams, and 9,394 of these people—or 63%—passed. So how can you avoid being one of the certification exam takers who will not pass this year?...
Salary Survey 2009: The Complete Report
52 section 6 Salary by Number of Work Hours Online section 7 Salary by Nonexempt vs. exempt Status Online section 8 Salary by Number of Years in Current Position Online section 9 Salary by Number of Years in Current Position and in the Quality Field Onli...
Salary Survey 2009: Part 1, Section 4: Salary by ASQ and RABQSA International Certification
In all, 57.8% of those surveyed have at least one ASQ certification, and 13.3% have at least one RABQSA International certification....
Standards Outlook: Trust, but Verify
Grouping product, service and process audits together is somewhat natural, because a process audit may include a product or service audit. I’ve dubbed the combination a verification audit....
Ask, and Ye Shall Receive
Journalists are experts in managing conversational flow and encouraging people to open up and provide vital information. Their techniques can serve auditors well as they navigate the frustrating quagmire of audit and assessment interviews....
Standards Outlook: Remaining Relevant
Without changes, ISO 9001 risks becoming irrelevant on the world stage. So, what new ideas should be included in the next edition?...
Think Again
If we stop and contemplate why we think of audit results as pass or fail, we may become more aware of how our mentality affects the way we behave during an audit and how that mind-set influences others....
Score One for Improvement
Five years ago, Intel’s IT organization decided to improve internal customer satisfaction and the efficiency of IT projects with a CMMI-based process improvement activity to develop standard processes for project management....
Standards Outlook: The Right Approach
The process approach is at the heart of a quality management system (QMS) defined by ISO 9001. And, as everyone knows, it’s necessary to have the old ticker checked out from time to time....
Expert Answers: August 2009
Deciding on a survey strategy ... Gauging the maturity of your quality management system....
Quality in the First Person: Quality Isn't a 9-to-5 Job
As a quality professional, I often think about how quality is embedded in people’s everyday lives. Looking back at my own life, I was shocked to learn how long and how much of an impact quality has had on me—especially outside of work....
All Ears
Imagine you are presenting the analysis and findings of a critical operational issue or proposed improvement project to senior management. You feel confident because you’ve thoroughly measured and analyzed the data....
Standards Outlook: Revised AS&D Standards Take Flight
The International Aerospace Quality Group has released the IAQG 9100:2009 aviation, space and defense standards in all three of its sectors....
Career Corner: Are You Recession Proofed?
An observation I have made over the years is that organizations seem to make cuts in two specific areas when economic times are tough. The first department cut is safety, and the second is quality....
Expert Answers: June 2009
Auditing management systems ... ISO 9001 trouble ... Crunching the numbers for product specifications....
Riding the Storm Out
Virtually everyone and every organization has been touched in some way by today’s turbulent economy. Smaller budgets, unexpected layoffs and workplace shake-ups have become commonplace....
Standards Outlook: Effective Audit Programs
Today's organizations need to be agile and responsive to the changing requirements in private and public business sectors. Properly directed, internal audit program resources can help an organization stay focused and uncover improvement opportunities....
Can Do
Executing a food-systems audit brings with it a series of specific issues to consider. When performing an audit in a country that is not their own, however, auditors face additional challenges. With proper planning, those challenges can be overcome....
Expert Answers: April 2009
Auditing your new company ... ISO 9001 coverage ... Dealing with wishy-washy management....
Expert Answers: March 2009
Return policy ... restructuring activities ... sample size....
Expert Answers: December 2008
Get your boss to pay for training ... Three or six-sigma process?
Q: I’d like to know which process is better controlled: a three-sigma process or a six-sigma process. If the context of your question relates to statistical process control (SPC), then a six-sigma process is better controlled. Q: Will the new ISO 26000 st...
Standards Outlook: Conducting a Document Review
Some industry sectors require documentation that has word-for-word traceability between the MS documentation and audit criteria. For internal audits, document reviews can be part of a routine audit of an area, rather than a separate document review. Docum...
On the Same Page
Memorial Hermann’s first priority has always been to deliver quality healthcare (see sidebar, "About Memorial Hermann"). Every hospital in the Memorial Hermann system also has developed self-directed Medicare action plans. For hospital systems like Memori...
Drill Deep for Strategic Alignment
Internal auditors must understand an organization’s strategy and how each process fits into that strategy. Internal auditing for strategic alignment and execution requires that the auditor understand the organization’s desired strategy and how each proces...
Smooth Approach
Traditional internal audits fulfill a need for companies with fresh ISO 9001 implementations. But for organizations with mature systems, an innovative approach called an appreciative internal quality audit can take them beyond compliance to excellence....
Energize Your QMS
Changes to the ISO 9001:2008 amendment are high benefit and low impact. This position stated the following: "ISO 9001:2008 has been developed to introduce clarifications to the existing requirements of ISO 9001:2000 and changes that are intended to improv...
Standards Outlook: Down With Silos
Businesses today have multiple management systems, including financial, quality and environmental. Unfortunately, these management systems usually do not talk to one another....
Starting From Scratch
Graduate students studying quality developed the Quality Systems Development Roadmap to help organizations do this, using application templates from the Lean Six Sigma Quality Transformation Toolkit. However, new companies, organizations without an enterp...
In the Know
More and more organizations are choosing outsourcing as a necessary means of remaining competitive in the global economy. Quality professionals must consider building a body of knowledge completely dedicated to the subject of quality in outsourcing....
Online Figure 1 Ramu
Outsourcing BoK Expected cognition Perceived weight CMQ/ OE CQE CQA CSQE ( New) CRE CSSBB CSSGB CCT CBA CHA CQT CQPA CQIA CQI Project management 10 Project charter Create Create Apply Project estimation and tracking Analyze Apply Apply Apply Understand C...
10 Auditing Rules
All auditors receive training in the basics of planning, conducting and reporting audits. Unfortunately, this is the only training many ever receive....
Two Are Better Than One
Management need and my personal curiosity recently led me to take a closer look at the Sarbanes-Oxley Act (SOX). My work pointed out similarities and differences between SOX and ISO 9001....
Standards Outlook: Off to a Good Start
Clause 6.2.6 of the U.S. supplement for the International Organization for Standardization's (ISO) auditing standard provides guidelines for establishing initial contact with the auditee....
Standards Outlook: Hazardous to Your Health
One hospital chain in my area has a snappy ad saying your selection of a hospital could be the most important choice you will ever make. This might be true—going into the hospital these days can be hazardous to your health....
The Great Debate
Two auditors meet over breakfast. One is a quality management system (QMS) auditor and the other an environmental management system (EMS) auditor....
Career Corner: Corporations Tout Social Responsibility
The Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award has added “governance and social responsibilities” to its leadership criteria, codes of conduct are more prevalent, and ethics has taken on new importance in corporate training and business school curricula. In ...
Sharpen Your Auditing Skills
Effective audits require effective audit planning. One of the best tools to help guide both the planning and execution of an audit is the audit checklist....
