Abstract

The quality procedures, policies, and practices of a company should be communicated to internal and external customers. A quality manual does this. Benefits of a manual include: assuring customers of the company's quality efforts; satisfying external auditors; and meeting a basic requirement of ISO (International Standardization Organization) 9000 registration. To construct the manual: examine other companies' manuals; draft an outline that has approval of departments and top executives; construct the manual; and obtain final approval from management. The manual should contain: table of contents; specification numbers on every page; corporate quality policy; chief executive officer's signature; statement of purpose; lists of standards and corporate reference documents; corporate and quality organization charts; glossary; brief introductory descriptions of corporate quality system, plan, and philosophy; and the comprehensive main body. In the main body, each topic should consist of an objective statement and a critical requirements statement.