- Auditing
- Cost of Quality
- Global Quality
- Inspection
- ISO 14000
- ISO 9000
- Problem Solving
- Process Management
- Quality Assurance
- Quality Control
- Quality Management
- Quality Tools
- Standards
- Statistical Process Control (SPC)
- Supplier Quality
- Best Practices
- ISO/TS 16949
- Customer Requirements
- Continuous Improvement
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....
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....
Keeping Score
Like most of you, I’ve seen the “latest, greatest thing” introduced in organizations — repeatedly. We observe initial excitement for the new strategy, bursts of employee training, spotty implementation and eventual abandonment of the new approach....
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....
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....
Turbocharge Your Preventive Action System
A layered process audit (LPA) is an ongoing chain of simple verification checks to make sure a defined process is followed correctly. This powerful management tool can improve safety, quality and cost savings by amplifying problem solving systems and...
Standards Outlook: AS&D Standards? Revisions to Improve Supplier Performance
The International Aerospace Quality Group (IAQG) is revising the IAQG 9100 family of standards1 to stay aligned with changes to ISO 9001,...
Career Corner: Behavioral Interviewing--Find Your Star
One of the newer trends in interviewing job candidates is to use behavioral interviewing techniques. When I was first exposed to behavioral interviewing, I was unsure and skeptical....
Standards Outlook: Preparing and Structuring an Audit Report
Preparing a quality management system (QMS) or environmental management system (EMS) audit report can be a hurried, punch list--a list of minor things to be completed at the end of a project....
Standards Outlook: Six Lessons Learned From QS-9000
The sun sets on QS-9000, the U.S. automotive standard.
My version of the old joke goes: "When’s your birthday?" "Dec. 15." "What year?" "Every year, so far."...
Lean Inspection Through Supplier Partnership
Incoming inspection is a nonvalue-added activity that does not improve a product, but only identifies products that do not meet standards. One way to reduce incoming inspection is to move from traditional sample inspection to a system in which the...
Career Corner: Maximize the Use of Your Abilities
In the December 2005 edition of Quality Progress, former editor Debbie Phillips-Donaldson asked, “Does your organization make full use of your abilities?” If the answer is yes, good for you and your organization....
Standards Outlook: Process Auditing and Techniques
Process audits are highly focused, but their effective techniques are not always understood. Because there is no sanctioned process audit standard, anyone can claim to be doing process audits....
The Metamorphosis of the Quality Professional
Over the next decade, quality professionals can expect to see their roles increasingly absorbed into project management and other areas. To survive in this environment, quality professionals will have to acquire new competencies....
Column: Career Corner: Add Value To Quality Audits
[Abstract from article]
Quality auditors should understand and align their reports with internal audit reports. Why? Our quality and ISO 9000 audits usually go no higher than a second level manager. Pre-Enron, 24% of internal audits went directly to...
Column: Standards Outlook: Purchaser and Supplier Quality
Going beyond ISO 9001, QS-9000 and TS 16949
For quality to happen, quality control from the supplier's perspective is necessary. But evidence indicates suppliers do not always pursue the actions needed for quality improvement. Quality practitioners...
Column: Standards Outlook: ISO 9001:2000's Process Approach
A new concept or the same old stuff?
Questions and answers on the process approach of ISO...
ISO 9000:2000 will create challenges, require new competencies
All About Auditing
Third-party environmental and quality system auditors will be interested in the new (still in development) system audit standard. Since the new ISO 9001 standard contains many of these not-so-easy-to-audit requirements, an agreement was reached that requi...
Assessing the Quality Status of Research Organizations
Q U A L I T Y P R O G R E S S I A P R I L 2 0 0 0 I 51 Assessing the Quality Status Of Research Organizations How to measure, control and improve performance through R& D by Al Endres R E S E A R C H A N D D E V E L O P M E N T ITHOUT THE ESTABLISHMENT O...
Preventive Action vs. Corrective Action: The Horse, the Barn Door, and the Apple
Preventive action is more valuable than corrective action. The best approaches to preventive action are ongoing, systematic, deliberate, proactive, analytical, investigative, and predictive. A story about missed opportunities for prevention tells of...
Considerations for Global Supplier Quality
Assessment of international suppliers occurs in two steps: initial investigation and supplier visit. In the initial investigation, data are gathered about the company and the country. This includes background information on the company as well as...
The Process Audit: Often Ignored but Never Insignificant
Assessment of a specific process within the quality system is the role of the process audit, which is also known as a mini, partial, or phased audit. Usually an internal audit, the process audit operates under an internal quality standard...
Keys to a Successful Internal Audit
An objective, businesslike approach makes internal audits fair and useful. Planning the audit includes making decisions on scope (full or partial), scheme (downstream, upstream, or horizontal), and checklist content. The checklist is a single sheet...
Rethinking Traditional Quality Assurance
Quality professionals should support the transition of business from mass production and traditional services to mass customization and niche services. They should find new roles that accept quality as a value rather than a department. The profession...
The Evolution of a QC Guy
This story demonstrates how quality professionals and the profession itself must participate in change and improvement. By listening to and fulfilling the changing needs of his organization, this professional evolves from quality control technician to...
