ISO 9000, 9001:2000, Six Sigma, Access, Excel, and other Training - Quality System Specialists for California - We can simplify your QMS, and provide training for your employees, including internal audit training, accredited lead auditor training courses, Access, Excel, six sigma, ISO 14001, QS 9000, Corrective and Preventive Actions and others

ISO 9001 Overview

INTERNATIONAL STANDARD FOR QUALITY
ISO 9001:2000 is an internationally-accepted guideline for setting up and managing effective Quality Systems. These systems help manufacturers and service providers maintain control over the quality of their products and services. With appropriate, intelligent planning and implementation, this can dramatically improve the efficiency of operations and procedures as well as customer satisfaction, employee morale, and ultimately shareholder ROI.

REASONS TO GET CERTIFIED
ISO 9001, when implemented correctly, causes the quality of your products and services to continually improve …almost automatically! Its built-in problem checking and correction elements steer your business down an ever-narrowing channel of quality, slowly weeding out imperfections and process glitches from your business operations. Things will go smoother and smoother over time, and your employees will have an increasingly more positive morale.

The ISO 9001 standard also focuses on your customers’ PERCEPTION of your quality. This means that by satisfying the requirements of ISO, over time more and more of your customers will maintain a positive opinion of your company.

And of course, the ISO standard provides a globally acceptable method for proving to the world that your company is trustworthy, conscientious, and deserving of their valuable contracts and hard earned capital. In today’s global market, many manufacturers experience significant growth as a result of their ISO certification.

FRINGE BENEFITS
As if that weren’t enough, a properly planned and implemented Quality System is also a wonderful tool for helping you manage, train, and control the activities of your personnel more effectively.

For example: ISO requires you to create, and adhere to, procedures for managing quality-affecting documents and records, such as TRPs, Blueprints, Design Drawings and Specifications, Test Data, Work Instructions, Training Videos, etc. Astute Quality System planning and analysis of your company’s operations could indicate that the least intrusive solution may be to publish these documents on the company’s secure intranet. This would enable changes and revisions to be communicated instantly to all affected employees at all locations anywhere on the globe using a common web browser, without costing even one postage stamp. And you control it all from a single location.

GETTING STARTED
Some companies use in-house personnel to set up and administer their Quality Systems. However, this can be very complex, and a problematic system can cause your employees to waste time daily, creating vast stockpiles of useless documentation. Instead of adding value to your company, you can end up reducing productivity and having little or no effect on Quality, so be very careful if you go this route. Make sure that your Quality Assurance personnel are properly Trained.

Many companies choose to outsource consulting firms (such as ours) to set everything up, train the employees, and keep everything running smoothly as an alternative to hiring costly additional full-time Quality Assurance employees. If the system is set up with proper planning and a thorough understanding of the ISO standard, ongoing costs can be contained and any operational changes that are required will be minimal, and will add a great deal of value to your company.

TECHNOLOGY IS YOUR FRIEND
Using currently available technologies to create simple, efficient Quality Systems is our specialty. We analyze your operation up-front to create an intelligent Quality System that incorporates your existing processes, and which may include customized, value-added tools such as:

A paperless, intranet-based routing, approval, and publishing system for managing quality-affecting documents and records
Custom-tailored databases to simplify data entry tasks and help manage Calibration, Test Data, Service and Repairs, Shipping, Purchasing, Customer Orders, Contracts, Meeting Minutes, etc.
Downloadable custom training videos and classes for new hires and existing employees
Automated Charts and Reports via email and intranet for simple data analysis

Whether you do it yourself or outsource it to us, your overall costs will be much lower if you put sufficient planning and resources into your Quality System up front.

KEEPING IT GOING
As part of your Quality System, the ISO standard requires you to have a qualified auditor spot-check your quality controls to make sure your system is working. These people are called internal auditors. The internal auditor looks over your facility, talking to people and inspecting processes, calibration stickers, and documentation. You can train someone in-house or you can schedule your consultant to come out and do the audits reporting any problems found so you can fix them.

SURVEILLANCE AUDITS
Once or twice a year (your choice), an RAB (Registrar Accreditation Board) Certified Auditor is sent out by your Registrar for a Surveillance Audit. Just as with internal audits, any problems found by the Surveillance Auditor(s) are reported to you so you can fix your system. However this audit is performed specifically to provide an unbiased snapshot that your registrar can use to assess your compliance (or non-compliance) with the ISO 9001:2000 standard.

LOSING YOUR CERTIFICATION
Surveillance Auditors find nonconformities almost every time, with most companies. It’s not a horrible thing, but rather, it’s an opportunity to improve. But if you don't fix minor problems which are found within a reasonable period, or if problems are found which completely negate your Quality System, your registrar may recommend to the RAB that your ISO certification be discontinued until the issues are resolved.

At that point, you'd have to remove all references to the RAB or ISO Certification from your company's websites, marketing materials, business cards, etc., until you are re-certified. This can be very costly, so we recommend that you root these problems out during internal audits instead. It's far better to have the internal auditor find these problems first, and help you fix them before the Surveillance Audit.

QA CALIFORNIA
With a thorough understanding of current technologies and available tools, QA California excels in planning, designing and implementing the least intrusive and most effective Quality Systems.

Call (800) 595-5650 or email us to schedule a free consultation with an RAB QMS-PA. We'll be happy to answer all your questions, and we'll also ask you a few questions to get a better understanding of your current system. We’ll take that information, assess it, and propose specific next steps for creating an efficient, effective Quality System for your company.

ISO 9001 should be a positive, non-intrusive, value-added component to your operations, not a hindrance to them. We can simplify your current system, or build you a new one from scratch. Call us anytime. We’re happy to answer any questions you have about the enormous benefits of having an ISO 9001 company, and how we can help you get and stay certified.