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I was enjoying a fine cigar with an old friend a number of years ago when the discussion turned to organizational change. I asked my friend, whose opinion I greatly respect, “How do I begin to steer a company in a new direction that is so transformational it is sure to meet a heavy dose of resistance, skepticism and attitude?” He said “You have to change the culture; and that is no small task.” He went on to say “Steve, did I ever tell you my definition of insanity? Insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.” As he has a talent for, my good friend had distilled a very complex issue down to a single, critical point; organizational change. As the evening wound down and we began to go our separate ways, I said “Good talk Bert, by the way, how’s that relativity thing going you’ve been working on?”

Read the whole chapter in the Quality 101 Handbook

Losing sleep over what your customers or auditors will be keying in on during their next visit? Use my Top Ten list to see what areas cause the most concern.

10) Blanks

No blank spaces on forms, documents or work orders

Required work order signoffs complete

9) SPC Wallpaper

Excessive process control charts/graphs posted with no relation to process improvement

8) Preventive Maintenance

PM records visible or easily accessible and up-to-date

7) Revisions: obsolete/lack of

Documents posted that are not under document control; old revision documents or documents without revision control being used

6) Training/Certified Operators

Training status of each operator visible or easily identified

5) Handwritten changes

Handwritten changes on controlled documents without proper approval

4) Calibration stickers

Tools calibrated, with stickers and up-to-date

3) “Lip service” CARs

Corrective actions that do not address true root cause; treating only symptoms

2) Dishonesty

Intentionally misleading an auditor about an issue or concern

1) Sloppiness, apathy & overall lack of discipline

Perception that employees do not care about quality, the quality system, the company or customer excellence

Do you repeatedly score lower than you would like on customer or ISO audits? Do the same things generally trip you up when customers evaluate your quality system? Read below to see 3 things you can do to eliminate the most common causes of audit issues.

1. K.I.S.S. (Keep It Simple Steve). Many company’s quality systems have grown into a huge, overly complicated mess that is neither user friendly nor intuitive. The reason this happens is that with every audit finding, things get added to the system to react to discrete discrepancies instead of looking at how the system failed. Forms, procedures and activities are often added for a specific customer as a Band-Aid when a minor improvement to the existing procedure would permanently solve the issue for all customers.
2. Worst Case = Best Results. Setting up your quality system to handle the “worst case scenario” you will see from your ISO auditors or customers will eliminate the special processes that are often put in place for specific customers, situations, etc. Non-standard processes will all but guarantee embarrassing execution trip-ups during audits and visits.
3. Internal Audits. Developing a robust internal auditing system is one of the best ways to maintain a consistent, effective quality system. It is also a key tool for minimizing (or eliminating) undesirable findings during an external (customer or ISO) audit. With a solid program and skilled staff, an external audit should not yield any surprises.