Welcome!

The quality resource center is designed to assist you in the pursuit of your quality goals. It includes compiled information that has proven helpful for our clients in the past.

Warning and disclaimer! Much of the information presented here, is based on the philosophy of Epsilon Quality and the interpretation of the ISO 9001:2000 requirements from a common sense approach. As a result you may find portions conflicting with the mainstream teachings of many Quality professionals.

One Size Does Not Fit All!

We understand that all companies do not have the same requirements for an effective Quality Management System.

Many Quality firms offering products and services have gone overboard developing a canned approach to Quality management. Some offer a software solution while others offer on-site help by the hour.

The long time goal has been to develop a program that would have a wide application regarding the types and sizes of business that can benefit.

Evaluate the so called turn-key solutions carefully. It has been discovered most of the firms who purchase these programs spend hours and hours and thousands of dollars modifying what they have purchased to work for them. Unfortunately, many organizations never achieve a system that is efficient and effective and as a result often spend a fortune for a system that is just not right for them. Along the way many loose sight of the goal, Quality! They become daunted by documentation and created departments to maintain it all.
Quality Bureaucracy was born.

Now is the time to announce the end of the Quality Bureaucracy movement!. With the acceptance of the 1994 version of ISO 9000 in the US, we witnessed a tremendous wave of Quality Bureaucracy. With the honest intentions of improving their products and competing in a global market many companies have realized the benefits of becoming ISO registered. However, due to the format of the 1994 version of the ISO 9000 model and its 20 rigorous sections, jumping on the ISO bandwagon resulted in the creation of new departments in many companies and the creation of an entire industry. While the Quality Bureaucracy movement had its place, we are pleased to announce "Common Sense is Back".
ISO 9000:2000, the common sense approach to Quality.

The key to a successful turn key solution is recognizing the 2 distinct elements of a Quality Management System. More information here

Documentation offers that include 100 procedures to cover any process that may be applicable to any type of business is no value. This is where hours are spent trying to first determine what is needed and then making the necessary modifications.

Quality Professionals realize the 1994 ISO Quality model had limitations in the area of efficiency and can be very difficult to manage. Company Management realized the quality programs they had invested in, offered a limited hope of a return on their investment.

Epsilon Quality can help your company develop and implement a process driven Quality Management System, designed to make real improvements, while following the ISO 9000:2000 model of Quality.

Personal Note to Small Business Owners

Some years back, we started our first small business. An electronics PCB assembly company, it was a family affaire, employing wives, sisters, brothers, and anyone we could talk into helping. Our company started small and eventually reached the place where we could pay those sacrificing family members and bring in additional employees.

Having teenage children at that time, opened up the opportunity to hire high school kids. We soon discovered these kids were our best employees. Not only did they appreciate the job (and the money, of course), many of them continued to pursue carriers in the electronics industry. Now years later, all of them long out of school, our kids, (they will always be our kids) are computer techs, telecommunication experts, roofers and yes, even small business owners.

I have come to realize the honor of influencing these kids careers and lives. By giving them their first real jobs and by demonstrating good business ethics they learned to be good employees, and good people.

We are all shaped by the influences in our lives, and it was truly my honor to have had the opportunity to be involved in shaping these teens.

If it had not been for the ability to work with flexible schedules and make a few special concessions to policy here and there, we would have missed this opportunity. Unfortunately many larger companies have lost flexibility and special concessions are usually never considered.

This is just one example of the benefits a small business can bring to the community and our country.

Flexibility is a major advantage of the small company. Regardless of the type of business or the financial resources available, small companies have the advantage due to flexibility.

The intent of ISO 9001:2000 of identifying processes, monitoring them and making improvements are all natural elements of the small company. Measuring customer satisfaction is a normal, day to day function for the small company.

If you are a small business owner, I encourage you to consider the importance of developing a QMS for your business. A solid Quality Management System will bring much more than ISO certification. It can provide the core to your business operations and define your corporate culture.

I sincerely hope you reach your goals and achieve the growth that will make your organization large, if that is what you seek. And when you achieve your goals, remember it was flexibility that got you there.

Quality Management System (QMS)

The development of your companies QMS is the reason you are here. Unlike many types of business plans, your QMS is ever changing and improving based on data it is designed to collect and evaluate. Changing products and services, processes and conditions of your market are all factors that may require a change to your QMS.

What is a QMS? Your QMS is a tool that will enable you to identify, develop, and implement changes quickly and efficiently.

Your QMS is a program that, if established correctly, will provide perpetual improvements. It can touch all aspects of your business, providing automatic monitoring.

What the QMS is not. It is not stagnant. Once implemented it is not over. The intent of the QMS is to develop a never ending loop to monitor critical processes and activities and make the necessary improvements.

QMS elements:

1. Of course, the QMS must be documented. It is this documentation, in way of policies and procedures that defines and makes the QMS what it is. The survival of a living system depends on the documented core elements of the program.

2. Implementation follows documented policy and/or procedure. With out implementation we just have literature. The benefits of the QMS will never be realized without implementation.

3. Daily practice of the implemented documentation, puts the improvement process or loop into practice.

Unlike document heavy systems based on ISO 9001:1994, the new ISO 9001:2000 better defines the objectives of application of the program. It is the same superior quality model with a clear view regarding how it is to be applied.

It is this model with clear application that allows your QMS to be developed around what you currently do well.

QMS Development

QMS development revolves around identifying processes , and monitoring and improving them as required. While the typical organization quickly identifies thier processes they often fail to monitor and improve. This is an important part of your QMS.

Example

You are in business and successful due to the quality of the products and/or services you provide. Chances are you have already established and maintain the minimum controls required to continually deliver your products and/or services with consistent quality. If this were not the case, you would not be in business long.

Customer satisfaction plays a key role in your success and an organizations longevity is typically an indication that this element is addressed., therefore if you have been successful you have developed a high level of customer satisfaction. While developed, do you have tools in place to constantly monitor and improve this process? This is the purpose of the QMS. Customer satisfaction being only one element or process involved in your business it is easy to recognize the benefits of monitoring and improving all critical processes.

The development objective is to create your QMS around what you are currently doing while incorporating the process approach and improvement principles modeled in ISO.

In the simplest terms, the ISO 9001:2000 quality model emphasizes a process based QMS with improvement loops.

If the intent of ISO 9001:2000 is understood and applied the system will have a positive effect on your company.

Your QMS should:

• Work within existing operations.

• Include minimum paperwork requirements for an effective system.

• Identify critical processes.

• Measure and monitor them, and

• Provide feedback for improvements.

Above all it should

Be Easy to Use and Manage.

 

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