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How is the achievement of quality managed? ..top
 Several
methods have evolved to achieve, sustain and improve quality, they are
quality control, quality improvement and quality assurance which
collectively are known as quality management. This trilogy is illustrated
in the figure. Techniques such as quality planning, quality costs, just in
time, statistical process control etc. are all elements of these three
methods. ISO 9000:2000 separates quality planning from quality control,
quality improvement and quality assurance but by including planning within
the domain of each concept, one can focus on the purpose of planning more
easily. Further information on quality is contained
in the ISO 9000 Quality
Systems Handbook and also in our article...more.
How do we
control quality? ..top
Controlling quality is about controlling all the factors
that affect your ability to fulfil requirements that you need to fulfil to
accomplish your mission. This means controlling the specifications that
define the required outputs and the processes that deliver these outputs.
If you establish that variation in the characteristics or capability of a
product, service, process or person will materially affect the output you
are trying to produce, you need to control those characteristics or
capability. For more information on controlling processes go to our
process management section
Further information on quality control is contained in
the ISO 9000 Quality Systems
Handbook and also in our article...more
What is
quality assurance? ..top
Quality assurance is about providing confidence that
quality is under control and the outputs are meeting requirements. Certain
standards are referred to as quality assurance standards (such as ISO
9000) because they are used by customers to obtain an assurance of
quality. One of the ways quality is assured is by audits, independent
examinations of an organization's operations to verify that it is
conforming with prescribed requirements. If you are looking for auditor
training ....more
How do we go about
improving quality? ..top
Before undertaking improvement you need to measure
current performance. You will then be able to determine if the improvement
action you have taken has had the desired effect. There are two types of
quality improvements one concerned with better control and the other
concerned with raising standards. If you need help in determining what to
measure in order to yield the greatest improvement take a look at our
Process measurement workshop. If you know you want to improve but need
some help doing it effectively, take a look at out process Improvement
workshop. Further information on improvement is available in our article
...more
What is a quality management system? ..top
A quality management system is what delivers the
organizations products and services. It is often described in a Quality
Manual and sets of procedures but these are descriptions. They are not the
system. If you want to know more about quality management systems then the
ISO 9000 Quality System
Handbook is the best there is. If you have a system and need to
improve its effectiveness, take a look at our book
Converting a QMS using the process approach.
Further information on quality management systems is available in our
article ...more
What has ISO
9000 got to do with quality and its management? ..top
If applied incorrectly, ISO 9000 will have nothing to do
with quality and its management. Unfortunately there are too many
cases where ISO 9000 has been applied incorrectly resulting in systems of
documentation rather than systems that enable the organization to fulfil
its objectives. If used simply as
a set of criteria against which you can judge the quality of your
management system, it can help you identify omissions that if corrected
will improve quality. If you want to know more about ISO 9000 take a look
into our ISO 9000 consulting room |
