Your policies and procedures should not be an afterthought.  Your policies stem from your vision, mission and values of the organization.  Your procedures define the consistency of your business model.  Together they represent your strategy and how it is deployed throughout the organization.

Does Your Strategy Lack Results?

Your strategy may not be delivering results because it lacks alignment with your tactics.  If you want to enter new markets, double sales, or launch a new product, then you will need a defined course of action to get there.  You cannot wish that it happens.  Employees need clear milestones, action plans, and concrete steps they can take to achieve your strategy.  Existing policies may need to change.  Old priorities may shift and new procedures may be required to achieve your goal.

Policies and procedures represent your strategic intent.  A specific policy and procedure can propel you forward just as much as it can hold you back from achieving your objectives.  Not having any policies and procedures in place can create confusion.  Employees may not understand what you literally want them to do.

Let’s take a simple strategy to doubling sales as your strategic goal.  When you set this as the future state for your company, are you saying you plan to double every salesperson’s quota or do you plan to double the number of sales people?  Each would require a different change to your sales and marketing process.

Doubling quota may mean doubling new product introductions, doubling territory sizes, or retraining salespeople to be more effective in closing sales.  The alternative may be to double salespeople.  This in turn would require doubling leads, entering new markets, and training new salespeople on selling your products.

You can see a lot of interaction with other departments like marketing, new product development, and training.  An effective strategy requires that you think through the deployment steps so you can define the adjustments needed to your policy and procedure system.

Effective Strategy is Linked to Effective Policies and Procedures

A lot of time and money is spent developing strategy, defining the action steps and then communicating it to all of the employees.  Yet how much time are you spending looking into the policy and procedure implications of your strategy.  Your policies and procedures are your strategy.  If you don’t have time to adjust your policies and procedures for the new strategy, then how do you expect to achieve your new strategy with outdated policies and procedures?

What is Cost of Quality?

The cost of quality is typically explained as consisting of four elements: prevention, appraisal, internal failure and external failure costs.  But I have a simpler explanation.  Your business has three things to worry about:

1. what is productive work,
2. what work do you need to perform to ensure work is productive,
3. and then there is unproductive work or waste.

Your cost of poor quality consists mainly of the unproductive work.  The goal in quality is to focus on the productive work, ensure your work is productive, and get rid of the unproductive work.  Sound simple?

It could be that simple accept it can be difficult separating the productive work form the unproductive work because they can look the same.  After all, if you have a lot of waste, then you need the unproductive work to manage the waste.

For example, let’s consider inventory handling.  If you have a lot of inventory (in lean, inventory is considered waste), then you will have material handlers that are needed to move the inventory along.  Your inventory handlers look like productive work.  Ask them and they will tell you that they are being productive moving inventory around the plant.  Management thought it was productive work when they bought the forklifts, right?  But if you can design a system of balanced work cells that align the work in a single piece flow (like an assembly line) then you don’t need forklifts to move the material from one work cell to another.  It just flows…

Therefore, inventory, the forklifts, and your material handlers all contribute to your cost of poor quality.  As we look around the company we can find many examples of unproductive work masquerading as productive work.  It just takes a lean eye to tell the difference.

Cost of Quality in Sales & Marketing

Every processes contributes to the cost of poor quality.  Sales and marketing are processes that do contribute to the cost of quality too.  For example, sales people can enter the order wrong, can contribute to lost sales with a faulty sales process, or spend too much time with the wrong customers.  Marketing can provide too many features for development to work on, poorly define the market, or fail to provide the correct marketing information to sales.  Customer service people handle complaints, problems and customer issues.  But, if you had few issues then you would need few customer service people.

Sales and marketing are frequently looked at as excluded from quality.  Many people think quality only relates to manufacturing (sometimes this is because quality reports to manufacturing).  The bottom line is bad inputs = bad outputs, which can trickle down to manufacturing failures caused by sales and marketing failures.  You are only a strong as your weakest link…

The next time you review your enterprise strategy for growing sales, make sure you take a look at your Cost of Quality metrics, which will tell you everything about how capable your business is to respond to your customers, competitors, and employee demands.

If you are trying to explain the importance of quality to management then you need to explain it to management using the language of management — costs.  Cost of poor quality (COPQ) consists of four basic elements: prevention, appraisal, internal failures and external failures.

COPQ Prevention

Prevention should be thought of as a good thing.  More like an investment in good quality as opposed to a cost of poor quality.  Since we do spend money on prevention I guess it is a cost.  Prevention costs include actions taken to prevent poor quality.  You know the old saying; an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.  In quality that is exactly how it works.

If you are unable to design in quality from the beginning then you will have to inspect in quality at the end as well as deal with the internal and external failure costs.  Prevention is where a quality manager should focus.  Unfortunately most quality managers end up focusing on correction instead of prevention.

Prevention cost examples include:

• Quality control plans
• Lean error proofing
• Capability studies
• Supplier evaluations
• New product reviews
• Policies, procedures, and work instructions
• Quality improvement meetings, projects, events
• Failure Modes Effects Analysis (FMEA)
• Quality awareness, education, and training

COPQ Appraisal

Appraisal costs could be thought of as Inspection and testing costs.  Appraisal costs focus on the work necessary to ensure prior work is productive and thus ensure conformance to standards and performance requirements.

Examples include the costs for:

• Source inspection
• First Article Inspection (FAI)
• In-process inspection or final testing
• Internal Auditing of product, process or services
• Voice of the Customer audits
• Measuring and test equipment calibration

COPQ Internal Failures

Internal failure costs occur before product is shipped or the service is completed, to the customer.  I alos like to look at process failures too and not stop at common material failures.

Internal failure examples include:

• Scrap and Rework
• Re-inspection and Re-testing
• Material review
• Safety accidents
• Process failures, data entry errors, missing information
• Missed process steps
• Expedited shipping
• Supplier returns processing

COPQ External Failures

External failure costs occur anytime after the product is shipped or the service is complete.  When looking at external failures that occur years in the future, it is important to attribute the failure to the proper production year (born on date) to find the cause of the failures.

External examples include:

• Processing customer complaints, claims, or returns
• The actual customer return
• Warranty claims
• Product recalls
• Lost sales

Cost Of Quality (COQ) is also referred to as Cost of Poor Quality (COPQ) and is defined by most as including: prevention, appraisal, internal failures and external failures.  Understanding your COQ or COPQ provides quality with the ability to explain quality to management using management’s language of cost.

Product Development: Iteration or Replication?

Design flow is different than manufacturing flow.  Design is about producing information instead of making products.  Products are made from raw materials that you do not want to waste.  Wasting materials is expensive.  Information is made from ideas.  Ideas are inexpensive and the more ideas we consider the more robust our designs may be.  By considering more ideas we can produce better designs.

Manufacturing also starts with a completed design.  The goal in manufacturing consist of replicating that design as exact as possible with little variation.  New product development starts with requirements, ideas, and concepts.  Design iterations create design changes.  The goal in design is not to reduce the variation of designs but to consider as many designs as possible.  Considering many alternative designs is one of the first principles of Lean Product Development, the principle of concurrent engineering.

What is Lean Product Development?

A lean product development process is based on four key elements:

1. Concurrent engineering with suppliers, manufacturing, and service functions.
2. Expert engineering workforce.
3. Entrepreneurial (chief engineer) leadership.
4. Responsibility based planning & control.

Concurrent engineering involves considering multiple designs, working with suppliers, manufacturing, and field service concurrently to consider design alternatives.

Expert engineering workforce is based on building highly knowledgeable engineers that have profound knowledge about their products, customer requirements, and engineering possibilities.

Entrepreneurial (chief engineer) leadership is about empowering an expert, experienced engineer to lead the project and make decisions as an entrepreneur would in a startup.

Responsibility based planning & control requires that individual engineers ensure deadlines are met, backup plans are available, and that tasks are completed in some way.

Building a lean product development process requires true lean thinking.  Lean tools will not help.  Lean slogans will not help.  Only by immersing yourself in the customer’s paradigm will you achieve lean.  Once you start thinking lean you will start acting lean.  And lean product development is not any different.  It is all about thinking lean.

Writing a good procedure is an iterative process.  The basic steps include developing a process map, drafting the procedure, drafting supporting documents (e.g. forms, job descriptions), testing the documented procedure with the real users, and then continuously updating your process map, procedure, and supporting documents in a PDCA cycle of continual improvement.

A lot of procedures don’t work.  Making a good procedure is about overcoming the top ten reasons why policies and procedures don’t work in the first place.  How do you make a good procedure good?  Good procedures have ten important characteristics.

Good procedures:

1. Are designed well with a solid structure.  A good procedure has a PDCA flow that addresses planning and effectiveness criteria or metrics required for proper operation, the doing or execution and data collection elements of each procedure step, followed by clear check steps against the planned targets, and references to taking action.  PDCA.
2. Define who does what when and where with criteria for success (KPI’s, effectiveness criteria or metrics).  Use SIPOC, which is a simple acronym that stands for Supplier, Inputs, Process, Outputs, Customer to account for all of the who, what, when, and where elements.  Save the whys for training, footnotes or an appendix.
3. Are part of a business system of core business processes.  A good procedure does not work in isolation.  Other processes may be suppliers of inputs or customers of the procedure’s outputs.
4. Are clear, specific, and to the point.  Do not include statements such as “as necessary”, “as applicable”, or “may include”.  Too much extra information can confuse your readers.  Stick to critical information.
5. Use the Seven C’s to avoid procedure writing errors.  We developed the Seven C’s as a handy checklist for procedure writing reviews.  When reviewing your procedure, keep in mind the Context, be Consistent, Complete, Identify Controls, think about Compliance, be Correct, and ensure Clarity.
6. Have a solid business case or reason for existence. Every procedure has an operational purpose so make sure the operation being described addresses the business reason for the procedure.
7. Are direct and use active voice construction.  Subject -> verb -> noun.  e.g. The Operator must lock the control panel.  If you use a passive voice then your sentences are longer and readers get confused.  Notice the passive voice in the last sentence?  Readers get confused by long passive voice sentences.  Notice the active voice in the last sentence?  Which do you think is better?
8. Include clear references to supporting documents, procedures, records, forms, manuals, work instructions, job aids, job descriptions, or compliance information.  Clear references may include title, publication date, document ID, or storage location.  Procedures work with these other documents.  Leaving out references makes the reader work harder to figure out what reference you are talking about in the procedure.
   

   Example Procedure

9. Separate the step-by-step instructions that make up the core of the procedure from the meta-data that typically makes up the header or the beginning of the procedure.  Meta-data includes things like: title, policy, purpose, scope, responsibilities, or definitions that may go in the front of the procedure.
10. Are used and updated regularly.  If you are not using a procedure then why do you have one?  The only way to ensure effective procedures is to use them regularly.  How does anybody know if a procedure is used?  Check the revision number.  If your procedures are 10 years old and they are still on revision one then you are probably not using them.  Unless, nothing has changed in your business in the last ten years… must be nice to not have competitors or change.

Ensure your procedures work by using an iterative procedure writing process.  Start with a process map, draft your procedure and your procedure’s supporting documents, test your procedure with your users, and then repeat the process with continuous updates.  That is how you make a good procedure good.

The International Aerospace Quality Group (IAQG) deadline for transitioning from the current AS9100 (revision B) of the aerospace standard to the newest revision (C) is July 1st, 2012, which means every company registered to AS9100 must have completed their transition.

Companies unable to meet the deadline will not have their AS9100 certifications withdrawn, but instead temporarily suspended, leaving your old certification temporarily halted until 31 December 2012, pending resolution of your Rev. C transition.

But what if you didn’t have to start from scratch? What if you could instantly download AS9100 Rev. C Aerospace policies and procedures — expertly written and easily editable in MS Word — to easily guide your AS9100 procedure writing.

The AS9100C Aerospace Policies and Procedures Manual comes with over 25 common quality policies and procedures. The procedures make complete “how to” guides for key manufacturing functions, which also include related references and forms.

What’s Inside the AS9100 C Aerospace Manual?

Within over 385 pages of text, you will get 25 Aerospace policies and procedures along with 48 forms covering the key quality and realization processes:

Document Control Quality Records Management Responsibility Job Descriptions Competence, Awareness, and Training Customer and Product Requirements Sales Orders Customer Communication Design and Development Design Change Pre-Production Quality and Planning Supplier Evaluation Procurement Receiving and Inspection Control of Production/Service Processes Manufacturing Identification and Traceability Customer Property Control of Monitoring and Measuring Devices Customer Satisfaction Internal Quality Audits Monitoring and Measurement of Processes Monitoring and Measurement of Product Control of Nonconforming Material Data Analysis and Continual Improvement Corrective Action Preventive Action But that’s not all. As a bonus, you will also get a Free Policy Procedure Writing Guide, a $19.95 value.	AS9100 Rev C Policies & Procedures
At Bizmanualz, we put a lot of effort into each of our manuals so your procedure writing is fast, economical, and hassle-free. You don’t need to start from scratch. Background research, ISO-compliant formatting, and standardized best practices are already incorporated.  Buy the AS9100C Aerospace Policies and Procedures Manual today. Download your order immediately after purchase and speed your procedure writing project. Write procedures in less than half the time. Why spend a lot of time and money researching, writing and editing when you can get prewritten procedures instantly. Don’t reinvent the wheel. Order the AS9100 Aerospace Policies and Procedures Manual today!

1. Be nice to your boss. Never be rude or give your boss a reason to talk bad about you. Be a better person than your boss.

2. Avoid complaining. Talk to your boss but don’t yell or complain—your boss will win the argument. Tell your boss what you need in terms of direction, feedback and support. Be polite and focus on your needs. Telling your boss he’s a bad boss is counterproductive and won’t help you meet your goals. Learn to communicate with your boss.

3. Document your work. Do a self-check. Make sure it’s not you and your boss does not have solid reasons or justifications for their behavior. Then keep track of what you accomplish.

4. Be objective. Communicate with your boss objectively, with evidence of your accomplishments. Learn to manage your time and note what you get done so you are prepared to confront your boss with data and not opinions.

5. Clarify your performance measures. Use objective measures. Anticipate what your boss is looking for and make sure you are focused on those measures.

6. Don’t burn bridges. Be Popular- Get to know other people in your company. Be nice to everyone. Especially other managers. Be seen as a problem-solver and make sure your boss’s peers know it. This could help if your boss talks about how bad you are but others see you as helpful.

7. Be careful when talking to HR or your boss’s boss. Don’t expect them to solve the problem. The problem with going to higher ups or HR to complain about a bad boss is that they will support the boss most of the time. Once you complain you will be on your boss’ radar until you’re fired or you become miserable enough to quit.

8. Learn to pick you battles. Timing is everything in life. Don’t worry about the small stuff. Take charge of your life and learn to control what you can.

9. Laugh and use your humor to cope. Don’t take life so seriously, but have your resume ready. If your life under this boss is really uncomfortable then you should start looking for a new job. If all else fails, you have to transfer or leave.

10. Learn from the experience. If it did not work out, then don’t let it happen again. Understand the warning signs and look for those in the next job situation. Learn to anticipate what your boss needs, document what you get done, be popular, be nice, avoid complaining, and most of all be objective.

10 Ways to Deal with a Bad Boss

1. Be nice to your boss.

2. Avoid complaining.

3. Document your work.

4. Be objective.

5. Clarify your performance measures.

6. Don’t burn bridges.

7. Be careful when talking to HR or your boss’s boss.

8. Learn to pick you battles.

9. Laugh and use your humor to cope.

10. Learn from the experience.

There are a lot of qualities that you might like to see in a boss.  Here are the top ten qualities that make a good boss:

1. Communicates with their boss. Every boss has a boss.  In a small business it is your spouse, banker, investors, customers, and sometimes even your suppliers.  In a larger business there are layers of management that require constant attention to make happy.  Communicating with your boss is critical to getting ahead, getting anything done, and getting resources for your projects.  A good boss communicates with their boss and does not leave them in the dark.  A bad boss never provides anybody with enough information to understand what is going on.
2. Prevents problems before they occur. An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.  Yet many people spend most of their time fixing problems instead of taking preventive action.  A good boss understands what risks lay ahead and actively plans on how to prevent or minimize them using policies, procedures, and well-defined processes.  A bad boss is constantly firefighting and has no time (or skill) for fire prevention.
3. Matches employee skills to the job. Everybody is better at some things than others.  A good boss seeks to understand how to put an employee’s capabilities to the best use.   A bad boss puts people where they are needed because there is work to be done.
4. Deals with bad employees. It happens.  Sometimes an employee is just not working out.  A good boss quickly addresses the problem.  Perhaps moving them to a better job fit.  If all else fails then a good boss knows that it is better for both parties if the problem employee left the company.  A bad boss keeps the bad employee around for far too long.  Bad bosses don’t want to face any conflict and would prefer to hide from problems.
5. Shows respect and values every employee. A good boss understands you have an outside life, family, and other commitments.  A good boss responds to your emails, requests to review your reports, or obtain answers to your questions, all in a timely manner.  A bad boss likes to yell at you, make unreasonable demands on your time, and always has an excuse for why they did not have time for your requests, yet fails to understand why you did not get their requests done on time.
6. Focuses on getting the job done and not the time clock. Every boss wants the job done and done right.  The question is how much flexibility you have to get the job done.  A good boss empowers employees to make decisions, allows flexibility, and recognizes creative approaches to solving problems.  A bad boss watches the clock, your vacation time, and how you use your time at work but does not recognize the time you put in after work hours, your travel for work on weekends, or when you stay late at the office.
7. Is consistent, predictable, and tells the truth. To maintain an effective relationship with management, you have to trust your boss.  Trust is built up over the years by seeing consistent, predictable actions taken by management.  Good managers communicate well.  They don’t change positions (at least they don’t do it frequently), provide false information, or set unrealistic expectations for projects or goals.  Bad bosses overpromise and under deliver.  A bad boss makes promises to customers that their employees cannot achieve and then yells at them for failing the client.
8. Communicates with their employees, often. Management is about frequent communication.  A good boss communicates, both up and down the chain of command, recognizing that good internal communication benefits the whole company.  A bad boss doesn’t communicate clearly (one-word emails?), doesn’t meet with you often enough, and sometimes never talks to you at all.  Bad bosses are bad communicators.
9. Coaches and trains others. Improving employee performance is a critical skill of a good boss and a distraction to a bad boss.  A good boss actively coaches you at work, clearly explains expectations, and sets a good example for you to copy.  The bad boss just wants it done and leaves you unsure as to what is exactly wanted.
10. Praises employees and rewards good work. Everybody enjoys recognition and praise.  A good boss notices your good work and publically acknowledges your superior performance.  A bad boss prefers to take credit for your accomplishments without any acknowledgement at all.  Good bosses provide rewards, incentives, and praise.  Bad bosses take all the rewards, incentives and praise for themselves.

Are you a good boss or a bad boss?

If you find yourself accomplishing all ten qualities then you are more than a good boss, you are a great boss.  Keep up the great work and pass it on to your employees.  On the other hand, if you recognize a few of the bad boss traits in yourself, then cheer up.  At least you see these traits as bad.  Most bad bosses are in denial and will not admit that we are talking about them.  Work on eliminating your bad boss traits and improving upon your good boss traits and your life will get easier.

The top ten qualities that make a good boss:

1. Communicates with their boss.
2. Prevents problems before they occur.
3. Matches employee skills to the job.
4. Deals with bad employees.
5. Shows respect and values every employee.
6. Focuses on getting the job done and not the time clock.
7. Is consistent, predictable, and tells the truth.
8. Communicates with their employees, often.
9. Coaches and trains others.
10. Praises employees and rewards good work.

1. Clean and orderly work areas. Most companies start getting lean by implementing 5S, a system of sorting, setting in order, shining (cleaning), standardizing, and sustaining.  For some, this sounds like cleaning work areas.  A lean system has clean work areas, but clean work cells by themselves are not lean.  A lean work cell contains ONLY what you need.  Extra materials are removed and required materials are clearly marked and have a place.
2. Visual production plans and instructions.  When you look inside a lean company you will see work areas labeled with printed signs, the product ion flow is obvious, with clearly marked hourly production goals.  A lean company is well organized with balanced production flows.
   

   Lean Daily Management

3. Visible equipment status.  Andon is a Japanese word, which means “lantern” or “lamp”.  Andon lights (red, yellow, green stoplights) are common on production equipment, which are used to indicate if machines are running (green), are stopped (red) or about to run out of material or need help (yellow).  Some machines come with andon lights, but those lights are of little help if they are not used.  Andon lights are signals that help your lean system flow.
4. Well-defined defect occurrences.  Standard work or policies and procedures, should define what defects are for that process and how to handle them.  Defects must be recorded and corrected if you are to eliminate them from re-occurrence.  A lean system has a well-defined method for defect response.  They are not ignored.
5. Little Work In Process (WIP) inventory.  Just in Time (JIT) means only the materials needed for the next job or process step are arriving for processing. In other words, no large batches of standing material, no material handling of next weeks jobs, and no defective materials awaiting rework.  JIT systems utilize lean accounting methods.
6. Streamlined material handling.  To eliminate work in process you need streamlined material handling, which means work cells close enough to each other that one cell can easily hand the part to the next cell.  Work cells are balanced so that they are never waiting long for that next part, and materials are choke-released into the production stream at predefined takt time based intervals.
7. Clearly marked reorder levels.  Kanban is a Japanese word which means signal so a Kanban based inventory system is based on clearly marked purchasing reorder signals.  The reorder point is based on the materials usage to support the predetermined takt time that your system is balanced to.  If you have not balanced your system to a takt time then you are not very lean yet.
8. Well-maintained equipment.  Total Preventive Maintenance (TPM) is a system of attending to the maintenance needs of your equipment so that your machines do not break down in the middle of production.  If you are maintaining your equipment on a schedule and repairing them before they breakdown then your following a lean program.
9. Stress free employees.  Lean systems show great respect for workers.  A workers time is not wasted.  Processes are well-defined with clear error-proofing (Poke Yoke) implemented ahead of time.  Workers are encouraged to “Stop” the system in order to fix defects as they occur.  A worker’s input is encouraged as a great source of process improvement ideas.  A lean system empowers workers to increase productivity through lean thinking.
10. Noticeable signs of improvement.  A lean system is under a constant state of front-line driven improvements.  Employees are always working on correcting defects from occurring, maintaining their work cells with 5S, performing preventive maintenance, and finding opportunities for improvement.  Companies in Japan get more than 200 times the number of front-line ideas and more of those ideas are implemented, than the average company in the United Stated.  Process improvements in a lean system are driven by the employees and NOT management.
    

    Lean Improvement Ideas

What Does A Lean System Look Like?

1. Clean and orderly work areas.
2. Visual production plans and instructions.
3. Visible equipment status.
4. Well-defined defect occurrences.
5. Little Work In Process (WIP) inventory.
6. Streamlined material handling.
7. Clearly marked reorder levels.
8. Well-maintained equipment.
9. Stress free employees.
10. Noticeable signs of improvement.

To learn more about using process improvement programs for your organization, attend the next Implementing Lean Thinking class. If you are eager to learn more about creating more order out of the chaos you are feeling at work, then the How to Create Well-Defined Processes class is right for you.  ISO 9000 Quality Auditor classes are forming now for Internal Auditor or Lead Auditor. Call for information on having your own private in-house classes today.

1. Define and Map your processes.  The process of creating your process maps will force you to define your processes and the sequence and interaction of those processes.  Process maps are important for understanding who is responsible for what.  They define your core business process and communicate the flow of your business.  When mapping your processes:

• Follow an order through the system.
• Identify support processes for IT, HR, and Accounting.
• Determine how quality interacts with each process either for inspection, review, or to roll-up metrics in support of Quality Objectives.

2. Define Your Quality Policy.  Your Quality Policy states the mission of your organization as it relates to quality.  It is your quality mission.  When writing your quality policy think about your commitment to:

• quality
• customer satisfaction
• continuous improvement

3. Define Your Quality Objectives.  These are the objectives of the quality system.  They must be communicated and each employee must understand their impact on quality.  ISO requires that your quality objectives are:

• Derived from your quality policy
• Measureable
• Deployed through the organization

4. Define Your Defects for each process.  Defects are nonconformances that occur either as a product defect or a process defect.  Each time a defect occurs it needs to be counted in some way.  When defining your defects:

• Determine transaction volume
• Determine defects (product and process based)
• Define how defects are recorded
• Define how defects are charted and communicated

5. Develop Your Documents and Records.  ISO 9001:2008 requires a Quality Manual, six procedures, and 21 records.  There are many more optional documents and records that can be used but they are not required.  Start with the minimum ISO document set and add more as needed.

• Create required documents for your business model
• Create necessary policies, procedures and forms
• Create Records for each processes

6. Define Your Quality Process.  Your quality processes include:

• Internal audit process
• Corrective and preventive action process
• Management review, communication, and commitment

7. Determine Your Training Needs.  Everyone needs to demonstrate competence in their job.  Training is only the beginning and can occur on the job, from a class, or through other means.  Either way:

• Internal auditor competence is critical
• Corrective Action training is highly recommended
• Failure Modes Effects Analysis (FMEA) training is strongly suggested

8. Use the Quality Management System.  Yes you have to use the system for it to be any good at producing quality products.  Using the QMS means:

• Collecting nonconformance data continuously
• Reviewing nonconformance data for corrective action, continuously
• Reviewing FMEAs for Preventive action, frequently
• Performing internal audits and management reviews periodically

9. Measure and Monitor Your Performance.  If you are using the QMS then you are collecting data.  But what good is data you collect but do not understand.  You need to:

• Track your Quality Objectives performance
• Define new performance benchmarks
• Discover improvement opportunities in your data by identifying trends, patters, or correlations

10. TAKE ACTION That Improves Your Performance.  If you have data and identified trends, then it is time to act.  Action is what the QMS is all about.  We are not tracking data for the auditor, for ISO, or for the quality manager.  The whole goal is to deliver improvement and this happens by:

• Prioritizing your improvement opportunities
• Choosing opportunities that make a difference
• Reinforcing your commitment to quality to achieve better results

Ten Easy Steps to Building a Quality Management System

1. Define and Map your processes
2. Define Your Quality Policy
3. Define Your Quality Objectives
4. Define Your Defects for each process
5. Develop Your Documents and Records
6. Define Your Quality Process
7. Determine Your Training Needs
8. Use the Quality Management System
9. Measure and Monitor Your Performance
10. TAKE ACTION That Improves Your Performance

Whether you realize it or not, the management system you are using is a quality management system.  So why not do it right and build a QMS to produce products with real quality.  Bizmanualz is available to help you build a lean ISO quality system that delivers real value and rewards.  Call to find out more information on how your business can benefit from implementing lean ISO Quality Today.

A comprehensive library that contains hundreds of policies and procedures, along with hundreds of supporting reports, forms, and job descriptions – Over 1,000 documents in all.  A library where all of the procedures have the same format.  A library of editable MS Word templates that you could easily change if you wanted to change them.

The procedures make complete “how to” guides for just about every business function you can think of, which are arranged in various company departments throughout the library. Then, in each department, there is a department manual which goes into detail about that business category.

Your Policies and Procedures Are Ready…

Yes, it is possible, and you too could have access to just such a policies and procedures library. All you have to do is look through the Bizmanualz collection of Policies and Procedures Manuals.  Find the department manual you need and the next thing you know… Your policies and procedures are ready!

Select from

• Accounting Policies
• Financial Procedures
• HR – Human Resources Employee Manual
• IT – Information Technology Procedures
• Sales & Marketing Policy
• ISO Quality Manual
• Security Plans
• Disaster Management
• or a business sampler that contains a little bit of everything.

Choose any one of the finest policies and procedures manuals available, developed by Bizmanualz.  Your satisfaction is guaranteed.  All of the Bizmanualz MS Word templates are instantly downloadable for your immediate use.  Start today… Your policies and procedures are ready!

Document management software is for managing paper documents. Find them, retrieve them, and print them out. With policies and procedures management, we are managing electronic documents, which are just files. A procedure does not have to be paper.

A procedure could be an audio file, a video file, or a Visio flow chart, process map, or graphical job aid. No standard requires paper based systems. Standards such as FDA, ISO, Sarbanes-Oxley, or Joint Commission require procedures but nothing says a procedure must be written down on paper. They just have to be controlled. Yet, we are so used to written procedures and we have written so many of them that it is hard to get away from paper-based thinking.

Will The Next Generation Want To Read Paper?

The next generation is growing up with the iPhone, iPad, and the internet. They are used to graphical interfaces, video games, social media, and mobile applications that are interactive, colorful, and intuitive. Compare these with paper polices and procedure and they instantly think—boring, old school, antique. Paper is so yesterday. Remember the paperless office? Perhaps it’s here. In the future, you will read your paper on your iPad. Search for instant information on your iPhone. And expect a graphical interface for your information. Will your policies and procedures be ready?

What Will Your Policies And Procedures Look Like In The Future?

I am not talking about paper documents. I am talking about electronic files instead of document files. Electronic procedures can incorporate videos, or audio. Spreadsheets can be controlled and released too. Any type of electronic file can be used as a procedure. Electronic files are more platform independent too. Video and audio can be played back easily on mobile devices.

Bizmanualz new OnPolicy procedures management software makes procedure management easy. Any type of procedure can be controlled and released to any user in their original electronic format. Electronic documents are perfect for expense report spreadsheet templates, Word templates for business letters, PowerPoint presentations, logo graphics and brand standards or instances where you need to control the starting point for a document. Of course you can also release video or audio work instructions. Basically any electronic document can be controlled and released, which makes company templates easy to distribute.”

Once you realize that electronic policies and procedures do not require paper, then the whole world of policies and procedures changes. Give it a try, but you will need OnPolicy Procedures Management Software to control your work.

The New OnPolicy Procedures Library incorporates 960 business documents into a single toolbox of helpful “how-to” procedures for the day to day management of any business.  These best practices for the efficient management of any business or company will help your business improve productivity, build operational consistency, and prepare for compliance.

Every department is covered with a brief introduction into how the department function works, a department management manual, and detailed department policies, procedures, and forms. Every procedure acts as a “how-to” guide to specific job functions with supporting materials included for: job descriptions, legal agreements, checklists, reports, logs, and letters.

Plus other important documents include:

policies procedures manuals

• ISO 9001 Quality Manual
• Employee Handbook
• IT security
• Embezzlement Prevention
• Internet Marketing
• Disaster Recovery
• Security Planning
• Business Management Guide

Procedures cover all of your important business functions for:

• Hiring employees
• Collecting accounts receivable
• Implementing computer security
• Orchestrating sales
• Raising capital
• Controlling costs

The OnPolicy Procedures Library stands heads and shoulders above the rest because it’s a “teaching” business library. The procedures make complete “how to” guides for just about every business function you can think of, which are arranged in various company departments throughout the library. Then, in each department, there is a department manual which goes into detail about that business category.

For example, the section on Accounting starts off with the core accounting cycles for cash, assets, and revenue. Management responsibilities, job descriptions, and daily reports are covered with clear explanations of who does what, when. The policies and procedures are great for compliance but the reports, forms and job descriptions provide a complete package that can help any business build the consistency and repeatability needed for success.

These business policies and procedures are designed to assist busy managers by providing a framework for standard operating procedures.  The software allows you to easily edit any and all documents in MS-Word or OpenOffice.  For more information go to: OnPolicy Procedures Library.

1. Extra inventory needed while you wait for your restocking order that is in transit from your chosen low-wage manufacturer. Remember, it is travelling slowly over the ocean a long distance away.
2. Extra “safety stock” inventory to protect you from supply chain interruptions caused by a host of unkown transit risks (pirates, weather, port delays, power disruptions, etc).
3. Unplanned expediting costs (overnight, overseas delivery) of critical parts that will definitely happen but will not be proposed in the initial cost justification for going overseas.
4. Extra long travel by management and engineers to fix problems, perform supplier audits, and develop business relationships within your supply chain.
5. Communication and time delays caused be managing information hand-offs, feedback, and the overall flow of information. Time is money…
6. Reallocation of overhead to the remaining assets or cost structures that are left behind, which raises those costs and makes the remaining operations the target of the next outsourcing project.
7. Warranty claims, scrapped product and lost business due to quality problems, delivery of different goods than what was ordered, and customers growing impatient with off-shore goods.
8. Lost market share (in the low wage country and later worldwide) due to your new supplier learning your business, your products (including manufacturing), and ultimately competing with you in the market (regardless of what you think your legal agreement may say to the contrary).
9. Currency volatility or rising prices (inflation) in the low wage country, which means your low wage choice will not be low wage forever.
10. Political risk, government laws and regulation changes, or tariffs and duties imposed because of unemployment, trade deficits, or increasing nationalism in either the low wage country or your own.

I think that once you calculate all of your hidden costs associated with your Total Cost of Ownership you may find that low wage labor costs are not the whole story. You may want to rethink your strategy of moving your operations off-shore.

1. Visionary.  Leaders are able to create a vision of a positive future, which begins the process of getting buy-in from the team.  A leader without a vision is not a leader all, they are called a manager.
2. Strategic.  A good leader understands how to capitalize on the assets of the organization in order to create a successful vision.
3. Competent.  Leaders know their business.  They know the market and they know their customers.  This enables them to set a vision and strategy based on knowing, not guessing.
4. Perceptive.  Leaders notices the details, which can be strung together to make the strategy.  Leaders pay attention to the details and ensure that those details don’t fall through the cracks during implementation.
5. Articulate.  Leadership requires communicating the strategy in order to accomplish the vision.  A leader must be a good communicator, must give speeches, and must motivate the group towards the vision.  Leaders get buy-in to ensure results.
6. Passionate.  In order to lead others, one must truly believe in and care about the strategy and vision.  Nobody wants to follow a half-hearted leader.
7. Assertive.  A leader must overcome many obstacles and objections when trying to lead.  Maintaining ones position requires sticking to your beliefs.
8. Dedicated.  Leading means making a commitment to the cause.  Leaders lead by example and are the first to act on the strategy they are espousing.
9. Adaptive. Continuous improvement applies to leaders as well as processes.  A good leader knows when to accommodate others to achieve a greater good.
10. Decisive.  Making decisions is what a leader does.  Decisions may not always be liked but leaders make them anyway to keep the organization moving forward.

Top Ten Qualities of an Effective Business Leader

1. Visionary
2. Strategic
3. Perceptive
4. Competent
5. Articulate
6. Passionate
7. Assertive
8. Dedicated
9. Adaptive
10. Decisive

What are your top ten traits of an effective business leader?

• ISO 9000 contains the definitions and terminology used by the ISO 9001 standard.
• ISO 9001 contains the actual QMS requirements used for certification or registration audits.
• ISO 9004 is a set of guidelines that can be used to develop a quality management systems.

Although,  the three documents make up the ISO 9000 set, the main one that everyone concerns themselves with is the ISO 9001 standard itself.  About every seven years a new ISO 9000 set is released.  The release date is then added to each set to complete the naming convention.  So, ISO 9001:2008 is the full name of the standard and the current release used for ISO registration.

What is the difference between ISO 9001, 9002 and 9003?

We no longer use ISO 9002 or ISO 9003.  These names were used in the older ISO 9000:1994 standard that was obsoleted by the ISO 9000:2000 version, which in turn, was obsoleted by the latest ISO 9001:2008 version.  This may sound confusing but ISO rules require the standards to be reviewed and updated periodically to stay current with technological and market developments.  We don’t expect the next update until ISO 9001:2015.

Since the IOS is an international organization, it would have a different acronym in different languages.  Hence, the ‘ISO’ in English versus the ‘IOS’ in Swiss or the ‘OIN’ in French (Organisation internationale de normalisation).

The ISO standards are not named after an acronym.  ISO comes from the Greek word ‘isos’ for equal.  All ISO standards use the name ISO to mean ‘isos’ and not to mean an acronym.  So now, no matter the country or language that ISO is used in, the ISO standards are always pronounced the same.  It is not an I.S.O. standard as many people think.  It is an ISO standard. ISO is one word.  No pauses.

The blog content comes from our training classes, consulting practice, and the policies and procedures manuals themselves.  Over the years we have written about a wide range of topics.  People still ask questions and we are still answering them every month.

Below are some of the top questions regarding quality management systems.

1. What’s the Difference Between Policies and Procedures?
2. Are Procedures the Same as Work Instructions?
3. What’s the Difference between Corrective Action and Preventive Action?
4. What’s the Difference Between Verification and Validation?
5. What is a Lean ISO 9001 Quality Management System?
6. What Procedures Should You Write?
7. What is Continuous Improvement?
8. What is a Process Map?
9. How Are PDCA Cycles Used Inside ISO 9001?
10. Why Policies and Procedures Don’t Work.

If you have any questions about ISO 9000, quality, lean six sigma, or management systems design, ask them below and I will be happy to answer them in an upcoming blog post.

PoliciesProcedures.com, our companion website provides hundreds of example policy and procedure templates to choose from.  Launched in July, 2008, the site offers procedure templates in easily editable Microsoft Word format. You can instantly download the the right procedure(s) and immediately start editing in Microsoft Word. Each policy procedure documents is taken from the Bizmanualz Policies and Procedures Library.

Writing policy and procedure documents can be a whole lot easier with a sample in front of you.  So give it a try and make your life easier with downloadable procedure samples.

What’s A Policy?

A policy communicates an organization’s principles.  Companies have many different types of policies.  In marketing there is a pricing policy on how customers will be charged for their products.  Accounting will have an accounting policy on how reimbursement is issued, depreciation is booked, or purchase decisions are made.  Your policy on quality (a quality policy) is a required element of an ISO 9001 quality management system.

Company policy is used to influence decisions that employees must make.  We use company policy as a guide to company decision making.  Unfortunately, company policy is also used to make rules (think about an employee policy from your Employee Handbook) like a no smoking policy, policy against drinking, or policies for how to dress on the job. Employee policy is focused on office rules that are used to support your management principles.

Procedure Policy

But a company policy can also be seen as a mission statement, as part of a business procedure (think an accounting policy and procedure manual).  A policy in a procedure acts as a mini-mission statement containing the customer of the policy, it’s purpose, and a key performance indicator (KPI) to communicate how users know the procedure is working.

An example Accounts Receivable Procedure Policy:

Accounts Receivable personnel shall ensure that all outstanding customer invoices are paid in a timely manner.

In the Accounts Receivable policy you see the customer is the Accounts Receivable personnel. The purpose is to ensure outstanding customer invoices are paid and the KPI is a timely manner. The procedure needs to define what timely manner means.  A timely manner could be 30 days today (net 30) and 20 days next quarter (net 20), which provides a process improvement objective of 33%.

What’s A Procedure?

Company procedures assist companies in building consistency between each and every employee.  Procedures define a series of steps, actions, or methods to be followed as a consistent and repetitive approach to accomplish an end result.  Company procedure answers the “how” questions as in “how do you collect receivables.”

An example Accounts Receivable Procedure:

1. Send the first notice-invoice immediately (same day) as the sale.
2. Produce a receivables aging report.
3. Send a second notice to all invoices outstanding for 30 days.
4. Call all invoices outstanding for 45 days.
5. Send a third notice to all invoices outstanding for 60 days.
6. Call all invoices outstanding for 75 days.
7. Send all invoices outstanding for 90 days to collections.

A procedure could be something as simple as a checklist.  The goal of a procedure is to provide consistency.  Using simple checklists is the easiest way to begin to get consistency in your business.

The Difference between Policy and Procedure

A policy communicates an organization’s principles.  A company procedure assists companies in building consistency.  The main difference between a policy and procedure is that the policy communicates a direction whereas a procedure communicates the steps you take in the direction.  Company policy answers the “what” and your company procedure answers the “how” question.

You can view a free sample procedure at our samples section.