ISO 9001:2000 for Small Business: Implementing Process-Approach Quality Management

Rating:
Summary: The best book to implement ISO 9001:2000 in small businesses
Review: As I'm implementing sections of this book in my organization, I am guided to understand the interrelationship of processes and their quality requirements. This is truly a quality throughput system from beginning to end in a product's manufacturing cycle. The written communication tools in this book, especially flowcharting, targeting core departmental interactions in maintaining the achievement of product quality in line with customer requirements, are superbly followed through. Process ownership becomes part of the job in each process assignment from the contract activities to the shipping dock. I would call this book the show-me-how-to-do handbook in managing product quality in cross-functional organizations. Up-front problem prevention is the name of the game in this book. I love it.<

Rating:
Summary: Process Approach or Six Sigma. Astronomical cost difference.
Review: Frankly, I never read about "Process Approach" in any books until my father handed me this one. After I read it, I knew that "process approach" was all about preventing problems through measurable quality objectives folded into the operations' quality procedures. The author provides 235 pages worth of tutoring flowcharts from the books' 565 pages on how to construct, implement, integrate, and maintain a quality management system based on prevention. He is actually implementing the system from the floor as a business is operating. I used only the flowcharts at this time in writing my procedures.

I own a daycare business and was recently cited by the State of Connecticut for numerous process-related violations. So who was at fault, my employees who didn't follow my verbal instructions or I who didn't give them written process instructions. I think the answer is obvious that I was at fault. I'm the business owner. Needless to say, I needed help and needed it fast. Since I read quite a bit about six sigma initiatives, I knew that if I followed the methodologies given, I would be able to solve the cited violations quickly. The more I reviewed my problems the more I became confused. After evaluating my daycare's operating processes, I have determined that applying six sigma practices wouldn't give me everything I needed, because it was not a preventive system. It was a process repair system, problem at a time, and it would cost me an arm and a leg to install it. No. I said. Six Sigma would continue pinpointing my problems alright after my employees made them, but I can't afford running my business through the analysis of statistical charts. I cannot accept piling up additional problems while one is being corrected. I needed total prevention in my operations from the beginning to the end, from everybody, including myself. This is where Mr. Gaal's book guided me in writing my procedures to prevent problems from taking over my business. I flowcharted all my business processes the same way as the author did in his "Training Metrics". I followed the same layout, process numbering, work-title, responsibility identification and process instructions for quality objectives the same way as Mr. Gaal did. Except, I tailored everything to suit my operations. Now I took the citations and made them quality objectives and plugged them in as were needed under the various sub-processes in the operations' flow cycle. For sure, if I didn't put in the quality objectives in terms of measurable quality objectives, in due time, my employees would have made mistakes again possibly in every process step - a different kind than the citation identified, a different kind for a new citation later. Now I can monitor everybody's job actions from the recorded data and take on-spot corrective action on violations. I'm doing in-process continual improvements. No hassle, no added cost, no statistics, and most importantly, no misunderstanding. The quality objective procedures in flowchart format do it all. Process by process, they are my procedures, the instructions, check sheets, audit sheets. They are my records. When the State did the follow-up audit, they not only found a fualtless operation, but I was the first daycare in the State with no problems found on re-audit. I received my daycare license for two more years on the spot.

Later on, I will create my quality management system straight from this book, for it has a lot more real information and examples than I will ever need on how to prevent mistakes. This book puts on a new face about how to implement ISO requirements that is actually putting money in my pocket.

Rating:
Summary: Process Approach or Six Sigma. Astronomical cost difference.
Review: Frankly, I never read about "Process Approach" in any books until my father handed me this one. After I read it, I knew that "process approach" was all about preventing problems through measurable quality objectives folded into the operations' quality procedures. The author provides 235 pages worth of tutoring flowcharts from the books' 565 pages on how to construct, implement, integrate, and maintain a quality management system based on prevention. He is actually implementing the system from the floor as a business is operating. I used only the flowcharts at this time in writing my procedures.

I own a daycare business and was recently cited by the State of Connecticut for numerous process-related violations. So who was at fault, my employees who didn't follow my verbal instructions or I who didn't give them written process instructions. I think the answer is obvious that I was at fault. I'm the business owner. Needless to say, I needed help and needed it fast. Since I read quite a bit about six sigma initiatives, I knew that if I followed the methodologies given, I would be able to solve the cited violations quickly. The more I reviewed my problems the more I became confused. After evaluating my daycare's operating processes, I have determined that applying six sigma practices wouldn't give me everything I needed, because it was not a preventive system. It was a process repair system, problem at a time, and it would cost me an arm and a leg to install it. No. I said. Six Sigma would continue pinpointing my problems alright after my employees made them, but I can't afford running my business through the analysis of statistical charts. I cannot accept piling up additional problems while one is being corrected. I needed total prevention in my operations from the beginning to the end, from everybody, including myself. This is where Mr. Gaal's book guided me in writing my procedures to prevent problems from taking over my business. I flowcharted all my business processes the same way as the author did in his "Training Metrics". I followed the same layout, process numbering, work-title, responsibility identification and process instructions for quality objectives the same way as Mr. Gaal did. Except, I tailored everything to suit my operations. Now I took the citations and made them quality objectives and plugged them in as were needed under the various sub-processes in the operations' flow cycle. For sure, if I didn't put in the quality objectives in terms of measurable quality objectives, in due time, my employees would have made mistakes again possibly in every process step - a different kind than the citation identified, a different kind for a new citation later. Now I can monitor everybody's job actions from the recorded data and take on-spot corrective action on violations. I'm doing in-process continual improvements. No hassle, no added cost, no statistics, and most importantly, no misunderstanding. The quality objective procedures in flowchart format do it all. Process by process, they are my procedures, the instructions, check sheets, audit sheets. They are my records. When the State did the follow-up audit, they not only found a fualtless operation, but I was the first daycare in the State with no problems found on re-audit. I received my daycare license for two more years on the spot.

Later on, I will create my quality management system straight from this book, for it has a lot more real information and examples than I will ever need on how to prevent mistakes. This book puts on a new face about how to implement ISO requirements that is actually putting money in my pocket.

Rating:
Summary: ISO9001: 2000 for Small Business? I don't think so!
Review: I run a small software content business in Australia. I bought this book with the intent on using it for the forms, procedures and documents. Arpad Gaal's book sounded really promising as it was going to solve my ISO9001:2000 implementation. I sweated for weeks reading through the book and trying to work out what was required. I then re-read the ISO9001: 2000 standards dozens of times and it just didn't match with Gaal's book. I was feeling really frustrated about this project. The reason being was that the book is not matching the ISO9001:2000 standards at all - it is a dress up from the earlier '94 standard and is really rebadged as 'ISO9001:2000'. This book did not help it hindered my work towards accreditation. The main reasons are;
a. wrong prcoedures - preventive and corrective action procedures are two procedures in the requirements whilst Gaal sticks these together.
b. the procedures are up to 30-40 pages long to do simple tasks. This is not a process except to spend days reading unnecessary words. Trying to figure the painful processes which can be summarised in a sentence sometimes was not worth it.
c. a book on quality should at least be close to error free as what people expect - this book has many typos and errors for example 'certifcate of comformance' and on and on.

Simply look elsewhere! The work involved in unpacking the badly written text and working out the errors is not worth it!

Rating:
Summary: The best ISO book for shop management
Review: Let's go to the goal in enterprising! We are in business for two primary reasons. One: to sell our products to customers. Two: to make a profit. But first, we must satisfy our customers' requirements in order to get paid for our services.

Mr. Gaal's book is based on how to satisfy customers' requirements through process controls. He puts the emphasis on achieving product quality through first-time production maintenance. He proves through his fully documented system that product quality is a lot more than just a shop problem. Although most problems end up there because of the way we handle cross-functional activities, the contributing causes,however, originate from the lack of coordination and interfacing of those activities within the entire organizational stucture. He corrects all these through a fully documented quality management system based on integration and interfacing of all cross-functional responsibilities in one direction, - managing the entire product quality cycle from beginning to end through measurable quality objectives. The customer, the supplier, and the organization itself are very effectively coordinated and inter-linked in the product realization processes. As I see it, this is really a closed-loop process management system. And it is cleverly executed by the locked-in corrective action follow-up to prove effective implementation. Without effective follow-up, closure of the improvement action cannot take place.

As I'm implementing sections of this book in my organization, I am guided to understand the interrelationship of processes and their quality requirements. This is truly a Quality Throughput system from the beginning to the end in a product's manufacturing cycle. The written communication tools in this book, especially flowcharting, targeting core departmental interactions in maintaining the achievement of product quality in line with customer requirements, are superbly followed through. Process ownership becomes part of the job in each process assignment from the contract activities to the shipping dock. I would call this book the show-me-how-to-do handbook in managing product quality in cross-functional organizations. Up-front problem prevention is the name of the game in this book. I love it.

Rating:
Summary: Measurable Quality Objectives Model
Review: The methods used in this book can provide the easiest and most cost-effective way to prevent quality problems by the practical application of measurable quality objective requirements.

What prompted me to read this book was the first of the features found on the back cover. "Serves as a Six Sigma tool for implementing cross-functional integration and standerdization." I looked up the Table of Contents but found no heading for this subject. So I started reading the book, here and there. I discovered right of way that this book is not based on herd mentality as most ISO books I read were. Within a short time, I found that process integration and standardization was not a separate subject but a structural, procedural requirement, a vital part of the whole process-approach framework. The surprising thing here was that process integration and standardization in the whole process-approach system was a way of doing things, a natural result of team interaction. One sees this right of way that a collaboritive action is going on here in logical order to tie cross-functional team activities together. By applying this method, the author achieved full control of each individual process as that process impacted other processes in the work cycle. It also answered the ever present question that six sigma trained personnel frequently face: where and how to flow down and document continual improvements in a quality system lacking integration in cross-functional activities. The work responsibilities here are clearly identified as to process ownership and titled and unmistakably indexed in every procedure. No questions arise where things belong. In addition, the referencing mechanism in this book is model to imitate.

Something previously unheard of that relates to the concept of defining quality objective requirements, I found in this book totally convincing to emulate. While most of us think of quality objectives in general terms, the author on the other hand gives specific requirements for them in each work process and presents them in measurable terms. The beginning and the end in each process instruction become the tolerance boundary of the quality objective requirement. This method is applied everywhere whether one does administrative or production related work. The measurable work results become the objective criteria for monitoring and auditing conformity. What is truly exceptional in this process-approach system is how the work results are accomplished. The work methods instructions are not part of any measurable quality objective requirement. The process instructions control all activities. How you achieve the work results to meet the quality objective requirements is now up to the trained personnel doing the work. The author excluded the work methods definitions from the documented quality management system and thereby eliminated a large chunk of paperwork. He charged Engineering to define work methods in the Job Travelers and in the Operation Sheets as required. What this means is that, unless otherwise required, I can do my work the most efficient way I'm trained and meet a process requirement without strapping my hands to the elaborately written work instruction procedures. I think this is a very significant improvement over current practices in the economical utilization of manpower.

In conclusion, if you are looking for a quality management book that also meets ISO requirements and that shows you how to prevent problems in shop management, this is the one that should have your fingerprints all over it. I also recommend this book for blackbelts and quality engineers to guide them in the understanding on how to implement, integrate, document, and control customer requirements and quality improvements in the work processes of your organization. It is clearly and simply written without burdening the reader with theories or six sigma statistics.

Rating:
Summary: just awful
Review: This book is a waste of time and riddled with errors. The other reviews must have been written by friends of the author's mother!

Rating:
Summary: ISO9001: 2000 for Small Business? I don't think so!
Review: This book looked to be so good but due to the shipment etc. I could not return it like customers in the USA. I was really hoping to get something to help me and unpack these complex issues.

I am one of the people this book is supposed to help. I own and manage a small software content business with national and international activities and needed a process approach to the production of our products. Some points you need to know about this book:
a. Quality editing? - it is full of typos 'CERTFICATE of COMFORMANCE' is one of the forms you can use(?). This is in a book on quality! The language is not succinct and is verbose describing simple things such as 'using a ticket'.
b. the flow charts are impractical and would require an employee to read a detailed and poorly written instruction to work through the examples. The procedures require a lot of changes and the presentation means they would be very long and hard to follow.
c. this book is a rework on the earlier ISO 9002:1994 causing a serious oversight in the rework which was the break up of the corrective and preventive actions into procedures. Gaal lumps these into one procedure so you would probably need to get the auditor back to check that nonconformance.

We are certified to ISO9001: 2000 and the process was not helped by wasting time with inaccurate and overcomplex self-help guides.
Look for help from the Standards people!