Here’s what you can expect from the ISO Support Group
For misunderstandings with the ISO Standards, we provide you with a no nonsense explanation of what they are… and what they can do… for all parts of your business, not just the core operating areas. Each requirement within them is linked to a typical, good business practice, that both managers and frontline employees alike, can directly relate to. We explain why a Customer would see each of the requirements as important when doing business with you.
Removing roadblocks preventing continual improvement from actually being practiced… is done in a stepwise manner, beginning with understanding what the management team wants to achieve, and their willingness to take “action”. We begin with the Strategic/Business plan and investigate how business objectives cascade down into the organization (if they do), and uncover what processes have an impact on them through the use of a business model. This is followed with identifying the “vital few” measurements that link directly to those business processes that drive the objectives (through the use of scorecards/dashboards). Using this information, a process improvement roadmap is developed, performance gaps are highlighted and action plans are initiated to address each one. The key feature of this approach is the connecting of the overall business targets to the performance of those processes over which managers can actually have an impact on.
For ineffective Problem Solving, we re-design your Corrective Action process… by establishing a systematic approach using a proven series of steps that will resolve problems quickly and only once. Simple, straightforward root cause analysis techniques are used to uncover what is driving the problem… once understood, these techniques can be easily transferred directly to the frontlines so they can be used daily.
For unproductive Management Review meetings, we connect your current methods of tracking performance… to the Management Review requirements found in ISO. If you only do this informally, we’ll develop a practical approach that you can implement easily. In either case, we will strengthen how this critical review activity is performed, so that you can stay on track and reach your targets.
For ineffective internal audits, we re-define your approach to how you perform them…
by embedding “process thinking” into the methods used by your auditors. We’ll help you design an audit plan based on your critical processes and show your auditors how to “walk the process” and look for improvements. Auditors will discover that investigating a flow or chain of events is much more interesting and rewarding than assessing isolated paragraphs in a procedure. Although you still won’t get Departments volunteering to be audited, our approach draws them into the auditing activity by tapping into their process knowledge, which helps break down, and minimize, resistance.
For excessive paperwork and record keeping, we take a look at how you’ve built your management system… and challenge how it’s currently structured versus how you operate. We start with an overall mapping of your main business processes and then highlight which areas require a procedure, and where records are needed, to meet the minimum requirements in ISO. From there we draw from your existing management system, any documentation needed to run your business. Whatever documentation left over is questioned as to its value-add, and eliminated if there is none. What remains is a simplified, streamlined management system that reflects how you actually operate, and documented only to the extent needed.
To eliminate any disconnect between ISO and how you run your business… a comparison is done between how you operate currently against what is being asked for inside ISO. Where there is a match with the ISO requirements, we determine if ISO can add any value to the activity. Where there is a gap, we show you how to develop a process that will strengthen your operations and at the same time satisfy ISO. This approach makes use of your teams so that they walk away understanding and actually seeing the connections between their day-to-day, month-to-month activities… and ISO.
Removing waste (costs) from the operations… is accomplished by first analyzing your current situation using Process/Value-Stream Mapping to identify where waste is occurring. These wastes are then targeted and removed/reduced through the application of Lean Techniques such as Kaizen Events and 5-S. This involves a comprehensive overhaul of your business operations and requires full commitment from the very top, as well as effective deployment directly to the frontlines.