Business procedures

Quality system procedures are a certain type of procedure. They implement the operational policies and regulate processes that produce an output, the quality of which is essential to the business. Procedures do not in fact achieve quality - it is people who do that. Procedures do not take decisions, it is people who do that. So you could have the best procedures in the world and still not achieve quality. It has to be a combination of both for you to achieve the desired quality. 

A. Mr. Sprecher, I don t think that s a fair question. I don t know all the business procedures of such a huge organization as I.G. Farben. 

Another aspect of organizational management is the need for proper business procedures. The laboratory should not undertake work that results in a conflict of interest, and generally should not bring the accreditation system into disrepute by engaging in activities that would diminish confidence in the laboratory. 

If you have a solo consulting practice, you will also need to be concerned with day-to-day business procedures, like billing and accounts payable. This is where some business education will come in handy. Of course, you can hire a business manager to make sure your taxes are paid in a timely manner and your customers pay their bills, but you will always need to understand what is happening with your business, even if you look at the books only once every couple of weeks. 

Plant operations—operations research and linear programming of the commercial plant for maximum economic returns cost accounting, payroll preparation, and other business procedures. 

The risk assessment process is a journey rather than an event. Companies that are just starting to complete risk assessments find their first efforts will require more time and will be less complete than later efforts. As personnel involved receive training and become more familiar with the risk assessment process, more hazards will be identified, more risk reduction methods deployed and the risk assessment process will improve and hasten in pace. As lessons are learned and experience is gained, risk assessment becomes more refined. However, some time and experience is required for the risk assessment process to become fully integrated into a company. How much time depends on the company and its circumstances, but it typically takes months, not weeks. Eventually the risk assessment process will become a part of normal business procedures. Until then, industry needs time to fully and formally implement these concepts. (Introduction)... 

The use of these techniques is an important element of industrial policy since they contribute to the creation of a business friendly regulatory environment allowing the combination of measures taken for internal organisational reasons and obligations of certification without lowering the level of safety to be achieved. Wlienever possible a choice between product control and quality assurance procedures is offered to manufacturers. 

Dow Fire and Explosion Index. The Dow Eire and Explosion Index (3) is a procedure usehil for determining the relative degree of hazard related to flammable and explosive materials. This Index form works essentially the same way as an income tax form. Penalties are provided for inventory, extended temperatures and pressures, reactivity, etc, and credits are appHed for fire protection systems, process control (qv), and material isolation. The complete procedure is capable of estimating a doUar amount for the maximum probable property damage and the business intermptionloss based on an empirical correlation provided with the Index. 

Explosion prevention by inerting has several advantages over explosion protection techniques, such as explosion venting. For example, with successful inerting, fires or business interruptions cannot occur. Nevertheless, beware of the potential of asphyxiation with inerting proper vessel entry procedures must be implemented and occasionally it may be prudent to monitor for oxygen in workplaces. 

The systematic application of management policies, procedures, and practices to the tasks of analyzing, assessing, and controlling risk in order to protect employees, the general public, and the environment, as well as company assets, while avoiding business interruptions... 

Ensuring that the policy is relevant to the expectations and needs of the organization s customers is a little more difficult. Companies need to predict what their customer expectations and needs are (now a requirement in clause 4.1.4 under Business plans). They may be beyond what they specify in contracts although they may in fact be identical to such specifications. For companies to create satisfied customers they not only need to meet requirements specified by the customer but meet national and international legislation and have consideration for the needs and expectations of society. As explained in Part 1 Chapter 1 on Quality characteristics, customers are not only the buyers but comprise several other interested parties. You need to provide a means of determining what the customer expectations and needs are and then subject the written quality policy to a review against those expectations and needs to determine if there is any conflict. As part of your business planning procedure you should indicate how you determine your customer s current and future needs and expectations. 

Create procedures for developing and maintaining business plans. 

In documenting your operational policies to meet ISO/TS 16949 you need to address each requirement in the standard where it is relevant to your business in terms that enshrine the above principles. Procedures implement policies - therefore the policies do not need to stipulate how things are carried out. In order to be effective, the policies should state what is to be done and the rules that constrain the actions and decisions connected with it. 

To keep your policies and procedures up-to-date with the latest industry practices you should provide a means of identifying new developments. This can be done by scanning journals, attending seminars and conferences, and generally maintaining an awareness of developments in quality management and technologies relevant to your business. 

The standard doesn t require a procedure for Management Review and while it does require procedures for Design Control it does not specify that a Design Review Procedure is required. The phrases consistent with and in accordance with have the same meaning as both imply compatibility and agreement. If you restrict yourself to a literal interpretation of the standard, you need produce no more than 43 documented procedures - possibly less if some aspects do not apply to your business. You can combine several procedures in one document, the size of which depends on the complexity of your business. The more complex the business the greater the number of quality system documents. The more variations in the ways that work is executed, the larger the quality system will need to be. If you have a small business and only one way of carry-... 

Install the procedures, standards, and guides into the business operations on a progressive basis. 

Contract review is but one of the tasks in the contract acquisition process. These are marketing, prospect acquisition, tendering, contract negotiation, contract award, and then contract review. However, in a sales situation, you may simply have a catalog of products and services and a sales office taking orders over the telephone or over the counter. The contract review element of this operation takes a few seconds while you determine if you can supply the item requested. In an organization that produces products to specific customer requirements you may in fact carry out all the tasks in the contract acquisition process. Rather than isolate the contract review task and produce a procedure for this, your business may benefit more from a procedure or series of procedures that covers the contract acquisition process as a whole. 

---