Quality Management Step Notes Sample
Quality Management Step Notes Sample
CERTIFYING QUALITY
Certification is intended to bring “standardisation” so that customers can have
confidence in the physical interchangeability and similarity of performance of
items purchased at different times and/or from different suppliers.
Standardising agents can be national, international, industry associations, or simply
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large and influential customers. The objectives of these bodies can be to establish
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safety standards, interchangeability of products, higher product quality standards,
or better management practices.
Purchasers
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Large customers can exercise great influence on their suppliers through their
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purchasing power and desire for uniformity, e.g. the ISO/TS 16949:2009 standard
which describes the application of the ISO 9000 QMS to automotive production
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and associated service part organisations.
Other standards, such as TL 9000, have been designed specifically for use in the
telecommunications industry. TL 9000 is based on ISO 9000 and incorporates
performance metrics and measurements.
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Industrial Standardising Bodies
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Multiple Assessment
This would occur where a company supplies to a range of customers, each with
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their own certification standard for assessment. It is wasteful of resources for both
parties and could lead to widely differing results. This can be avoided by the use of
regulatory “third-party” assessment schemes.
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The BSI establishes written standards for a wide variety of products and services of
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commercial significance. British Standards are drawn up by all those who have a
particular interest and believe they will benefit by establishing a standard for the
subject concerned. They can include manufacturers, users, research organisations,
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government departments and consumers. A typical BSI technical committee
working on such a project could include representatives from all these groups. All
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Standards are also made available for public comment before they are issued.
Each year, BSI withdraws obsolete Standards and adds new ones.
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As the British national standards organisation, BSI is a member of numerous other
bodies, both European and fully international; for example the International
Organisation for Standardisation (ISO) whose name explains its function, and the
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International Electro-technical Commission (IEC) which has a very wide scope.
Through its membership of bodies such as the ISO, BSI is represented on their
policy and technical committees and so plays a part in formulating worldwide
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policies and practices, as well as contributing to the development and definition of
new standards.
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particular industry. There are, for example, whole blocks of British Standards on
automotive, marine and aerospace topics, whereas other Standards are sufficiently
general in scope to apply to many or all industries.
Several different types of document may be given the status of national standards
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STEP NOTES Quality Management
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Inspection criteria: e.g. BS 8461, Football goals. Code of practice for their
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procurement, installation, maintenance, storage and inspection.
Tables of data: e.g. BS 7231-1, Body measurements of boys and girls from
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birth up to 16.9 years. Information in the form of tables.
Definitions of terms, standard symbols and abbreviations: e.g. BS 499-1,
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Welding terms and symbols. Glossary for welding, brazing and thermal
cutting.
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Guides: e.g. BS 1916-1, Limits and fits for engineering. Guide to limits and
tolerances.
Defined Specifications
With regard to defined specifications of performance and other factors affecting
interchangeability, many product approvals are handled by defined test methods.
Examples are car windscreens and motor-cycle helmets. In all such cases the
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The rationale behind the requirement for approval of the quality management
system is that only through effective quality assurance can confidence in the
consistency of product be obtained; in other words, that all batches of helmets, for
example, will withstand impact as well as the batch tested independently.
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