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The “Secret” ISO Standards

While ISO has some generally well-known quality management standards like IATF 16949 and ISO14001, and they have very specific standards for producing products (like rear-mounted power take-off units for agricultural tractors known as ISO 500, or ISO 639 which covers codes for the representation of names of languages). In the middle stand some interesting and valuable additional management systems standards like these.

The Other Sides Of IATF/ISO Standards

What are ISO StandardsThe International Standards Organization (ISO) has many supporting standards which are used in conjunction with the ISO 9000 series. While some are more specific, the emphasis on many is to bring forth in a business environment, the best practices for producing consistently quality services and products. While we profile a couple in this article, you can go to our listing page and find many more such as:

These standards are distributed by us through Accuris, a standards publishing partner. Their vast inventory opens up many new avenues to learn about these tools to support your overall ISO certification efforts.

Getting To The Heart Of Supporting IATF 16949 With Core Tools

As part of the IATF 16949 standard, a group of essential or “core tools” have been defined. Most of which aid in maintaining the integrity of the production process itself. Here’s a brief overview, of the ones you can delve into more deeply.

Name What it covers Why is it good for you?
APQP: Advanced Product Quality Planning How do you introduce a new product without risking your business or creating unnecessary risk for your customer? The world belongs to those organizations which can rapidly and safely introduce new products.
FMEA: Failure Mode and Effects Analysis How to analyze a design or a production process to identify and communicate aspects that have a high risk of failure so management can act. We all face risk in what we do, but management sometimes has trouble identifying the extent of the risk as they make complex decisions (Challenger, Columbia).
MSA: Measurement system analysis How do you determine how much error is present in a measurement system including operators? There is always some error in every measurement, but you need to determine if it is acceptable or if you need to buy better instruments/train people.
PPAP:  Production part approval process A formal process for showing your customer that you can make their parts. It gives them the data they need to force you to provide the same (or better) quality forever. First, can the supplier do their job?  Prove it with the PPAP information. Second, prevent “bait and switch”.
SPC: Statistical process control An excellent and reasonably readable reference on shop-floor statistics: X Bar R charts, etc. There are lots of statistical references, this is pretty readable and clear.
8D: Ford 8 Disciplines problem resolution tool The Ford originated process for solving reasonably major problems. It presents 8 steps to success. A good problem-solving system for big issues, but too expensive to use for little stuff.

Don’t Even Think About Hiring A Quality Consultant Without Consulting ISO 10019:2005

It’s our stance that you don’t need to hire often costly consultants for many phases of the ISO registration process. But there are times when it becomes necessary to outsource and in those cases, ISO has provided some guidance on finding the “right stuff” when selecting a consultant in their ISO 10019:2005 guidelines for the selection of quality management system consultants and use of their services. Under this advisory, ISO covers a number of issues that apply to the actual selection of a quality management system (QMS) consultant such as:

  • The type and scope of input that should be solicited internally and externally as an aid to the selection process to the selection process.
  • Must have areas of competency for the consultant and to some extent the organization that supports them.
  • How to avoid conflicts of interest and other ethical considerations.
  • How to best apply the services of a consultant to create, manage, and improve your quality management system.
  • Guidelines for crafting the contract between the consultant and your organization.

There is a myriad of other useful considerations for engaging a quality management consultant and using his or her services in ISO 10019:2005. Get this important advisory before you start the process. You’ll be glad you did.

And The List Goes On

If we have piqued your interest, here’s a partial list of standards, all of which can make you and your company more valuable from just about any perspective.

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