February 2017 - Quality Management Systems

An Insight into the new ISO 9001:2015 Standard

In September 2015 a revised edition of the world’s most popular quality management systems standard ISO 9001 was published and is now titled ISO 9001:2015. In this short presentation we get an insight into the new standard from two experts who were both heavily involved in the update. Kevin McKinley, the acting ISO Secretary-General, and Nigel Croft, chair of the subcommittee that revised ISO 9001, discuss the new standard and the changes introduced.

All About Total Quality Management

Total Quality Management or TQM for short is considered one of the most important management frameworks used in business today. It can be used whether your organisation produces a physical product or provides services to your customers. The key to any successful business is to simply supply your customers with the best quality product or service that you possibly can and this applies to both internal and external customers.

All About Six Sigma

Six Sigma is a set of tools and techniques that are used for process improvement within a business to help reduce or eliminate errors and defects. Each identified process would be assigned its own unique Six Sigma project and those assigned to the project would follow a well-defined set of steps in order to carry out the process improvement project.

All About Kaizen

Kaizen is a Japanese business concept or methodology of continuous improvement of personal efficiency and working practices that is at the core of modern quality management and lean manufacturing processes. It’s not surprising therefore that the word Kaizen, which is Japanese translates to continuous improvement.

All About Plan-Do-Check-Act Or The PDCA Cycle

Every organization, no matter how big or small can be broken down into multiple parts or processes that it uses to carry out every aspect of its operation. So when it comes to making improvements to its operations an organisation usually starts with identifying which processes need to be changed or improved in order to get the most bang for its buck… and this is where the Plan-Do-Check-Act cycle comes in to play.

All About ISO 9001 Quality Management System

The ISO 9001 Quality Management System (QMS) was first published by the International Organization for Standardization or ISO back in 1987. Since then it has been through a number of revisions that keep it up to date and relevant to business. ISO 9001:2015 is the most recent revision of this, the world’s most popular of quality management standard.

All About ISO 14001 Environmental Management System

Before we get into the discussion on the specifics of the ISO 14001 environmental management standard, let’s start with ISO and what it means. ISO stands for the International Organization of Standardization and they are recognised as the world leaders when it comes to setting the standards that businesses follow when developing their management systems. Having a well-defined path to follow makes it much easier for an organisation to achieve its management goals, which in turn goes a long way to helping the business to be successful.

All About ISO 27001 Information Security Management

The International Organization of Standardization is dedicated to the development of management systems that help organisations create frameworks for the successful running of their business. Having a standardised management model makes it extremely easy for any or all businesses large or small to be able to implement best practice, optimise its processes and procedures and comply with current laws, rules and regulations that apply to the company, sector and country it operates in.