Quality policy at the enterprise: management, quality improvement. Examples

2024 Author: Howard Calhoun | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 10:16

Quality policy - these are the main goals and directions of the organization that relate to the quality of its product. The official wording of these provisions is formed by management personnel.

Quality policy concerns various areas. These can be market and marketing goals, social, etc.

Main Tasks

The quality policy is formed in order to orient the entire team towards achieving its goals. If there is no clear and documented task, then the activity of the enterprise in this area will be random and uncertain.

The quality policy (when documented) provides an opportunity for suppliers and employees of the organization to clearly understand the official attitude of the management towards the criteria that the finished product must meet.

Responsibility

The quality policy at any enterprise has certain principles embedded in the management system. One of them is leadership leadership. Without permanent and clearly visiblethe leading role of the director and chief specialists of the enterprise, this system is doomed to failure in advance. In the extreme case, only limited results can be achieved. Only senior managers are able to determine the strategic directions of their organization and build an effective system for achieving product quality. Their direct task is to take responsibility for the development of this policy. At the same time, top management does not need to prepare a precisely verified final document. The main task of the chief specialists is to develop a common understanding of the intentions, the system of views and directions for the development of the enterprise. The formation of such developments into a single document is the task of marketing service specialists. In this case, managers are responsible for explaining to employees the specifics of the company's policy. Every employee must understand its meaning.

Creation of the founding document

The company's quality policy should be based on a preliminary analysis of those activities that directly or indirectly affect the required characteristics of the final product. And this, in turn, is a reason to take a number of the following measures:

- unequivocally identify both general and specific responsibilities of employees that affect the quality of the product;- establish powers and responsibilities in each type of activity that affects important characteristics of the product;

- develop systems for coordinating and managing existingrelated industries;- identify real and potential quality problems, taking corrective and preventive action.

Further, it is necessary to ensure that the general structure of the organization established to control quality systems is strictly observed. The scope of authority and channels through which the necessary information is transmitted should also be limited.

Personnel and resources

Quality improvement should take place under the strict guidance of the top management of the organization. At the same time, a prerequisite is the definition of requirements for the use of resources that affect the characteristics of the product. It is also important to set their required volume.

Usually these resources are:

- computer programs;

- equipment used in the field of design and engineering development and work;

- instrumentation of control and measuring type; - equipment for verification and testing.

Human resources are also an important factor. For employees, the manager must establish the required level of training, competence and qualifications.

Goals

The quality policy is developed by top management. At the same time, it should be borne in mind that the ISO 9001 document requires the development of certain goals in this direction. They are subject to mandatory registration. There are no special requirements for this procedure. The goals of an organization can beof the parts that make up the quality policy.

Design example

How should the company's quality policy be documented? An example can be taken from the practice of any of the organizations.

This document is issued, as a rule, on A4 sheets. They should contain a specially composed text in an understandable and simple language. The required details of the document are the following: the name of the organization, as well as the signature of the head approving the pre-developed requirements. The text should contain not only strategic, but also other tasks that will help maintain and improve the quality level of products. At the same time, ways to achieve the goals set are indicated.

Stakeholders

First of all, a document reflecting the quality management policy is developed for the employees of the enterprise. It is also needed for external partners, which are customers and suppliers, auditors and certification bodies.

The quality policy must be constantly updated. This is a prerequisite in the presence of the influence of external and internal factors, which can be changes in the organizational structure, strengthening the positions of competitors, as well as the introduction of new methods.

Steps in developing a quality policy

Initially, the enterprise must make a decision confirming the feasibility of managing and implementing the QMS. Supervisordefines how to create and then implement system quality management. For this, one can use one's own forces or involve employees of a specialized company.

Next, a strategy is developed for the implementation of a quality management system with basic training for the management of the organization. The next step is to develop goals and define a quality policy. An example of the most common tasks that are reflected in the document:

- maintaining and increasing market share;

- meeting customer needs;

- increasing profitability and production efficiency;

- reducing debt and reducing costs; - improving the moral climate in the team.

The next step in developing a strategy to improve product quality is to determine the wishes, as well as the requirements of all business partners for the management and analysis of the QMS. Their list may include:

- end users and customers;

- employees of the enterprise;

- shareholders;

- suppliers;- society as a whole.

Further, when developing the document, those types of activities that participate in the QMS are established. They are described. As a result of the analysis of ISO 9001:2008, a conclusion can be drawn about the conformity of the product to the requirements for it.

At the next stage, the necessary structure of the organization's QMS documentation is established. Its composition is determinedanalysis and classification. Next, a schedule should be drawn up. He will indicate the main periods for the preparation of the necessary documentation. The company must have an internal audit. All QMS requirements are put into effect. At the same time, the created service controls the ongoing activities.

An important condition is to determine the extent to which the organization's QMS meets the requirements of ISO 9001:2008. For this, a self-assessment is carried out or a service of external auditors is involved. If discrepancies are identified, a schedule of work to eliminate them is developed. It should be borne in mind that the number of QMS documents may differ in different organizations. The scope of the developed requirements depends on the type of activity and size of the enterprise, the competence of employees, as well as the complexity of the analyzed processes.