We are in the process beginning six sigma, we've peaked the intersest of the senior management team. I've been asked to present an overview of six sigma to the Executive team, any tips on what my presentation should include?
Hi, I´m also a consultant for ISO 9000.
I'm in Europe, so don't worry...
My advice is this:
When I started with 87 standard there was no consultants in this area so we have to do it all, it's allways possible to do it alone, the only problem is that you'll take more time.
So read a few good books about the standard and do it yourself.
I only have those jobs for people tha want it fast ando don't want to study...
My advise is to "save your money" and can the consultant.Read and understand the standard yourself and do an internal gap analysis audit, then select a registrar that will work with you. Spend your money on a pre-assessment audit (few hundred extra). This pre-assessment will be a gap audit of your internal gap audit.
Thank you to the 4 people who took the time to respond to my question on the forum board, and to the others who replied to me directly. Your feedback is much appreciated.
Hi Chuck,
Congratulations on beginning the great voyage toward ISO9001:2000 certification. I am a consultant, but don't worry I am way over the other side of the continent in NY state so out of the bidding on travel costs alone! So my advise: 1. Prior to even calling in a consultant get all senior management together and make sure you are ALL committed to the goal - this is not just lip-service committment, this is real stand up individually in front of the whole company and state why and how you are committed type of committment (anything less will be detected by the rest of the implementation team and results will be watered down). 2. Study the ISO standard first, especially section 5.0 Management Responsibility. 3. Ensure that the resources are available to make the process work - management need to be behind the administrative side to demand, for example, that documents are reviewed, approved, released etc. in a very timely manner.
For evaluation, you want some testamonials, and some face time. I also think it important for a consultant to have worked in many areas of an organization not only quality; you will have better more workable procedures as a result.
Hope that helps and good luck.
Evaluating your potential partner for experience in your specific industry and try to obtain any feedback from their past customer. Determine any point of improvement they have identified internally or externally. You know where you want to go, obtain a copy of the standard and any guidelines to ISO 9001:2000. Become familiar with its wording. This will assist in better understanding the plan for the Gap Analysis. The gap analysis should contain not only a reference to "need a procedure to comply with a specific paragraph" but sufficient detail to or suggestion in how to comply with it. Majority of the time, consulting leaves you in a dark area. The more questions you have the better. Involve all levels of management: from the very top to the very bottom. orlandomota@gingi-pak.om
My first question to you is: How large is your company (# of employees). I am the Quality Systems Manager at a medium sized company and find the new standard to be quite easy to transition to. I am using about 6 manuals that I ordered from various places. The standard is about your company and the needs of your customer's. No consultant can see those needs without a great deal of time and effort. I would at least give it a try on your own, then if you are still completly stumped, go for help. Our company used a consultant when we started QS(five years ago) and they seemed to do more harm than good. So get your feet wet, unless your with a large corporation. If you need any pointers-let me know I will help you. Sincerly, Jennifer. My email is jenniferdenton@lakesidemfgco.com. Good Luck. P.S. There is tons of info on the web if you have the time to research. Keep in touch and let me know how it goes.
There are several areas to consider when selecting a consultant. We recently went through this entire process and obtained ISO9001:2000 certification at the end of September. Honestly, we were not impressed with the advice or effort provided by our consultants. I do hope you have better luck. Here are a couple of lessons we learned:
1) Be sure they include a class for internal auditors and hold the class about half way through implementation. This will provide you with the ability to judge your consultants performance. However, if you hold this class too early, you will forget things by the time you need to use them. If you hold this class too late, you will not have enough time to apply the knowledge you gain. Make sure they provide a copy of the standard to all attendees. We held our class just prior to the registration audit and were unable to apply the knowledge gained. It was the first chance many people had to truly realize the inadequacy of our consultants.
2) Request (or require) that payment is made upon receipt of certification. Nothing inspires commitment to getting you all the way through the certification process better than withholding funds.
3) Determine if the consultant that will be on-site has actually managed a quality management system in the past 3-5 years. Many times consultants are out of touch with the actual application of quality management. Therefore, their ideas and suggestions may be good in concept, but application can be difficult or impossible.
I hope these lessons save you a little heartache and good luck on your certification effort!
teodoro 12/31/2004
Hi, I´m also a consultant for ISO 9000.
I'm in Europe, so don't worry...
My advice is this:
When I started with 87 standard there was no consultants in this area so we have to do it all, it's allways possible to do it alone, the only problem is that you'll take more time.
So read a few good books about the standard and do it yourself.
I only have those jobs for people tha want it fast ando don't want to study...
easyr 11/17/2004
My advise is to "save your money" and can the consultant.Read and understand the standard yourself and do an internal gap analysis audit, then select a registrar that will work with you. Spend your money on a pre-assessment audit (few hundred extra). This pre-assessment will be a gap audit of your internal gap audit.
stewartc 11/12/2004
Thank you to the 4 people who took the time to respond to my question on the forum board, and to the others who replied to me directly. Your feedback is much appreciated.
Chuck
numan 10/27/2004
Hi Chuck,
Congratulations on beginning the great voyage toward ISO9001:2000 certification. I am a consultant, but don't worry I am way over the other side of the continent in NY state so out of the bidding on travel costs alone! So my advise: 1. Prior to even calling in a consultant get all senior management together and make sure you are ALL committed to the goal - this is not just lip-service committment, this is real stand up individually in front of the whole company and state why and how you are committed type of committment (anything less will be detected by the rest of the implementation team and results will be watered down). 2. Study the ISO standard first, especially section 5.0 Management Responsibility. 3. Ensure that the resources are available to make the process work - management need to be behind the administrative side to demand, for example, that documents are reviewed, approved, released etc. in a very timely manner.
For evaluation, you want some testamonials, and some face time. I also think it important for a consultant to have worked in many areas of an organization not only quality; you will have better more workable procedures as a result.
Hope that helps and good luck.
choco 10/26/2004
Evaluating your potential partner for experience in your specific industry and try to obtain any feedback from their past customer. Determine any point of improvement they have identified internally or externally. You know where you want to go, obtain a copy of the standard and any guidelines to ISO 9001:2000. Become familiar with its wording. This will assist in better understanding the plan for the Gap Analysis. The gap analysis should contain not only a reference to "need a procedure to comply with a specific paragraph" but sufficient detail to or suggestion in how to comply with it. Majority of the time, consulting leaves you in a dark area. The more questions you have the better. Involve all levels of management: from the very top to the very bottom. orlandomota@gingi-pak.om
denton648 10/26/2004
My first question to you is: How large is your company (# of employees). I am the Quality Systems Manager at a medium sized company and find the new standard to be quite easy to transition to. I am using about 6 manuals that I ordered from various places. The standard is about your company and the needs of your customer's. No consultant can see those needs without a great deal of time and effort. I would at least give it a try on your own, then if you are still completly stumped, go for help. Our company used a consultant when we started QS(five years ago) and they seemed to do more harm than good. So get your feet wet, unless your with a large corporation. If you need any pointers-let me know I will help you. Sincerly, Jennifer. My email is jenniferdenton@lakesidemfgco.com. Good Luck. P.S. There is tons of info on the web if you have the time to research. Keep in touch and let me know how it goes.
mbyman 10/26/2004
There are several areas to consider when selecting a consultant. We recently went through this entire process and obtained ISO9001:2000 certification at the end of September. Honestly, we were not impressed with the advice or effort provided by our consultants. I do hope you have better luck. Here are a couple of lessons we learned:
1) Be sure they include a class for internal auditors and hold the class about half way through implementation. This will provide you with the ability to judge your consultants performance. However, if you hold this class too early, you will forget things by the time you need to use them. If you hold this class too late, you will not have enough time to apply the knowledge you gain. Make sure they provide a copy of the standard to all attendees. We held our class just prior to the registration audit and were unable to apply the knowledge gained. It was the first chance many people had to truly realize the inadequacy of our consultants.
2) Request (or require) that payment is made upon receipt of certification. Nothing inspires commitment to getting you all the way through the certification process better than withholding funds.
3) Determine if the consultant that will be on-site has actually managed a quality management system in the past 3-5 years. Many times consultants are out of touch with the actual application of quality management. Therefore, their ideas and suggestions may be good in concept, but application can be difficult or impossible.
I hope these lessons save you a little heartache and good luck on your certification effort!