LEAN is one of those things that every organisation, large, small, manufacturing or service should do, for me it's just obvious. A great many people see LEAN as a waste reduction process, there to cut costs and nothing else, and unfortunately this is the thing that tends to stick, and in some cases be promoted as the value of LEAN but it's not what...

Although ISO9001:2015 splits out Awareness (Clause 7.3) and Communication (Clause 7.4) it seemed wrong not to cover them together since when you think about it is, is it possible to have awareness without communication? Here's what the new ISO9001:2015 standard looks for in these clauses. ISO9001:2015 Clause 7.3 – Awareness  This section of th...

Like a great many people around the world I ventured out at the weekend to try and see the Lunar Eclipse. I had a plan, since I knew I had to be at the top of a hill above the city to get a  clear view of the sky I would be up so I could leave at  5:30am to be where I wanted to be, have time to set up my camera gear and get read...

ISO9001:2015 has split out Competency and Awareness which were combined in the 2008 standard, I'm not sure if this is a good or a bad thing as you can't possibly have any Competency without Awareness (or Communication!) but for simplicity sake we'll take each of the new sections in turn so in this post let's talk about Competency and how ISO9001:20...

We were really honoured to be invited onto MANGO's webinar series where we got to talk about one of our LEAN passions, 5s. If you want to get started in LEAN then 5s is the way to go and listening to our webinar should give you some great hints on where to start, what to do and what not to do. We hope you find it helpful.  D...

The Threshold Policy  As a leader you are judged, fairly, or unfairly by your team's performance, that is after all one of your primary responsibilities, ensuring that your team delivers (and of course growing new leaders). Achieving this can bring great success, failing to results may well result in a shorter term at the helm than you planned...

Daily work life can be busy, meetings, phone calls, paperwork, emails, more meetings. It just never stops. By lunchtime, your head hurts and your thinking I just need 5 minutes to get things in an orderly list, then I'll be on top of it. The reality is that the rest of your organisation is probably having the same issues and as a result ultimately ...

Clause 7.1.6 of the ISO9001:2015 Standard – Organisational Knowledge is a new section and can be a bit of a challenge for some. It's not uncommon for organisations to have differing views internally about what organisational knowledge is, add in the external auditor's 3rd viewpoint and you can have some very interesting discussions about it. As an ...

ISO9001:2015 Section 7.1.5 is all about the how you look after measuring devices, calibration and measurement traceability. It's not a massive change from the previous standard but what does it mean and what do you have to do? Resources Firstly, you need to ensure that you have the resources required to carry out the measurements required by your o...

When is Continuous Improvement not Continuous Improvement? It's not a dad joke, it's one of my favourite annoying questions I pose to clients when we are working through any form of LEAN or 6 Sigma programs.I'll wait a little while as people ponder the question... go on you as well… OK, so When is Continuous Improvement Not Continuous Improvement? ...

ISO9001:2015 Section 7, Support, has had a few changes, Clause 7.1 – Resources especially, it goes from only 31 words in the 2008 version of the standard to 2 pages! Resources required around your Quality Management System have always been a bit subjective and varied wildly, now, however, the ISO9001:2015 version of the standard puts some much-need...

When it comes to describing the LEAN Wastes I like the DOWNTIME acronym, it gives the added hint that these aren't good things. Most people know and attack the popular ones in the group, the loud ones if you like, Defects - it's out there big, bold, brash and hard to ignore. Inventory, it's in your face, always demanding more valuable (and costly)&...

Your Quality Management System must be a living and evolving system which means that over time you will make changes to the system either because of a business change, a new system, new staff or as a result of a management review of a process, it doesn't matter how you come to the decision, but you will want to change things as you go along. After ...

How often have you heard or said something like "We are running behind again!" or "We are not meeting our output Targets", "The System says it should only take", "We have timed it and know how long it takes!". I've heard them quite a few times over the years and after a few questions and a little digging I come to largely the same conclusion each t...

It's time to talk about your Quality Objectives which is ISO 9001: 2015's Clause 6.2 and is another of the sections which is a "shall" i.e. you must do this to comply with the standard. This time however it doesn't say "Top Management", it says "The Organisation" which means that you really should pull in as much of the organisation to develop obje...

I can't tell you the number of companies I have seen who list speed or "responsiveness" in some form as a core value in their organisation. They claim it's the way of working in their business but when you really look it's just not there. It's listed because the leadership knows that moving at speed in the right areas is critical to getting things ...

As we have mentioned before  ISO 9001:2015 is very much focused on understanding the Risks in your Quality Management System and to your organisation and obviously how you will handle them. Clause 6.1 - Actions to address risk and opportunities is really focused on helping you do this, it's also got that keyword "SHALL" in the clause whic...

Many people in leadership positions struggle to have difficult conversations, not just those new to the roles, people who have been in a management/leadership position for years can still struggle to have the conversations that are needed within the organisation to help everyone improve. There are shelves lined with books by experts on the topic in...