Welcome to the Whittington & Associates
e-Newsletter!
Visit and bookmark our web
site.
Our newsletters provide guidance on ISO 9001,
AS9100, ISO 13485, ISO/TS 16949, TL 9000, ISO
14001,
ISO 27001, ISO 20000, ISO 22000, and related ISO
standards, as well as, Six Sigma.
If you have any questions about the articles
appearing in this issue, or you want to suggest
topics for future issues, please let us
know.
Need a Web Site?
Some of our newsletter readers are
independent consultants. Do you need a web
site to promote your services and attract
more business?
Some of our readers work for small
businesses. Does your company need an
improved web site with an up-to-date and
professional look?
Or, some of you may belong to an association,
or volunteer for a non-profit organization.
Does your group's web site need to be updated
with advanced features for better support?
For economical web site design and setup, I
suggest you contact Frogtown Media. They
quickly provide entry web sites for only
$650, and $15 per month for hosting, email,
and live support.
They provide a one-stop solution for
everything you need to operate your web site,
including domain name, hosting, support,
maintenance, and upgrades.
They offer web
site plans with unlimited web pages, search
engine optimization, press releases,
articles, blogs, image uploads, syndication
feeds, newsflash, polls, members-only area,
journals, and more.
Frogtown Media Web Design, based in North Georgia, can also add special web site
features such as event registration, shopping
carts, and credit card payments. You can see
examples of their work at Frogtown
Media Web Design, call them at
678-947-6188, or send an email to larry@frogtownmedia.com.
Actions after Surveys
A key requirement in ISO 9001 is to monitor
information relating to the customer's
perception as to how well your organization
is meeting customer requirements. The
standard goes on to say that the methods for
obtaining and using this information must be
determined.
A new Note in ISO 9001:2008, clause 8.2.1,
states that monitoring customer perception
can include obtaining input from sources such
as customer satisfaction surveys, customer
data on delivered product quality, user
opinion surveys, lost business analysis,
compliments, warranty claims, and dealer
reports.
According to an article by Jim Martin in
E-Commerce Times, it's one thing to ask
customers for their input, but if you don't
act on it, you're sending the message that
the input doesn't matter anyway.
Mr. Martin asks, have you ever answered one
of those "how was our service?"
questionnaires to let somebody know you
weren't happy with the experience you'd had;
and then never heard anything back from the
business that asked? If you've had one of
these experiences, then you know what it
feels like to be asked your opinion and have
it ignored.
Every question sets an expectation of action.
When customers feel their voice is being
heard, they're more loyal and engaged. That's
a good thing at any time, but particularly
today, when we're all working within a
challenging economy. Customer service can be
a key differentiator influencing purchasing
decisions.
When customers take time to complete a
survey, the data they're providing the
company is invaluable. And if their feedback
isn't at least acknowledged, they'll feel
their time was wasted and will think twice
about giving you their business, or their
opinion, in the future.
The actions an organization takes, and the
way it communicates this back to the survey
respondent, is the last step in closing the
feedback loop. The speed with which
organizations close this loop is essential in
building a trusted dialogue. All of us as
consumers have come to expect quick
turnaround and immediate action when sharing
our feedback, and long delays can signal a
lack of care and responsiveness.
When your organization decides to become more
aware of, and responsive to, customer
mindsets, start by asking the right
questions. When developing those questions,
always think ahead to what your follow-up
actions might be given the range of possible
responses.
To see the full article by Jim Martin, who is
the chairman of the board and chief executive
officer of Inquisite, a leader in Enterprise
Feedback Management, go to E-Commerce
Times.
ISO/TS 16949:2009
The International Automotive Task Force
(IATF) has announced that ISO/TS 16949:2009
will be issued during the first quarter 2009,
following the ballot of ISO TC176, and
reflects the changes in ISO 9001:2008. As
such, the following applies:
1) No New Requirements
ISO/TS 16949:2009 introduces no new or
changed requirements. ISO 9001:2008 is based
on clarifications or amendments to the
existing requirements of ISO 9001:2000 and
those that are intended to improve
consistency with ISO 14001:2004.
2) Application
Certification Bodies and Organizations are
expected to understand and apply the
amendments to ISO/TS 16949:2009. Application
of the clarifications related to ISO
9001:2008 requirements in the boxed text of
ISO/TS 16949:2009 is effective not later than
120 days after the release of ISO/TS
16949:2009.
3) Certification Status to ISO/TS
16949:2002
The certification status to ISO/TS 16949:2002
remains in effect for the certification life.
Certification to ISO/TS 16949:2009 is
recognized with the effective date of the
release of ISO/TS 16949:2009. Certification
to ISO/TS 16949:2009 is not an upgrade and
its term is the same as the current ISO/TS
16949:2002 certificate.
4) Certificates issued to ISO/TS
16949:2009
IATF recognized certificates to ISO/TS
16949:2009 may be issued upon request by an
organization (client) after official
publication and after a regularly scheduled
surveillance audit, but are not required
until the next recertification audit.
AS9100C Available
The Aerospace standard, AS9100, Revision C,
is available for ordering at the SAE
web site for a member price of $48.00 or
list price of $61.00. ASQ members can order
the standard for $61.00 at the ASQ
web site.
Index for ISO 9001
Have you ever struggled to locate a
particular term in ISO 9001? For example, you
know that the term "outsource" is used in the
standard, but you may not recall where to
find it. Well, I've updated my index file for
more than 300 terms used in ISO 9001:2008.
The revised index at my web site includes the
page numbers and clause references for each
term.
For example, Outsource (or Outsourced) is
mentioned multiple times on page 2 at these
clause numbers: 4.1, 4.1, 4.1 (Note 2), 4.1
(Note 3), 4.1 (Note 3), and 4.1 (Note 3.a).
The clause entries are repeated for each
occurrence of the term.
Another example is Quality Policy, found on
page 2 (4.2.1.a), page 4 (5.1.b, 5.3, 5.3,
5.4.1), page 5 (5.6.1), and page 14 (8.5.1).
Other than to satisfy your curiosity, why
would you want to know the page and clause
numbers for a specific term in the standard?
Suppose you are auditing an area and want to
discuss their quality objectives. You may
recall that clause 5.4.1 is actually titled
Quality Objectives, and would seem to be an
important reference, but are there other
clauses that relate to quality objectives?
The Index shows that the following clauses
include references to "quality objectives":
4.2.1.a, 5.1.c, 5.3.c, 5.4.1, 5.4.2.a, 5.6.1,
6.2.2.d, 7.1.a, and 8.5.1.
Whittington & Associates provides training, consulting and auditing services for
management systems based on
ISO 9001, ISO/TS16949, ISO/TS 29001, TL 9000, AS9100, ASS9110, AS9120, ISO 13485,
ISO 27001, ISO 20000, and ISO 14001.
