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 covers various areas. It can be market and marketing goals, social, etc.
Main goals
The quality policy is formed in order to orient the entire team towards the achievement of 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 the opportunity for suppliers and employees of the organization to clearly understand the formal attitude of management to the criteria that the
finished product must meet
.Responsibility
The quality policy in any enterprise has certain principles embedded in the management system. One of them is leadership leadership. Without a constant and clearly visible dominant role of the director and chief specialists of the enterprise, this system is doomed to failure in advance. In extreme cases, only limited results can be achieved. Only top 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, there is no need for top management to prepare a precisely verified final document. The main task of the main specialists is to develop a common understanding of intentions, a system of views and directions of development of the enterprise. The formation of such developments into a single document is the task of marketing specialists. In this case, managers are responsible for explaining to employees the specifics of the enterprise policy. Every employee must understand its meaning.
Creating a founding document
The company's policy in the field of quality 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 an occasion to take a number of the following measures:
- unequivocally identify both general and specific duties of employees affecting the quality of the product;
- establish the powers and responsibilities in each type of activity that affects the important characteristics of the goods;
- develop coordination and management systems for existing related types of production;
- identify real and potential quality problems by taking corrective and preventive measures.
Further, it is necessary to ensure strict adherence to the general structure of the organization created to control quality systems. The scope of authority and the channels through which the necessary information is transmitted must also be limited.
Personnel and Resources
Quality improvement should take place under the strict guidance of top management of the organization. In this case, a prerequisite is the determination of the requirements for the use of resources that affect the characteristics of the goods. It is also important to establish their required volume.
Typically, these resources are:
- computer programs;
- equipment used in the field of design and development and work;
- instrumentation type;
- Testing and testing equipment.
An important factor is human resources. For employees, the manager must establish the required level of training, competence and qualifications.
Goals
Quality policy is developed by senior management. It should be borne in mind that the document ISO 9001 presented requirements for the development of certain goals in this direction. They are subject to mandatory registration. There are no specific requirements for this procedure. Organization goals can be one of the parts that make up a quality policy.
Design Example
How should a company's quality policy be documented? An example can be taken from the practice of any of the organizations.
This document is usually issued on sheets in A4 format. They should be readily comprehensible and in plain language specially written text. The mandatory details of the document are the following: name of the organization, as well as the signature of the head, approving previously developed requirements. The text should contain not only strategic, but also other tasks that will help maintain and improve the level of quality of products. At the same time, ways to achieve the goals are indicated.
Parties concerned
First of all, a document reflecting the policy of the leadership in the field of quality is developed for the employees of the enterprise. It is also needed for external partners, which are customers and suppliers, auditors and certification bodies.
Quality policy must be constantly updated. This is a prerequisite in the presence of influence of external and internal factors, which may serve as changes in the organizational structure, strengthening the position of competitors, as well as the introduction of new techniques.
Stages of developing a quality policy
Initially, the company must make a decision confirming the feasibility of managing and implementing the QMS. The leader determines how to create and then implement system quality management. For this, own forces may be used or employees of a specialized company may be involved.
Next, a strategy is developed to implement a
quality management system with basic training for the organization's management. At the next stage, goals should be developed and a quality policy defined. An example of the most common tasks that are reflected in the document:
- maintaining and increasing market share;
- customer satisfaction;
- increase profitability and production efficiency;
- debt reduction and cost reduction;
- Improving the moral climate in the team.
The next step in developing a strategy to improve product quality is to determine the wishes and requirements of all business partners for the management and analysis of the QMS. Their list may include:
- end consumers and customers;
- employees of the enterprise;
- shareholders;
- suppliers;
- society as a whole.
Further, when developing a document, those types of activities that participate in the QMS are established. Their description is made. As a result of the analysis of ISO 9001: 2008, a conclusion can be made about the conformity of the product with the requirements for it.
At the next stage, the necessary structure of the QMS of the organization is established. Its composition, rules of analysis and classification are determined. Next, a schedule should be drawn up. He will indicate the main periods of preparation of the necessary documentation. The company should be involved in
internal audit. All QMS requirements are enforced. At the same time, the created service monitors the measures taken.
An important condition is to determine the extent to which the organization’s QMS complies with the requirements of ISO 9001: 2008. For this, a self-assessment is carried out or the service of external auditors is involved . In case of discrepancies identified, a schedule is being developed to eliminate them.
It should be borne in mind that the number of QMS documents may differ in different organizations. The volume of developed requirements depends on the type of activity and the size of the enterprise, the competence of employees, as well as the complexity of the analyzed processes.