Over the past months, we've interviewed about a dozen Quality and Safety external auditors. We have asked them about their experience and what they have seen in the market. The auditors were so kind as to…
Nick Appel21/10/2019
A QHSE management system gets built over the years and is mostly done with existing tools. However, a scattered QHSE system does more harm than good. A combination of an inspection app, with some Word and…
Nick Appel15/10/2019
As QHSE manager, we can get somewhat cynical over time. This is completely understandable because we are constantly looking for ways to improve processes. It is even embedded in the continuous improvement methodology. You search for…
Nick Appel07/10/2019
There have been thousands of articles written about Quality 4.0 in various contexts and for various industries. Some claim that you should gather information, make the SOP digital available and train employees via e-learning. Yes, you…
Nick Appel01/10/2019
Last week we touched upon the advantages of Quality management and why this is actually a strong driver for growth. Of course, the same is true for Health and Safety. The people make the organization so…
Nick Appel23/09/2019
Quality Management is regularly seen as a cost center. The organization may have the feeling they need to shell out a significant amount of money to set up a Quality Management System and get it off…
Nick Appel17/09/2019
The introduction of the new ISO 9001: 2015 a couple of years back set off a widespread belief that companies don’t really need procedures anymore. We have seen companies cutting down their procedures, some by around…
Nick Appel10/09/2019
Everybody in Quality knows that having a functioning Quality Management System will reduce costs. Maybe not the next day, but in the long haul it will make the company money if it is functioning properly—and this…
Nick Appel26/08/2019
The mobile phone and usage of apps has got a prominent place in our lives—maybe a bit too prominent. Still, many companies don’t allow their employees to use their mobile phones during work time. There are…
Nick Appel19/08/2019
Last week part of the roof of a big soccer stadium in Holland collapsed due to a heavy storm. Luckily no one was injured because there was no game at the time. The media storm that…
Nick Appel14/08/2019
The world is getting smaller, which means a more diverse company culture and multicultural organisation with multiple languages. Lots of companies work with people from different countries. Whether it is a trucker, a specialist engineer, or…
Nick Appel15/07/2019
NCRs and issues happen in any company. The way the company handles these is what defines the culture of the organization. More often than not, the responsibility is simply dropped at the Quality/Safety department regardless of…
Nick Appel02/07/2019
Possibly one of the hardest things to do is make a selection of all the possible improvement projects that are possible for the company. Talks with quality and safety managers showed that this topic is pretty…
Nick Appel26/06/2019
Data consistency might not have anything to do with quality management. However, because quality management is getting more and more data-driven it is becoming increasingly important. Consistent data allows for easier and better analysis, which leads…
Nick Appel20/06/2019
According to the standard, all staff that work under your organization's control are competent, and the evidence of this is documented accordingly. As with much of the ISO language, competence is left for each organization to…
Nick Appel13/06/2019
Quality objectives are measurable goals and the base of long-term quality improvement planning. After setting a target, simply hoping that changes occur to achieve the goal is not an effective way to improve a QMS. You…
Nick Appel06/06/2019
On Wednesday 22 May, we organized a workshop on time pressure and the effect on quality and safety. Time pressure can have a major impact on quality and safety, which can lead to serious accidents. In…
Nick Appel28/05/2019
In the previous post we touched upon the inputs for the Design and Development Clause of the ISO 9001 standard. The outputs are closely related to the inputs of course, but they have some twists to…
Nick Appel21/05/2019
ISO Over the Years. There are different ISO standards and worldwide many companies are using these different ISO standards. In the image below you see which standards are used over the years. There are different standards…
Nick Appel20/05/2019
Clause 8.3 Design and Development is regularly misunderstood—not just by Quality Managers but by Auditors as well. It is one of the toughest and most confusing clauses and we find a lot of questions regarding clause…
Nick Appel14/05/2019
