The best path to process automation is a quality system

Quality System thinking is behind all the great advances in industry, and can transform how you’re conducting yours.

Processes

Processes have defined objectives; inputs, constraints and resources; activities, behaviours, controls, interfaces with other processes, and outputs; outcomes and results in adequacy, efficiency and effectiveness.  Processes need to be managed.  A process should be carried out by competent people or machines executing specific activities with adequate resources to produce an objective.  The order in which the activities are carried out can be defined by a procedure.

Procedures

Procedures are to do with tasks; processes with results.  Procedures alone will not guarantee that the objective will be produced.  Incompetent people in a poor working environment, inefficient machines and inadequate resources will never produce the required objective.  So the procedures need to be managed, and in ISO9001 this is the Quality Management System.  This must encompass the entire organisation and, make no mistake, requires senior management buy-in for it to be effective.

In essence then, the quality management system consists of procedures that function in a process managed environment.

Everybody knows that you need competent people to carry out work procedures; that you need suppliers who are reliable; that you need to calibrate machines regularly; that you need to get customer feedback and to handle complaints effectively; and that you need to have continual improvement.  You don’t need to be told this.  The problem with most businesses is that they don’t manage it.  ISO9001 gives you the template for achieving it.

Per4max delivers Quality Systems through our partner Best Practice Systems.