Quality

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As a forward looking business organisation, we have adopted the "Total Quality Management" (TQM) business model into our management and operations. Our business commitment to you our customers is defined by our Business and Quality Policy which states:

"To Consistently meet and Satisfy our Customers' Quality Requirements and Expectations, and 

To Continuously Improve our Processes and Systems"

The second part of the policy acknowledges our awareness of the need to constantly learn and improve with the ultimate goal of "total customer satisfaction".

To further reinforce our commitment to the TQM business model and our Quality Policy, we successfully implemented the QS-9000 quality management system model into our operations. In July 2001, we were officially granted the "Certificate of Approval" from Bureau Veritas Quality International (a UKAS accredited certification body) who found our quality management system to be in accordance with the requirements of QS9000 (3rd Edition, 1998) and ISO9002 : 1994. We achieved this "dual" certification in "one sitting" instead of the more common route of "upgrading" from ISO 9001/2 to QS 9000, a reflection of strong management and staff commitment.

For those who are not familiar with the QS 9000 quality management system, we have included a brief write-up below. As a foundation, you need to understand the ISO 9000 series of standards first (both 1994 and 2000 revisions). QS9000 includes all the requirements of ISO 9001 (1994 revision) plus additional requirements of the "Big 3" (DaimlerChrysler, Ford and General Motors) with input from the Truck Manufacturers.

1994 Revision - The ISO 9000 series of standards is generic in scope. It can be applied by any organisation (manufacturing or service, government or private sector, large or small) in any industry to develop a quality management system. Its purpose is to unify quality terms and supplier's requirements so that organisations throughout the world can apply it. In very simplified terms, the standards require an organisation to:

Most of the 20 elements require a written procedure of some sort. In practice, many organisations will have written procedures to cover every applicable element.

The 1994 revisions have five standards in the series, of which only 3 are "certifiable" by 3rd party certification bodies, namely:

2000 Revision - This revised ISO 9000 series of standards was officially released in December 2000. There is now only 1 certifiable standard, namely ISO 9001. The scope of certification and any "exclusions" to certain non-mandatory clauses must be clearly justified. Many of the basic requirements in the current QS9000 standard already incorporates much of this revised standard.

Next - how does ISO9000 standards tie in with QS9000?

This standard was first developed in 1994 by Chrysler, Ford and General Motors ("Big 3") to define their fundamental quality expectations for suppliers of production and service parts and materials. The current revision of this standard is dated March 1998.

QS9000 uses the ISO 9001:1994 as its foundation, but adds much broader "Big 3" Automotive requirements. It is a harmonisation of Chrysler's Supplier Quality Assurance Manual, Ford's Q-101 Quality System Standard and General Motors' NAO Targets for Excellence. The standard is now so widely accepted that non-Big 3 suppliers are also adopting it. There are two sections in the standard:

All 20 elements from the ISO 9001 standard are included. QS9000 adds extra requirements to each of the 20 elements. Some of the key additional requirements are listed below:

Advanced Product Quality Planning (APQP)

Production Part Approval Process (PPAP)

Failure Mode and Effect Analysis (FMEA)

Measurement System Analysis (MSA)

Statistical Process Control (SPC)

Section II: Customer - specific Requirements

This section "customises" Section I requirements to meet those of the following organisations:

The set of 7 manuals, including the standard (QS-9000 Quality System Requirements), may be obtained from Automotive Industry Action Group (AIAG) or Carwin. The official database of organisations certified to QS9000 is available for a fee at the American Society for Quality.

Reference: See International Organisation for Standardization (ISO) for details of ISO9000 series of standards.

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