We have all heard about the well known disasters such as Baby P, Deepwater Horizon, Staffordshire Hospital and the Fukushima Nuclear power plant explosion, examples of organisational systemic failure to deliver the intended results. Continue reading
Over the last few decades there have been drastic upheavals in the manufacturing industry as a whole. But now the alarming increase of counterfeiting has surfaced to threaten the global supply chain. Is the criminal underground solely to blame? Or has the manufacturing industry unknowingly but directly contributed to this growing gray business?
This growth of counterfeiting can be attributed to the following forces: Continue reading
Risk management is not compliance; however, compliance can serve as a basis for the management of risks. A risk management program that overlooks compliance or underplays the significance of being in compliance puts the enterprise at risk. That said, risks and the managing of risk is not directly related to compliance; rather risk management is related to ensuring that the organization’s strategy, goals and objectives are achieved by buffering risk from being realized. Continue reading
The old story tells of a newlywed couple hosting their first family dinner. As the couple works in the kitchen, he asks her, “Why did you cut the end off the ham before you put it in the roasting pan?” She answers that her mother always did it that way, so she does the same. It happens that her mother walks in the kitchen and they both ask her the same question. The answer is the same. An hour later, the young bride’s grandmother arrives and all of them pose the question to her. Her answer, predictably, is the very same. Three generations have been performing this action without any idea why other than, “That’s how my Mom did it.” Continue reading
MEET BOB’S MACHINE
Bob’s Machine was operating successfully before ISO 9001 came along. Bob was introduced to ISO 9001 when it appeared among his largest customer’s supplier requirements. Although the requirements of ISO 9001 were unclear, the requirement to become ISO 9001 certified needed no clarification.
Bob’s objective became to ‘get certified.’ Unknown to Bob, what the standard requires is a demonstrably effective quality management system (QMS). To ‘get certified,’ Bob needed to sensibly document the system of processes currently operating to output product. To Bob, those processes were (in order of appearance): Sales, Purchasing, Receiving, Production, and Shipping. Continue reading