Leadership and the ISO Management System Standards

  The UK is no longer a member of the European Union. This brings about allsorts of problems for manufacturers selling products in the UK, especially for those outside the UK who always relied on applying the CE mark to their products for sale anywhere in the EU. According to Conformance, a leading UK consulting company specializing in product safety regulations and CE marking in the UK, trading between the UK and Europe, as well as trading inside the UK, has just got more complicated. The trade deals between the UK and the EU focuses on the elimination of trading tariffs and the equalization of customs rules. As far as the rules for CE marking is concerned, the UK is now split into two parts: Northern Ireland who is remaining with the single market while Great Britain (England, Scotland and Wales) are leaving the single market and started to set its own rules. Great Britain has opted for a new mark to be applied to products being placed on the market, known as the UKCA Mark (U...

  The EU Blue Guide on the implementation of the EU product rules have become one of the main reference documents that explains how to implement the applicable EU legislation based on the New Approach, or New Legislative Framework. This document is invaluable to consultants like me. The current version is the 2016 revision, which is becoming outdated in some aspects. A lot of what is contained in the 2016 version will remain valid, but it is necessary to take account of the changes in legislation introduced by the Lisbon Treaty that came into force on 2009/12/01 with regard to legal references and terminology applicable to EU related documents, procedures, etc. This was the main reason for the publishing of the 2016 version of the Blue Guide, which was built on the 2000 version, but which included new chapters, e.g. the obligations of economic operators, etc. There were also some revised chapters, e.g. those on standardization and market surveillance. But things have changed in the...

Executive management is the highest level of management in the organization. In smaller companies it may be the owner, or an appointed factory manager, and so on. In large organizations it could be the top level of management, or the board of directors. In small companies the line between executive and middle management is often not clear, e.g. the owner is also the general manager, the production manager, the quality manager, and so on. He or she is often responsible for all the activities of the company, including the quality function. In larger organizations we often find an appointed quality manager, who may also have other functions or positions at the same time. In corporates we may find corporate, divisional and factory quality managers, as the case may be. In ISO 9001:2015 we find that there is no longer a requirement for an appointed management quality representative. Executive or top management as a team is accountable and responsible for the quality of products and servi...

  Sources Juran’s Quality Control Handbook, 4 th edition, by J M Juran and Frank M Gryna Human activities always had to meet multiple needs, including our natural need for quality and even perfection. Customers have always demanded quality. Quality was often the privilege of the rich, and the poor had to make do with what they got. But the reason for this was that often the poor manufactured for themselves or purchase from whoever was willing to sell to them at prices that they could afford, while the rich could make use of the services of skilled artisans. But quality standards were there from the earliest times. Imagine if there were no quality standards when the pyramids were built! In the old days quality was the responsibility of the craftsmen who worked in the villages. Consumerism was not yet a thing, and production volumes were low. Trade was mostly localized. This all changed during the industrial revolution. Factories appeared, machines for production purposes ...