The quality manual is the essential cornerstone for any organization to venture into the path of the ISO 9001:2008 accreditation, as shows the commitment of senior management of operating a quality management system effectively.
Like all documents, the quality manual must be written so that it provides employees, customers, auditors and other stakeholders with a strong vision of how your organization meets customer requirements. People throughout the organization refer to it when they want to see the overview of the system, or what policies have been established.
One of the best ways to understand and apply ISO 9001:2008 is the very task of compiling the quality manual. jump manual review In reading through the requirements one by one and assigning each requirement of a relevant document, process or procedure that exists within your organization, you will find that more than half of the requirements have already been treated. The quality manual just need to formalize the relationship between processes and documents.
For mat and content
Enter your quality manual to work for you, your company and how they work, is entirely their choice, but always make sure it is compatible with the objectives of your organization. The quality manual should not contain any confidential or proprietary information, as they must be available to third party auditors and clients.
You must also ensure that a clear distinction between the content of the quality manual and procedures. The quality manual defines the intent of top management for the operation of quality management system, while the procedures to define how these intentions are implemented.
There are three things that should be included in the quality manual:
The scope of quality management system, including details of the justification for any exclusions
The documented procedures established for the quality management system, or reference to them
A description of the interaction between the system processes quality management
Who will use the Quality Manual and why?
Customers and clients want to see how your system handles your needs. If your quality manual consists of two pages, can not inspire confidence that your system is robust enough to be a quality management system effectively. Customers and clients want to see the confidence that you know how to plan, implement and monitor the processes that affect their products or services.