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Dear Subscriber,
Do you recall the early 1980's? The early 1990's? The early 2000's? The real estate market crashed and many folks were out of work. There was high interest rates...high gas prices...gas shortages...high unemployment. Sound familiar? I recall reading the book about 18 years ago by Dr, Robert H. Schuller titled "Tough Times Never Last But Tough People Do". The same goes for tough companies who take the initiative to stay on top of things and maintain a competitive and sharp edge.
WQN's executive team has been doing everything we can this summer to stay informed so that we can pass some of this valuable knowledge down to our clients and trainers. A few weeks ago we attended the RMC meeting for the AAQG (Americas Aerospace Quality Group) The AAQG is a committee of members from North, Central, and South Americas. This is a component part of the IAQG (International) that also includes EAQG (Europe) and APAQG (Asia & Pacific). Under the guidance of SAE International. these are all cooperative aerospace committees that are working to improve the supply chain, including the AS 9100, 9110, and 9120 standards. We will touch on some of the upcoming changes in the following article and there will be more coming your way in future issues.
We have also been PARTICIPATING IN a 3 part series (class) on Import/Export. We thought we understood the process and now we have a much better idea of the detail and options. (Are you fully protected with your import/export activities? Are you paying more than your share for transportation?) Now that transportation costs have skyrocketed is it still wise to import when the same products can be made across the street? How much does that cheap part really cost when you factor everything in, especially failures and poor quality? We are also learning about C-TPAT, or Customs Trade Partnership Against Terrorism. C-TPAT is a voluntary program in which all participating entities in the import supply chain cooperate with U.S. Customs in establishing acceptable security practices in all phases of their operations. We now have a top expert on our team to assist clients with C-TPAT implementation.
This past weekend Dan & JoCeal attended CERT training at California State University Channel Islands (CSUCI). CERT is an acronym for Community Emergency Response Team. This was and intense 7 week program condensed into 2 days that taught the basics on first responders to a major disaster. We learned about search and rescue, triage and handling victims, how to prioritize injuries and rescues. The event finished with a BANG (literally) as there was a very loud explosion followed by a mock disaster exercise on the beautiful grounds of CSUCI. (CERT training is available in many cities under a grant by the Department of Homeland Security.) So it appears we may volunteer for our local community to assist with disaster preparedness training as well as response. In fact, WQN had participated with a team from Florida after Katrina struck the gulf coast to develop the first ever National Hurricane Standard. As a result, we have also developed our own Earthquake and west coast version to cover fires, mudslides, and tsunamis. (Both standards are available for purchase on WQN's shopping cart.) Although California is a forerunner in disasters, we still find several inconsistencies and opportunities for improvement with the National Incident management System (NIMS) as well as the California Standardized Emergency Management System (SEMS). Everyone can use a little continual improvement - just ask the guys at FEMA! Disaster Preparedness has always been a passion of ours because we understand a little preparation can save a lot of time, frustration, and lives. Many, many thanks to Commander Lazenby of the Santa Paula Fire Department for taking the time to open our minds to the unimaginable that we may have to deal with in a major disaster. We encourage all of you to look into this and set-up teams at your facilities. In Switzerland the ISO has been working on a new Business Continuity Standard that can keep your organization running with minimal loss during and after a major incident. More on that later...right now we have to sign-up for Red Cross training.
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REVISED STANDARDS - ISO 9001:2008 & AS 9100 Rev C
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We want to give everyone a "heads-up" with important changes that will be released by the end of this year. These are revisions to the current standards that will need to be updated and implemented at your facility. The clock hasn't started yet and this is just a preliminary advisory of what to expect over the next 2 years.
It has been 8 years since ISO 9001:2000 was released. The changes at that time were substantial - over 70 major changes as well as formatting from 20 elements to 5 clauses. The revised standard is more focused on "process controls" rather than the 1994 prescriptive mentality of over documentation. The end result was that anyone certified at the time needed to get "re-certified". The good news is we do not believe this will be the case with ISO 9001:2008 revisions. These revisions can be handled through regular surveillance audits if your organization is currently certified.
WQN's President JoCeal Urbaniak has been participating on the TC 176 committee that works on revising the ISO 9000 standards. She has indicated that the changes are not substantial and is in currently working on developing a webinar that will highlight the important changes.
AS 9100 is a somewhat different story. It looks as though the changes will be substantial and the aerospace PRIMES are cracking down on the registrar community to conduct more thorough audits - hoping to put an end to "soft audits" , auditors who fail to write-up majors, and certificates that are nothing more than wallpaper. The big guys are basically saying "do it right the first time and all the time". This means they are becoming heavily reliant upon suppliers who have 3rd party certifications by accredited registrars. They are applying pressure on the registrars to make the audits tougher and harder to obtain. We will discuss this in greater detail in a follow-up article. For any of you who wish to enter the lucrative aerospace market and/or stay in it we urge you to obtain professional assistance in implementing AS 9110/9110/9120 today as the supply base will soon be shrinking.
There is some good news. AS 9100 Rev C will not be released until the very end of this year and more likely early 2009. The registrars will have 6 months to train their auditors and clients will have another 12 months beyond that to meet the new requirements. Having said all that - the aerospace industry in changing rapidly. In the good old days an airplane manufacturer such as Boeing would make 80% of the parts on a plane. Today, it the opposite where 80% is made by outside suppliers, many who are also putting together complete assemblies. This new manufacturing process enables Boeing to pump out 32-737's every month (that's only 20 work days!). The new 787 Dreamliners will be assembled within 3 days. That is amazing! If you want to see some really cool videos from Boeing- including a plane that is built within minutes - click on the following link:
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LEAD AND INTERNAL AUDITOR TRAINING
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For a limited time we are offering a 25% DISCOUNT ON TRAINING COURSES!!! These are all RABQSA Accredited Lead Auditor and Internal Auditor training at our facility in Camarillo, CA. We offer a full schedule of courses including a one day overview for ISO 9001:2000, AS 9100, AS 9110, ISO 14001, TS 16949, ISO 13485, OHSAS 18001, and ISO 22000.
TRAINING COURSE SCHEDULE July 14-16 ISO 14001 3 Day Internal Auditor July 21-23 ISO 13485 3 Day Internal Auditor Sept. 8-12 OSHAS 18001 5 Day Lead Auditor Sept. 15-19 ISO 22000 5 Day Lead Auditor Oct. 13-15 ISO 9001:2000 3 Day Internal Auditor Oct. 20-24 AS 9110 5 Day Lead Auditor Nov. 10-14 ISO 9001:2000 5 Day Lead Auditor Nov. 17-21 AS 9100 5 Day Lead Auditor Dec. 8-12 ISO 14001 5 Day Lead Auditor
For a limited time only we offering a 25% discount on all of the above courses. Contact us for pricing. Graphic courtesy of Auke van der Wide
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TIME IS EVERYTHING...
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...And that is why we have put the core of WQN's capabilities into this neat 3 minute FLASH movie. If you haven't already done so you may want to watch to watch our little FLASH movie. If you don't see what you are looking for please let us know because we are always adding on new services. Our goal has always been to be a "full service" quality consulting & training organization and if we can find a better way to do it...then we will!
In just 3 minutes you will get a very good idea of WQN's capabilities. This is FLASH presentation so feel free to forward this to a colleague as the file isn't very large. We hope to eventually send this around the world a few times.(If you need to download FLASH on to your computer we have an easy link on our homepage.)
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"WHAT'S UP" COLUMN
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This month we have a question for all of you and we urge you to drop us a line with any feedback, but please try to be as specific as possible.
If you could change anything regarding your existing quality system what would it be?
Are you satisfied with your quality system? Does it fit your industry, size and complexity of your business? Are you spending too much time trying to keep up with documentation? Are you rushing around right before audits, making sure everything has been done and completed? Are the internal audits effective and given the proper amount of time necessary? Is the system continually improving? Do the employees understand their roles and responsibilities within the quality system? Do they have access and use all the available tools? Is there anything missing?
Please reply to the newsletter or send comments to news@wqntoday.com.
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NEED HELP?
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There are so many ways to skin a cat. If it can be done we will find a way to do it... WQN, Inc. provides professional quality consulting to internationally recognized quality standards and applications including; ISO 9001:2000, AS 9100/9110/9120, ISO 13485, ISO 14001, ISO 17025, TS 16949, SIX SIGMA, 5S, LEAN Manufacturing, Reorganization and more. Our services range from consulting, gap analysis, on going maintenance, internal auditing, full system development, customer/regulatory requirement, supplier audits, and integration workshops (on or off site). We are also the only training organization to offer the "Baustein Koncept" (building block) series of workshops. Build and customize your own training program from these building blocks or different workshops that cover - Process/Quality Improvement, Tools for Teaming, Training and Organizational Development, LEAN Manufacturing, JIT/CTM Practice, Cycle Time Management, Process Mapping, Customer Satisfaction, Surveys, Employee Motivation, and many more. Log on to: WQN's Baustein Workshops Now offering RAB/QSA Certified Lead/Internal Auditor Training in our Camarillo facility. Call us today for a FREE analysis or at least to answer any questions you may have and offer some realistic option. You can do it on our dime... 877-WQN- TODAY (877-976-8632)
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