Quality Auditing Services

10/17/2024

Top notch roof repair - saved thousands over having a total replacement. Can't thank them enough for an honest quote and professional work. Definitely having them back to quote siding replacement from a insurance claim for damage!

03/04/2015

Ouch - Lumber Liquidators lacks a proper product quality control system, and its products may be hazardous to the unsuspecting consumers,” Zhou wrote in the post. After this spiral - a 60 minutes investigative report and this companies stock fell 40% - this makes it easy to speak to management the impact of quality on the company. How do you recover from such a dive - and to have to notify your shareholders that there is a US Government investigation on your products? Does it get any worse?




http://www.msn.com/en-us/money/inside-the-ticker/how-a-25-year-old-investor-spurred-lumber-liquidators%e2%80%99-plunge/ar-BBicyJF?ocid=HPCDHP

Lumber Liquidators Holdings Inc.’s stock plunge over the past week, fueled by allegations of excessive formaldehyde in its flooring, can be traced back to a blog post from an obscure 25-year-old short seller.

12/28/2014

No one likes to get stuck with a needle. So when I went to get some blood tests done I was surprised to see a comment card. "How did we do today?" I am not sure whether Quest Diagnostics is ISO 9001 certified but they are making sure they understand the voice of the customer.

ISO 9001 standard talks about (8.2.1) Customer satisfaction
As one of the measurements of the performance of the quality management system, the organization shall monitor information relating to customer perception as to whether the organization has met customer requirements.

So do I enjoy the experience - no, but they did the job efficiently.

10/20/2014

How many folks in the Quality field groaned when the blame game started in the Ebola crises after Nurses fell ill? The hospitals first response was Nurse didn't follow protocol and then they backtracked on that. It kinda seems like the response of "operator error" we have seen on corrective actions. The response "operator error" usually gets rejected, as well it should. Didn't the Hospital try the same thing in their initial response? One of our Root Cause Analysis tools is the 5 Whys; not the 5 whose to blame!

So now the CDC is recommending new protocols and "gasp" practice,

It seems like the CDC needs a basic class in Corrective Action. Remember one of our first steps was containment. They didn't contain the responders very well. But the U S got lucky because virus is not airborne. Well it's easy to be an armchair quarterback here, I'm not out on the field.

But maybe with the new Ebola Czar will help prepare and take the Health Care Industry to the next level. I wish him luck.

10/09/2014

Richard Townsend Auditing at one of our clients. QAS can help you peform your ISO 14001 audit as well as QMS audits.

07/30/2014

All the news articles today talk about Quality. And its no wonder that the Hospitality Group gets the prize. They are the ones consistently asking for customer feedback. No once a year surveys; they typically follow up every visit with a "How did we do?" email asking for feedback. They couldn't have gotten where they are by not following up with customer complaints and opportunities for improvement.

An annual survey reveals the companies that rank best and worst at customer satisfaction.

07/29/2014

VA manipulated vets' appointment data, audit finds;
This is a great headline in the post - how effective is it when we lie on our measurements. How does anyone know how we are truly doing? Lying was effective short term - people got bonuses. But after that little was done to improve performance. For most Quality Management Systems - they require Quality Objectives, and measurement and monitoring of these objectives. Little is gained by fudging the numbers; resources aren't brought to the problem, processes are not corrected etc.

The same can be said by waiting until the day before the Third Party Audit to perform Management Reviews. The purpose of Management Reviews is to check on the health of the QMS. If you don't do it internally - you are asking your third party to do it for you. No improvement can be gained if you are just treading water.

01/12/2014

08/20/2013

One of my clients wrote me a birthday poem. I thought I would post it.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY … ODE TO MAGGIE

Your commands are short; you stay on the ball,
You’re the dedicated sort, and your orders are tall.
You’re small in stature, but we’ve learned from this gig -
You’ll tackle any challenge, and your dreams are big.

You could point fingers and lecture til you’re blue,
But you choose to make change without the to-do.
You’ve made strange friends & stranger enemies,
Looked outside the box & pushed the boundaries.

Tackling a dug-in culture has been nothing for you,
And training at 4 am is something you’re willing to do.
People look to you for crazy answers galore,
And when you don’t know, they may hit the floor.

You’ve brought big changes, some easy and some not,
We like to lunch & learn, but the homework can be a lot!
Though you work yourself more, we know you’ll push us hard,
Leaving at the end of the day, our brains tired & battle-scarred.

We’ve made some progress; our sanity spared to date,
Throughout the audits, your guidance has been first-rate,
So Dear Maggie, there’s one thing we wanted to say …
To an invaluable consultant, Happy Belated … 76th Birthday!

03/20/2013

One of my clients had a unique approach to let everyone know about the audit. He brought in donuts and on the box of donuts he wrote a note about the audit, and what to expect, a few reminders and to remind them that I was there to help.

03/20/2013

One of my clients had a unique approach to let everyone know about the audit. He brought in donuts and on the box of donuts he wrote a note about the audit, and what to expect, a few reminders and to remind them that I was there to help.

03/20/2013

A great video on you tube. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sahSAMj8OIY

Another one of my favorite scenes from one of my favorite shows. This was on HBO, go buy the boxset or whatever, totally worth it