subject: What And Why Quality Manual [print this page] What is Quality Manual: - What is Quality Manual: -
As per ISO: 8402-1, which is a standard for vocabulary, Quality Manual states the Quality Policy and describes the Quality System of an organisation. It may relate to an organisations total activities or to a selected part of it, e.g. specified requirements depending upon the nature of products or services, processes, contractual requirements, governing regulations etc. As per ISO: 9004, Quality Manual is a typical form of main document used in drawing up and implementing a quality system. It is expected to provide an adequate description of the Management intention to fulfill system requirement while serving as a permanent reference for implementation and maintenance of the system.
Some people confuse between Quality Manual and Quality Plan. A Quality Manual describes the totality of the system of quality assurance operated by a company with regard to all the products produced by the company. The Quality Plan is a document giving reference of all critical activities to achieve requires quality stated by customer at planning stage. A Quality plan is a document dealing with each product in the contract and it describes:
* Objectives to be attained at each stage of processing.
* The product wise process and machine parameters at each stage of processing.
* The quality inspection checks and the norms for each parameter at every stage of processing.
* Method for changes and modifications in a quality plan as a project proceeds.
Why Quality Manual: -
This question may arise in the mind of readers especially when detailed information is given in other tiers of documentation like procedures and work instructions.
Quality Manual is needed for the following reasons:
* It describes the objectives of top management for different clauses of ISO: 9000 standard applicable to all departments of the company and thus serves as guideline for planning and documenting the procedures.
* Change is a perpetual process in an organisation. Unless there is a written description of each task function, it will be difficult to make any reasoned evaluation of any proposed change or it outcome.
* As it describes the functions of a department in an orderly manner, although at a macro level, it can be used as an aid to train department personnel.
* It is used, as a marketing aid to convince customers about company's activities and capabilities to meet the quality needs, so that the customer can visualize the services he will get from the company.
* Relevant contents of a Quality Manual can be very useful to prospective suppliers. It can guide them in accordance with the requirements set out by the customer company.
* It is used as basic for adequacy audit of Quality System and thus is also used as a basic for effective implementation of the quality system.
* It is also used to rationalize one's own quality system.
What to Include in a Quality Manual: -
Quality manual should normally contain, or refer to: -
* The title, scope and the field of application,
* The table of contents of the manual,
* The introductory pages about the organization concerned and the manual itself,
