by Leland R. Beaumont
If you are wondering what the words of the ISO 9001 standard mean to your company and how you can begin your implementation efforts, this book will help. Now in its second edition, the book is quite thorough in explaining each subsection of the standard. The heading and summary are explained in layman terms, followed by discussion items that represent common practices for implementation.
Use this book exactly as it was meant to be used - as a companion to the standard itself, Begin by reading the exact wording from the standard and move to the simplified wording in this book. A look at the discussion items for each element will start the ball rolling for your company as you think of ways you can implement the requirements, based on the presented common practices.
When you first embark on your ISO journey, you can use the simple headings as direction statements for what is required. You will notice that most of these headings begin with verbs, so it is clear to see their importance to your business and how the ISO requirements relate to each other. You can use these direction statements as a simple checklist for assessing implementation, as well as a guide for writing your quality manual.
In particular, the section on Corrective Action outlines the simple steps that can be taken to ensure that similar, potential problems do not re-occur, As you know, your corrective action process is the heart and soul in making your quality system effective.
To make it easier for you, a glossary and index of terms is included, as well as a one-page chart that shows the interrelationships of the 20 elements of ISO 9001, depicting them in common-sense terms.
Leland R. Beaumont's professionalism and sincerity shine in his book. He encourages you to take the journey to ISO registration and to let him know about your experiences and how he can improve his book.
Rosemarie J. Romanelli
RJR Quality, Beacon, NY
June 9, 1994
Published by Simply Quality