Total quality management 445 Work Instructions provide the shop-floor'level of instruction needed by staff. These should be formulated so that anyone coming to a job for the first time can, with a small amount of training, carry out the job effectively Examples of work instructions could be how to make out an invoice, a purchase order or a customer order. Other examples include those in production for the basic operation of a machine or on how to carry out weight checks All levels of the manual may need to be supported by record forms and these should either be incorporated with procedures/work instructions, or clearly eparated off and identified. Setting the structure of the system and document numbering and cross-referencing will save a lot of trouble and retracing later. It clear that documenting the quality system is a major task and it needs to be thought through clearly. Experience also teaches that the best systems are those written by the staff actually involved in the task being described. This simple device also ensures a wide level of personal involvement with the development of the quality system and helps to provide ownership throughout 15.4.8 Quality manual(s) The essential parts of this need to be written in draft form at an early stage because it sets in writing the structure referred to above. It usually contains the policy and headline procedures covering each key area of the quality system. It is usually used for overall guidance and should be available to customers Therefore it should not contain anything of an overly sensitive or confidential nature. Each operational function within the company must agree to the contents of the quality manual as it applies to them. Better still, to gain ownership, if they actually write those parts which apply to them. The organisation and management authority must be clearly defined at this stage 15.4.9 Quality improvement Once the plan has proceeded far enough to ensure a reasonable understanding of the current business processes, the key task of planning for quality improvements can begin. The mechanisms for achieving this are varied and will need to be tailored to suit individual circumstances. Most critically it is essential to be able to leasure the process, either in terms of inputs, outputs or throughputs. BS 7850 (Iso 9004-4 )deals with a variety of techniques used for quality improvement and these will need to be considered. It should be remembered that improvements may need long-term solutions and that the implications to other elements of the business must be considered However failure to maintain momentum in this area will impact significantly on the usefulness of your TQM system 15.4.10 Staff Training The system designed will be of no use whatsoever unless sufficient time and resource is allocated to training and educating staff in the requirements of theWork Instructions provide the ‘shop-floor’ level of instruction needed by staff. These should be formulated so that anyone coming to a job for the first time can, with a small amount of training, carry out the job effectively. Examples of work instructions could be how to make out an invoice, a purchase order or a customer order. Other examples include those in production for the basic operation of a machine or on how to carry out weight checks. All levels of the manual may need to be supported by record forms and these should either be incorporated with procedures/work instructions, or clearly separated off and identified. Setting the structure of the system and document numbering and cross-referencing will save a lot of trouble and retracing later. It is clear that documenting the quality system is a major task and it needs to be thought through clearly. Experience also teaches that the best systems are those written by the staff actually involved in the task being described. This simple device also ensures a wide level of personal involvement with the development of the quality system and helps to provide ownership throughout. 15.4.8 Quality manual(s) The essential parts of this need to be written in draft form at an early stage because it sets in writing the structure referred to above. It usually contains the policy and headline procedures covering each key area of the quality system. It is usually used for overall guidance and should be available to customers. Therefore it should not contain anything of an overly sensitive or confidential nature. Each operational function within the company must agree to the contents of the quality manual as it applies to them. Better still, to gain ownership, if they actually write those parts which apply to them. The organisation and management authority must be clearly defined at this stage. 15.4.9 Quality improvement Once the plan has proceeded far enough to ensure a reasonable understanding of the current business processes, the key task of planning for quality improvements can begin. The mechanisms for achieving this are varied and will need to be tailored to suit individual circumstances. Most critically it is essential to be able to measure the process, either in terms of inputs, outputs or throughputs. BS 7850 (ISO 9004-4) deals with a variety of techniques used for quality improvement and these will need to be considered. It should be remembered that improvements may need long-term solutions and that the implications to other elements of the business must be considered. However, failure to maintain momentum in this area will impact significantly on the usefulness of your TQM system. 15.4.10 Staff Training The system designed will be of no use whatsoever unless sufficient time and resource is allocated to training and educating staff in the requirements of the Total quality management 445