Global Fastener News

FEATURE

Carmen Vertullo

You need a better reason than “customer demand” to start a quality program, Carman Vertullo advises the fastener industry.

Companies can adopt quality program to increase profit, lower costs, reduce liability, improve workplace quality of life, improve processes, create accountability, formalize training, interdepartmental coordination and improve product or service quality.

A quality management system “creates accountability and provides tools to solve problems,” quality consultant Vertullo told a joint session of the Pacific-West Fastener Association and the National Fastener Distributors Association. 

Quality programs are “not just about quality,” Vertullo, of CarVerConsulting in San Diego, explained. Beyond customer satisfaction, quality is about “company culture and continuous improvement.” 

Whether your company is using ISO 9001-2008, AS9100C, ISO/TS 16949, ISO 17025 or other QMS, Vertullo emphasized training. 

“Train, train, train. I can not overstate the value of training. Train your customer too.”

“Use nonconformance events to drive training,” he suggested. “Use pre-training and pre-hiring evaluations to find out who knows what.”

“Close the loop,” with training and monitor “what works better – or worse – after training.”

• QMS requires “top level buy in, but that doesn’t have to mean the top level be the champion of QMS,” Vertullo explained. However, there should be “identifiable champion or champions” of the company’s quality system.

• Vertullo said it is a “misperception that QMS is ‘just a bunch of rules to follow’.” 

Other misperception is that QMS only applies to quality. “That is just one of the aspects,” Vertullo countered.  

Instead of “too much paperwork,” a quality management can reduce paperwork. 

QMS is not a guarantee of quality. “It documents what you do.”

It is not “too many audits,” if your quality system is done right.  Audits can become “nothing” if quality is there. 

• Objective evidence is necessary to demonstrate products conform to quality, Vertullo said.

The minimum to create a QMS is (1) a quality policy, (2) a list of objectives and (3) a manual or written system.

The written system must include control of documents and records; an internal audit; control of nonconforming products; corrective and preventive actions.

The written corporate policy must be followed up with a QMS manual identifying what you control as well as why and how to control. 

“Every transaction is potential Objective Evidence, Vertullo pointed out. “Don’t take the easy way out and miss the opportunity to generate OE. Log OE events and automate.”

“Make bad-to-good a mandate,” Vertullo encouraged fastener companies. 

• Don’t use the coming ISO 9000-2015 update as an excuse to delay implementing a quality system, Vertullo advised. “Don’t miss the boat,” he said. Changes come in three year cycles and any 2015 updates will mainly be terminology, he noted.

• Make your successful QMS a part of your marketing.  Put it on your business cards and brochures.  “Your business card is the first thing potential customers see,” he observed.

• An added benefit for fastener manufacturers is that a certified quality system, “releases you from the Fastener Quality Act regulations.”

• If QMS is successfully integrated into the company culture, “everybody audits each other.”

Instead of treating QMS as a necessary burden, “Make it fun,” Vertullo suggested. “Make it rewarding.” ©2014 GlobalFastenerNews.com

Carmen Vertullo will teach the March 25, 2014, Fastener Training Institute course on Quality Management Systems in LaMirada, CA. For information:  FastenerTraining.org.