ISO Report December 2008
by Ken Mussato

ISO, the International Standards for Organization is a network of over 150 nations which is coordinated by a Central Secretariat in Geneva, Switzerland. "ISO", derives from the Greek isos, meaning "equal". Standards ensure quality, safety, efficiency and any environmental issues must meet the standards for the industry. When standards are missing our products soon become poor, are incompatible with others and may not fit. In the detailing industry where things must fit, that's a disaster.

At Dowco, we have a set of rules which we follow for every process on every job. Every step from starting a job to completing a job has its rules. These allow us maintain a quality product that can be delivered to our client. This is our ISO Quality Management System and is posted on our Intranet for all to read.

Unfortunately, not everything goes as planned and these hiccups usually land up in our Quality Issue reports. These are also posted on out Intranet. It is the senior management's responsibility to analyze there problems to determines its cause and to create an action plan that will prevent the problem from happening in the future. Most problem solving is done using the Root Cause Analysis method. The following excerpt from Wikipedia explains this process in detail.

Notice that RCA (in steps 3, 4 and 5) forms the most critical part of successful corrective action, because it directs the corrective action at the root of the problem. That is to say, it is effective solutions we seek, not root causes. Root causes are secondary to the goal of prevention, and are only revealed after we decide which solutions to implement.

1. Define the problem.
2. Gather data/evidence.
3. Ask why and identify the causal relationships associated with the defined problem.
4. Identify which causes if removed or changed will prevent recurrence.
5. Identify effective solutions that prevent recurrence, are within your control, meet your goals and objectives and do not cause other problems.
6. Implement the recommendations.
7. Observe the recommended solutions to ensure effectiveness.