Quality Systems and Customer Certification

It is usual for a components manufacturing business to hold formal customer approval for its quality systems before it can supply any goods. Such approval or certification is invalidated when a change to the plant location has been made, or if the processes have been significantly redesigned. Under such circumstances reappraisal is required, and this can only be attained following a satisfactory quality systems audit conducted by the customer at the supplier′s site. This article describes the structured approach taken to improve quality systems within a relocated and redesigned business in order to obtain customer certification. Areas requiring development included employee involvement, manufacturing control plans, modification control, internal systems audits, work identification, advance quality planning and a quality systems manual. The quality systems audits conducted by the customers are discussed, and recommendations for continuous improvement are made.