- On the assessment scene of Seibido Company (quoting the previous
conversations in 2002.June 3w)
In the following conversation A means the assessor
and M means the management representative of Seibido.
| A: |
Please show me a list of documents. |
| M: |
:(showing the quality manual) This is the list
of our all documents related to ISO9001. |
| |
|
| A: |
I cannot identify the current revision status
of documents by this list. |
| M: |
This list only shows who approve which documents
and the current revision status are recorded in each master
document (showing a sample master document). The letter "A"
in the document shows the current revision status. |
| |
|
| A: |
How to identify "A" as the first revision? |
| M: |
The rule of identifying of revision status in
a master document by alphabetical sequence is written in the
quality manual. |
| |
|
| A: |
(all of a sudden) Who identify that you are
the management representative? |
| M: |
(being unable to understand his intention) All
members of our company ( about thirty people) know that I
am the management representative. |
| |
|
| A: |
Who verify that you are the management representative? |
| M: |
I don't totally understand meaning of your question.
|
I will say the questions asked by Mr. T about identification
of the management representative are Zen riddles. The questions
broke the continuity of the conversation. The cause of occurrence
of the Zen riddle was the assessor's false preoccupation that
a company should have a total list by which you can see the current
revision status of all documents at a glance. There is no such
specific requirement in ISO9001.0.1 clause of introduction in
ISO9001: 2000 says that it is not the intent of this International
Standard to imply uniformity in the structure of quality management
systems or uniformity of documentation.
Mr. T ignored the intent by insisting on a uniformity
of a total list by which you can see the current revision status
of all documents at a glance.
- Desirable chains of questions for the scene
The correct conversation should have been as follows.
| A: |
Please explain how to identify the current revision
status of documents described in management procedures. |
| B: |
(Showing the quality manual) The current revision
status of documents is identified by alphabetical sequence
and the current revision status is recorded in each master
document. |
| |
|
| A: |
Please show me a sample. |
| B: |
(Showing a master document) The letter "A" in
the document shows the current revision status of this document. |
| |
|
| A: |
I see. Do you have a total list by which you
can see the current revision status of documents at a glance? |
| B: |
No, I have not. I understand that ISO9001 does
not require such a specific list form. |
| |
|
| A: |
Oh, I just asked. That's all. |
Quite simple!
- Another Zen riddle asked the same assessor, Mr. T
Mr. T did an assessment of a manufacturing company.
The company had two buildings, the one for office works and the
other for manufacturing.
At first the assessment was done in the office.
In the middle of the conversation, all of a sudden, the assessor
asked a manager where was the entrance of the manufacturing site.
The manager puzzled by the question because it broke the continuity
of the conversation, answered, pointing out a door of the manufacturing
building, that the door was the entrance. Unsatisfied with the answer,
the assessor said that he meant from where did process control (4.9
process control) start. Thus his previous question was a Zen riddle.
He should have asked that he wanted to know how
to identify and plan the production process for the manager, according
to 4.9 process control requirements.
|