https://www.amazon.com/dp/B08QGYNZV3/
How did your two-plus decades of consulting and
auditing ISO management systems inspire you to write this book?
Good question. I was thinking
about writing my story for a long time, but customers and travel did not leave much
time for fun work. Everything changed when the pandemic hit. Many businesses
went dormant, and I realized that I finally had plenty of time to go through my
endless notes and articles to write this book.
In your experience, what are some common
misconceptions about ISO management systems and their documentation?
Some companies see ISO management systems only as a mechanism to get a certificate and tell their customers that they have the paper. Regretfully, these businesses do not realize and do not benefit from their system to improve the effectiveness and efficiency of their operations.
Can you share a story from your consulting
years that illustrates the impact of an over-documented management system on a
company?
The main measurable impact of
an over-documented management system is the cost of training. A company employing
some 450 personnel spent on training over one million dollars a year without
even realizing it. The proposed Lean optimization of the management system
projected savings on training of approximately 500,000 dollars a year.
Your book mentions that 91% of employees think their
procedures are too long. Why do you think this issue is so widespread?
Management system requirements started a long time before ISO. The history of contemporary standards for management systems traces back to 1959. Then, the U.S. Department of Defense released a quality management program under the designation MIL-Q-9858. For nearly four decades, this standard was primarily used in the U.S. defense and aerospace industries. As with any government initiative, this standard was poorly written and lengthy to serve one purpose: to communicate the government’s requirements to its contractors. Bad habits die hard: many management systems still carry over bureaucratic, age-old approaches and techniques to document their ISO management systems.
How do Lean methods specifically address the
problem of waste in ISO management systems?
Numerous definitions of Lean
boil down to “eliminate or reduce waste in processes.” Countless companies worldwide
utilize Lean techniques in manufacturing, service, and other industries. When
we apply Lean to a management system, we will clean our procedures from
unnecessary waste, such as excessive wording, grammatical errors, duplications,
etc.
What are some of the benefits companies have
experienced after implementing the Lean approaches you discuss in the book?
The main benefits are
increased effectiveness of the documentation control and training processes,
resulting in significant money savings. For example, if you used to spend one
hour training an employee in a 30-page document, you will spend half of this
time training them in a 15-page document. The effectiveness of training also skyrockets:
the shorter the message, the greater the retention.
Your book includes dozens of templates for Lean
procedures and records. How should businesses use these templates to their
advantage?
More than once, folks asked me
why I share paper documents in this electronic age. Firstly, you will not
believe how many companies still run their business on spreadsheets, paper
forms, etc. Secondly, I do not “sell” templates, I promote Lean processes
illustrated by my templates.
Can you share a success story from one of the
case studies in your book where a company significantly improved its ISO
management system through Lean methods?
A small medical device company
used to have some 400 plus work instructions. After the cleanup, the number of
procedures was reduced to a little bit over 200.
Lastly, what is the Lean Jump-Start Kit, and
how does it complement the lessons from your book?
The Jump Start Kit is a set of
a few essential documents to get you started on your journey to the Lean ISO management
system. It includes templates of:
- Business
Manual
- Document
Change Record
- Procedure
Template
- Forms templates,
and
- Project
Plan Template
By the way, the book gives you
a link to the complimentary version of this kit