Lean ISO 9001

ISO 9001 consists of good business practices and processes that have evolved over many years; lean is about getting rid of the waste in each company's interpretation and implementation of those and other processes, making them more effective and efficient with the objective of reducing lead time. Thus, it makes perfect sense to combine these two complementary forces into Lean ISO 9001. There are three main aspects to Lean ISO 9001. The first is "Leaning Out the Quality Management System". This chapter discusses how and why documentation systems get out of control, what's wrong with an overly lengthy documentation system, and how to get it back in control and more user-friendly through the use of the lean tool 5S. The second aspect is "Integrating Lean Practices with the QMS", which describes how certain lean practices such as Value Stream Mapping, 5S, kaizen, and Training Within Industry (TWI) could and should be integrated within the QMS if the company plans to continue to use lean methodologies in the foreseeable future. The third aspect is "Leaning out the QMS Processes", which outlines the wastes involved with operating under multiple continuous improvement processes. It explains the relationship between Value Stream Maps and Procedures, and provides ideas on how to eliminate some of the wastes involved with typical quality processes like Record Control, Internal Auditing, Corrective/Preventive Actions, Management Review, and Document Control. This groundbreaking book concludes with discussion of the importance of developing a "Lean ISO 9001 Maturity Assessment Model", and examples of how it can be accomplished.