Integrated Management Systems: A Guide

Posted on Nov 6, 2024 in Other subjects

MANAGEMENT SYSTEM (QMS)

A quality system is a mechanism for regulating the management of organizations related to the quality of products or services supplied, the economics of the processes and operations, profitability, customer satisfaction and other stakeholders, and the continuous improvement of the above characteristics. Furthermore, quality systems are based on two fundamental principles:

Schedule activities previously performed.
Monitor compliance with the schedule.

The goal is to achieve product or service quality through the quality of processes. That is, if you obtain a quality product by implementing a defined, unchanging process, repetition of this process should result in quality products. This means those quality products that fully satisfy customer expectations.

A quality system is, therefore, a set of procedures that define the best way to make products that can be verified and have therefore been established for certain models or standards governing the minimum conditions that must comply with those procedures. This does not mean that those conditions cannot be overcome by the will of the organization or by specific requirements of its customers.

ISO 9000:2000

ISO-9001:

ISO-9001 specifies the requirements to be met by a quality system, applicable when a contract between two parties demonstrates the ability of a supplier in the design, development, production, installation, and servicing of the product supplied, in order to satisfy the customer.

ISO-9002:

ISO-9002 specifies the requirements to be met by a quality system, applicable when a contract between two parties requires proof of a supplier’s ability in production, installation, and after-sales service of the product supplied to satisfy the customer.

ISO-9003:

ISO-9003 specifies the requirements to be met by a quality system, applicable when a contract between two parties demonstrates the ability of a supplier in the inspection and final testing of the product supplied, in order to achieve customer satisfaction.

The ISO 9000 standards do not imply adopting a standard quality management system unless adopting some organizational culture or specific technology. With the goal of adoption being affordable to most companies in the environment, these standards provide broad flexibility in their implementation, which can be summarized thus: “Document what you do. Make sure to document what it is doing.”

PRINCIPLES OF A QUALITY MANAGEMENT SYSTEM

Customer Focus: Organizations depend on their customers and therefore should understand their current and future needs, meet their requirements, and strive to exceed their expectations.
Leadership: Leaders establish unity of purpose and direction of the organization. Leaders should create and maintain the proper internal environment for staff to be fully involved in achieving the organization’s objectives.
Participation of all staff: The staff is the essence of any organization; their full involvement enables their abilities to be used for the benefit of the organization.
Process-based approach: An activity using resources and managed to enable the transformation of inputs into outputs can be considered a process. Often the output of a process is directly input to the following process. Under this approach, the desired result is achieved more efficiently when activities and related resources are managed as a process. It gives us the advantage of having continuous control over individual processes within the system of processes, as well as their combination and interaction.
System approach to management: Identifying, understanding, and managing interrelated processes as a system contributes to the organization’s effectiveness and efficiency in achieving its objectives.
Continuous improvement: Continuous improvement of the organization’s overall performance should be a permanent objective. It is the fundamental point that defines the basis and structure of the entire standard.
Factual approach to decision making: Effective decisions are based on analyzing data and information to reduce their risk.
Mutually beneficial supplier: The organization and its suppliers are interdependent, and a mutually beneficial relationship enhances the ability of both to create value, never recognized as an inferior-superior relationship.

Continuous improvement becomes a permanent objective of the system to increase the likelihood of increasing customer satisfaction and other stakeholders.

IMPLEMENTATION PROCESS QMS – ISO 9000

Idea – Decision – Commitment – Control – Continuous Improvement – Action

ENVIRONMENTAL MANAGEMENT SYSTEM (EMS)

An environmental management system is a mechanism for regulating the management of organizations relating to compliance with current legislation regarding emissions and discharges and the scope of the organization’s environmental objectives. Environmental management systems are based on two fundamental principles:

Previously programmed situations and activities.
Monitor compliance with the schedule.

The goal is to achieve the safety of emissions and discharges through the adequacy of facilities and activities. The latter is achieved through efficient project planning and maintenance, and the second by defining the processes to be performed by people and the need to become repeatable and improvable.

An environmental management system is a set of procedures that define the best way to perform activities likely to cause environmental impacts. In doing so, certain patterns or standards have been established that govern the minimum conditions to be fulfilled by those proceedings, which does not mean that those conditions cannot be overcome by the will of the organization or by specific requirements of its customers.

Several models of environmental management exist, but the most common type is ISO 14001:2004, particularly for achieving the following objectives:

Identify and assess the likelihood and extent of risks to which the company presents environmental problems.
Assess the impacts the company’s activities have on the environment.
Define basic principles that must lead the company to adjust its environmental responsibilities.
Establish short, medium, and long-term environmental performance targets, balancing costs and benefits.
Appraise the resources needed to achieve these objectives, assigning responsibilities and establishing budgets for equipment, technology, and personnel.
Develop procedures to ensure that each employee knows how to help minimize or eliminate any negative impact on the business environment.
Communicate the responsibilities and instructions to the various levels of the organization and train employees for greater efficiency.
Measure the performance referenced in the standards and objectives.
Carry out internal and external communication of the results achieved to motivate everyone involved to achieve better results.

CORPORATE MANAGEMENT

Adequate preparation of these resources will facilitate implementing a strategy to follow, which will be based on the following:

Defining the most likely scenario in which the organization’s activities will run.
Planning and developing processes that best contribute to achieving the best results within the defined scenario.
Preparation of human elements, material and intellectual resources to cope successfully with variable events that have not been foreseen.
Implementation of appropriate procedures to improve repetitive processes and increase the level of knowledge through learning variable events.

ISO 14000 Principles

All rules of the ISO 14000 family were developed based on the following principles:

Should result in better environmental management.
Should be applicable to all nations.
Should promote a wider interest in the public and users of standards.
They must be cost-effective and flexible to meet the different needs of organizations of any size anywhere in the world. As part of their flexibility, they should serve the purposes of both internal and external verification.
They must be based on scientific knowledge.
Must be practical, useful, and usable.

IMPLEMENTATION PROCESS EMS – ISO 14000

At this point, it should be noted that although ISO 9000 and ISO 14000 allow for the proper implementation of management systems of different natures, one related to quality and the other related to caring for the environmental impact, the end result is Management. It is therefore logical to infer that the implementation process is similar in almost its entirety, introducing small changes seen in the approach above. The process of implementing an Environmental Management System (EMS) that can achieve ISO 14000 certification may develop in the same six steps to develop the process of implementing a Management System for Quality.

MANAGEMENT OF OCCUPATIONAL SAFETY AND HEALTH (OHSMS)

A Management Systems Occupational Health and Safety (OHSMS) or System of Occupational Risk Prevention is a mechanism for regulating the management of organizations in the following aspects:

Enforcement of existing legislation on the state of facilities in connection with the causes of potential risks.
The total elimination of occupational hazards in the organization’s work.

The OHSMS are based on two fundamental principles:

Previously programmed situations and activities.
Monitor compliance with the programming.

The goal is to achieve total protection of the health and lives of employees and other personnel concerned by the adequacy of installations, through a project and efficient maintenance and activities, through the definition of the processes to be undertaken by individuals and the need to become repeatable and improvable.

A Management System Occupational Health and Safety (OHSMS) is therefore a set of procedures that define the best way to perform activities likely to cause accidents or occupational diseases. In doing so, certain patterns or standards have been established that govern the minimum conditions to be fulfilled by those proceedings, which does not mean that those conditions cannot be overcome by the will of the organization or by specific requirements of its customers.

INTEGRATED MANAGEMENT SYSTEMS

When implementing an Integrated Management System, three main aspects should be taken into account: the organizational, the dynamic, and the static. Organizational aspects concern the company’s description and the system’s preparation. They define the processes to be carried out to ensure the organization meets its goals, the objectives to be achieved, how it is structured and managed, the conditions of competition and training of such personnel, and the relationships of internal communication.

The dynamic aspects provide for the preparation and implementation of processes and are characteristic of quality management since they define the personnel’s activities in carrying out the work and monitoring the results. The static aspects are characteristic of environmental management and safety and occupational health. They mainly describe the situation in which facilities must be located so that they are not aggressive to staff or the surrounding environment and the protections that must be used to eliminate or decrease the aggressiveness represented by six keywords: idea, determination, commitment, performance, control and continuous improvement.

ORGANIZATIONAL ASPECTS

Identification and sequence of definition of the organization and structure, policy and management commitment, goal setting, communication system, documentation, and training.

DYNAMIC ASPECTS

Purchases of goods and services, design and product requirements, product realization, measurement and process control, nonconforming product control, actions to improve, internal audits.

STATIC ASPECTS

Provision and implementation of state resources and infrastructure facilities and emission control of discharges of waste management and product safety analysis, risk assessment and control allocation of individual protective equipment, state of the machines and devices protection.

IMPLEMENTATION OF AN INTEGRATED (MANAGEMENT SYSTEM)

An organization that wants to adopt an Integrated Management System shall consider the following aspects:

The organization must know itself in depth internally, understand the environment in which it operates, and have clear objectives regarding society and the expected outcomes.
When implementing an integrated management system, any organization will find a myriad of obstacles related to weaknesses in its structure, fear of change, and an initial unavoidable increase in costs (which will be lower if you have already implemented one of the founding management systems).
To start implementing an integrated management system, as with any individual management system, the organization’s management must be convinced that this is beneficial. Only if the organization’s management believes it is advisable to begin the long and vigorous way that is required.
The primary motivation must come from the firm conviction that implementing an integrated management system will be beneficial in terms of long-term profitability and development of the organization.
The achievement of certification in accordance with standards by an accredited body is often over-emphasized and must be of secondary importance.
It is common to think that implementing an integrated management system is easy only in large organizations since it involves elaborate documentation that seems feasible only in small organizations. This concept is wrong and must be corrected.

Coincidence of three systems

In these management systems, there is a commitment and leadership from management. Only if the organization’s management is committed to success will it be achieved.

These management systems are engaged in a process of innovation and continuous improvement (PDCA).

They rely primarily on preventive action rather than corrective.

They are applicable at all stages of the product life cycle and all stages of production processes.

They must be measurable. They are effective only if they can measure and evaluate the situation where we are and where we are going. In all three systems, the evaluation techniques are similar and identical.

The three schemes involve the commitment and participation of all people working in the organization. It would be hard to achieve success without all personnel participating in quality, environment, or safety; they are continuous processes integrated into the whole structure of the organization.

Training is the primary key to developing these management systems in organizations.

BENEFITS OF AN INTEGRATED (MANAGEMENT SYSTEM)

Implementing an Integrated Management System allows the organization to demonstrate its commitment to all stakeholders and not only to the client. An Integrated Management System covers all aspects of the business, from product quality and customer service to maintaining operations within an acceptable environmental performance and occupational health and safety situation. The main benefits that come with implementing an Integrated Management System in the company are:

Improved efficiency and effectiveness of the organization for good adaptation to market needs.
Improved relationships with suppliers, to make them share in the philosophy of quality.
Minimizes error rates, increases economic benefits, and substantially reduces costs not related to quality.
Get a decrease in warranty costs and service in customer complaints’ number and importance.
Increase the performance, skills, and training of the organization’s members, both as individuals and teams.
Improved morale and motivation of staff, participants, and makers feel the continual improvement of their organization.
Achieves awareness of environmental preservation at all levels and a safer working environment for all members of the organization.
Save significant resources in developing and implementing the Integrated Management System and a smaller investment than is required for certification processes independently.
Improve job opportunities, be certified by international agencies with worldwide recognition, and meet current market requirements simultaneously.