THOSE WHO are really serious about the ISO standards should apply the quality concept to the invisible as well as the visible, according to Philip Womersley, m.d. of Safcor.
ISO tests what is obvious to a customer, he said. But not the internal procedures - those not visible to the customer.
Womersley uses a simple allegory. For example, if your petty cash doesn't balance, a customer never feels it, he said.
You might then ask: Why should I make myself responsible for a negative item when ISO doesn't demand it?
But we feel, through the prompting of our ISO director, that we must have quality procedures for every process within our company - visible and invisible.
The extending of the ISO-type discipline to every facet of our lives.
Indeed, Womersley insists that this should be the way of the future.
If we're serious about quality - we'll have one standard, he said. One system - whether it's insisted on by ISO or not.
Practice what you preach is how Womersely describes it.
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