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 Overview
 Compliance
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Quality
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Quality
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Work Instructions
Quality Records
Corrective Action
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Process
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Standards
Glossary
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Work
instructions are the lowest level of required procedural documentation
for an ISO 9000 compliant Quality Management System (QMS). At their
most basic level, work instructions explain, step by step, how a
task is performed. Work instructions are not required for every
task related to quality, rather only those which explain the manner
of production, installation and servicing, and whose absence would
adversely affect quality.
A common mistake for companies to make is to get bogged down in
writing detailed work instructions. Such an approach is dangerous
because it: 1) is time consuming, 2) is not necessary to comply
with the standard, 3) creates an unwieldy QMS, and 4) creates many
opportunities for a registrar to document nonconformance with the
QMS.
As you create work instructions, be prepared for there to be some
areas of disagreement on the best way to perform certain tasks.
The instruction writing process can be very helpful in reducing
variation. For instance, if there are large differences in the way
the first-shift and second-shift operators set up the same machine,
establishing work instructions will help you solve that source of
process variation. Work instructions should be flexible and change
with the organization. From an ISO perspective, the most important
consideration is to make sure operators are working with an approved
copy of the latest work instruction.
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