Hi Roger
A million quality professionals shout - "Me Too!"
Real and demonstrated Senior Management Commitment to 'certificate standards' or indeed quality, historically, has been a rare beast, and I empathise with you completely. It is widely recognised by the quality community that ISO 9000:1994 in general failed to muster senior management commitment and was largely unsuccessful in improving 'quality' within organisations.
I recently read that many third party auditors auditing against ISO 9000:1994 chose to churn out lots of minor, insignificant non-conformities, rather than confronting senior management with serious non-conformities. Understandable really, I mean who likes confrontation (with your customer). But these guys and their employers must accept a large proportion of the blame for failing to implement the requirements of the standard and consequently besmirching the credibility of the standard.
Anyway that's history and although one has to be sceptical, within ISO 9000:2000 there is a lot more emphasis on, and requirements for senior management commitment:
http://www.saferpak....rom_the_top.pdf
ISO from the Top - Jim Wade
http://www.qualitydi...html/iso2k.html
'Redefining Management Responsibility' - Quality Digest
Print both articles off; shove them in the MD's in-tray and run.
It is a bit too early to say whether ISO 9000:2000 has altered the mindset of MD's and forced quality onto the boardroom table. You can have an affect here though - be tuff on yourself, if your auditor is not asking probing questions of your senior management, tell him, or get someone in who will!
Quality Professionals do have to live in the 'real world' and should recognise that there is not an endless pot of money or time in any company. However, no Director (accountant or not) worth his salt could ignore a well thought out, brief and structured report explaining the financial viability of a business improvement initiative.
Quality professionals need to communicate and work with senior management to develop a realistic and viable strategy for quality and improvement within their organisation. If this is not possible and I am acutely aware that it is not in some organisations. You must develop a Rockyesque ability to get up from the canvas with another idea, and take what you can get - or leave!
The BRC/IoP Packaging Standard also has requirements for Senior Management Commitment, (implementation and maintenance of the principles of the standard, policy, management review, assignation of resources) and it is possible for similar problems to endure. However it is a relatively new standard and it would be extremely foolhardy and unfair to discuss The BRC/IoP Packaging Standard in the same terms as ISO 9000.
For a start it is a requirement that the certification bodies evaluating against the standard are formally accredited to the European Standard EN45011. These are the only guys who can audit and certificate against the standard.
Formal accreditation of a certification body can only be granted by a National Accreditation Body; in Great Britain this Body is the United Kingdom Accreditation Service (UKAS).
I'm sure lessons have been learned and they need to have been if the BRC/IoP Packaging Standard is to be successful and credible in the long term. The standard presents an opportunity to all interested parties and who knows in the future some or all of the continuous improvement / proactive requirements of ISO 9000:2000 may be incorporated into the BRC/IoP Packaging Standard and ISO 9000:2000 will become wholly irrelevant to packaging companies and our customers.
Surely that would put a smile on your MD's face.
Regards,
Simon