How to Write a Quality Manual
A quality control system can improve your company's bottom line, because customers will be happier and more costly mistakes will be prevented, according to Quality Management Consultants. A quality manual can ensure that a company is meeting industry-wide standards and functioning in a consistent way in each location. It tells people how to do their jobs --- both procedurally and functionally --- and can help to ensure compliance with federal and state regulations. A well-written manual will be easy to navigate and understand.
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Instructions
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Determine how you will organize the quality manual. You can organize it according to the ISO (International Organization for Standardization) standards for your business, or you can break it into another sequence of logical segments. Cross-reference each section to the ISO standard(s) that are addressed.
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Gather the information you will need to write the manual. You will need documents that pertain to information referenced in the manual, as well as a list of all policies and regulations that apply to your company.
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Write an overview for the manual. Include your company's quality policy along with a clear purpose for the manual. The quality policy should define what constitutes quality for your company and its products and specify how it is to be achieved by employees. The overview can describe the company, or you can put a company description on another page.
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Describe company procedures in a precise manner. Each procedure should explain its purpose, describe how and when functions must be performed, and provide a list of materials that are necessary to complete the task. Employees should be able to learn how to perform each job function efficiently and effectively.
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Include a page that clearly shows the organizational structure of your company. This can be a simple organizational chart or a complex description of each department and its functions.
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Complete the quality manual by developing a page of contents, an index and a glossary. The glossary should include terms that might be unfamiliar to readers. Include a cover page and a title.
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Tips & Warnings
You have the option of either including each ISO standard in the manual or making references to the standards. If you make reference to the ISO standards, they should be in a readily available document, and the quality manual should tell how to access it.
Consider making your quality manual available online or as a PDF. This will enable you to include links to the standards that you are referencing.
References
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