Our company’s quality manual must mirror the ISO standard, must be between 25 and 40 pages in length and must be customized to our business. After the initial approval of the quality manual, no one within the company ever reads it again. The manual is a nonvalue-added element and it flies in the face of lean philosophy and a lean documentation system.

The requirements
According to subclause 4.2.2 of ISO 9001:2000, an organization should establish and maintain a quality manual that includes:

• The scope of the quality management system, including details of and justification for any exclusions
• The documented procedures established for the quality management system or reference to them
• A description of the interaction between the processes of the quality management system

Well that’s not too difficult to accomplish, and with many clients it’s possible to develop a two-page quality manual that meets all of these requirements, that’s user-friendly, and that adds value.

Here’s an example of such a manual:

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