Your quality management system (QMS) documents for AS9100, ISO 9001 or any other standard for that matter, do not have to be complicated. Why create volumes of wordy procedures that employees will probably never read? And even if they do, they certainly won’t understand.

As auditors and quality professionals, we see many procedures written by various companies that are long, wordy, and contain a vocabulary that only the writer understands. In reality, many of these procedures or work instructions are not just for your management team but are also for the many other folks working in your production areas, engineering, purchasing, and other groups within your organization. They need to read, understand, and follow these process procedures on an ongoing daily basis. So why not simplify them and create user-friendly documentation while still maintaining the requirements of the standard that you are certified to? You can help eliminate a lot of nonconforming issues by maintaining simple, easy-to-read QMS documents.

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