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Welcome to the ACI Global "Quality Matters" the Global newsletter keeping you up to date on all matters pertaining to Quality! Remember Quality is Contagious.
Please note our web site has now been rebuilt check it out now at www.aciglobal.com.au.
Quality
Turning Customer Data into Critical-Customer-Satisfaction Data
Most people would agree that customers are the most important part of a business – no customers, no business. In order to be successful, a business must know who its customers are and what the expectations of those customers are for the product or service the business sells. In ISO 9001:2000 a critical aspect to determining or measuring customer satisfaction, this process is known as identifying the voice of the customer (VOC). The key to having success in that process is gathering customer data and converting it into measurable critical-to-satisfaction elements.
Some customer data is readily available to a business from sources such as customer complaints, warranty claims, customer returns, refunds, etc. Additional customer data may be obtained from surveys, focus groups, face-to-face interviews and feedback cards.
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Customer surveys are used to elicit quality, service and performance data by asking a standardized set of questions. They are either mailed to customers for them to complete and return or are administered by an interviewer.
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Focus groups are small groups of customers invited to a meeting and asking for their thoughts and opinions on specific questions.
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Face-to-face interviews are conducted by an interviewer with individual customers or potential customers who are asked about their experience with specific products or services.
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Feedback cards are a common method of measuring customer satisfaction and are used by many restaurant and hotel chains to rate elements such as quality, cleanliness, and service.
Gathering customer data is the first step in creating useful information for the business. Once obtained, customer data is analysed to uncover customer perceptions and satisfaction trends over time. There are multiple tools available to analyse this data and determine whether customer satisfaction is trending positive or negative. A few of the most common tools are:
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Simple line graphs are used to show whether a specific characteristic is changing over time, getting better or worse, or staying the same.
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Control charts are used to show whether performance is changing over time and to detect special and assignable causes of variation.
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Pareto analysis is used to identify the top reasons for customer dissatisfaction. With this information, businesses know which problems to address first to get the most improvement most quickly. Also Pareto charts can show whether defect/reject categories are being driven down over time.
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Statistical tests and comparative analysis are used to determine whether or not customer attitudes or specific performance measures have changed and if so, whether or not the changes are statistically significant.
Once the customer data is analysed and customer concerns are identified, the information is translated into critical-to-satisfaction requirements for the business. A critical-to-quality (CTQ) tree can help convert customer needs and wants into measurable requirements for products and/or services.
With most organisations busy planning future budgets for the coming year now is the time to plan for your QMS Upgrade contact us now and and we will send you out an information pack to assist you in planning your QMS Upgrade.
Corporate Governance
 GRI News Update Click here
On line Sustainability Reporting Library
The Department of the Environment and Heritage has developed and manages an online Sustainability Reporting Library. The library includes 350 reports produced by over 100 organisations, including publicly listed companies. The library is a place for organisations to register their reports, providing a central resource for analysts, investors, NGOs and community groups.
The library can be accessed to view and register reports at www.deh.gov.au/SRL.
Environmental
Upgrade for ISO 14001:1996 now 14001:2004
The revised international standards on Environmental Management Systems – Specification with guidance for use (ISO 14001:2004) and Environmental management systems - General guidelines on principles, systems and supporting techniques (ISO 14004:2004) were published on 15 November 2004.
ACI Global customers who have an Environmental Management System (EMS) certified to ISO 14001:1996 may be aware of this.
The Proposed Changes – An Overview
The main amendments to ISO 14001:1996 standard are:
The overall objective and requirements of the revised standard, ISO 14001:2004 are essentially the same as the current standard. As such an existing EMS which is well implemented and maintained is likely to require only minor modifications to achieve compliance against the revised standard.
For further information on the new upgraded ISO 14001:2004 standard contact us and we will happy to provide you with further information or fill out an online Request for Quotation to upgrade your old EMS now.
Australian Government and High Profile Business Leader Richard Pratt wade into The Business of Saving Water
An ambitious 18-month water efficiency study undertaken by Pratt Water in the Murrumbidgee Valley of New South Wales Australia has just been released. The Australian and New South Wales governments jointly committed $5.3 million from the National Action Plan for Salinity and Water Quality for the study, entitled The Business of Saving Water, in a partnership with Visy Industries chairman Richard Pratt AC. The report highlights very clearly that the water challenge facing Australia is too big to rely on government investment alone, follow the link below to read the report.
http://www.deh.gov.au/minister/env/2004/mr09dec04.html
OHS&S
Safe Injection Global Network meeting
Representatives from the World Health Organization (WHO) and developing countries for the Safe Injection Global Network meeting in met in South Africa on October 19-27, 2004. The focus of the meeting was to strategize ways to prevent needlestick injuries to health care workers. As part of their work with the NIOSH HIV Team, progress was discussed in relation to the NIOSH/WHO cooperative agreement project involving use of a "Toolkit CD-Rom" to provide education and training to infection control specialists in developing countries. They also provided training via presentations on the subjects of post-exposure prophylaxis and safer needlestick devices. More information on the meeting can be found on the WHO web site http://www.who.int/injection_safety/en.
Findings from NIOSH Collaborative Study Reflected in Proposed OSHA Rule
Risk estimates from a collaborative assessment conducted by researchers from NIOSH, the Environmental Protection Agency and Johns Hopkins University, are reflected in a new proposed standard by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) that would reduce OSHA’s permissible exposure limit (PEL) for hexavalent chromium (Cr(VI)). This quantitative risk assessment of lung cancer deaths among workers at a chromate manufacturing facility in Baltimore, Md. found that, among workers exposed to hexavalent chromium over a working lifetime at the current PEL, 255 per 1,000 workers would be expected to die from lung cancer attributable to their chromium exposure. OSHA proposes to set a new standard that would decrease the PEL for hexavalent chromium exposure to 1 µg/m3, a fifty-two-fold reduction from the current OSHA PEL. More information on the risk assessment can be found in the October issue of Risk Analysis (2004;24:1099-1108) or by contacting Robert Park at RPark@cdc.gov. Additional information on the OSHA proposed rule can be found at http://www.osha.gov/pls/oshaweb/owadisp.show_document?p_table=NEWS_RELEASES&p_id=11056
Food Safety and HACCP
New appointments at FSANZ
Pasted below is a media release announcing our new, existing and retiring FSANZ Fellows. http://www.foodstandards.gov.au/mediareleasespublications/mediareleases/mediareleases2004/fsanzexpandsitsexper2797.cfm
International Dairy Forum
A speech given by Graham Peachey, Food Standards Australia New Zealand’s Chief Executive Officer, to the International Dairy Forum in Melbourne recently is now available by following the link http://www.foodstandards.gov.au/mediareleasespublications/speeches/speeches2004/grahampeacheydairyas2782.cfm
This information is reproduced with permission of the Food Safety Information Council. for further information contact info@foodstandards.gov.au.
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