ISO 9001 Dilemma

Sorry, no any new article to post in past two weeks. Recently I am very busy with the ISO thing. Our company move up to be a ISO 9001 certified company this June 2008. Then as a highest position of quality personnel in this company, I was appointed as MR (management representative) for this ISO9001 project, the chosen one, my colleague (with silent smile) said! But in my opinion this appointed is no more than “crap” this position provide me nothing in terms of money or any benefit but only gave me additional responsible, tasks, longer work time and headache without any compensation. What is ISO 9001? The word ISO is not acronym from “International Standardization Organization” this word derived from the Greek isos, meaning "equal". ISO 9001 is a series of documents that define requirements for the Quality Management System Standard. ISO 9001 is one of the documents in this set; it contains the actual requirements an organization must be in compliance with to become ISO 9001 Registered. In our everyday life often we used the ISO standard product without realizing it, like ruler is the ISO product for length and also clock is the ISO product for time and so on.
Why our company with great difficulty as well as spent much money to get this certification? And what are the benefits of ISO 9001? Basically there are two reasons: real and hope, the real reason is our existing and new Customer demanded it, that is! Without this certificate probably we will lose our existing Customer and could not get new ones. The hope reasons are: with this ISO 9001 (Quality Management System standard) implementation we hope:

• We have fewer problems with failures in our product quality; with assumption as we mature in quality management, we spend more time on improving rather than fixing and reacting.
• We are clear about what to do, and how it is to be done. We don't spend time 'making things up' or 'finding things out' or duplicating effort.
• We know more quickly if things are going wrong.
• We stop spending money or wasting time on the same old problems - many problems have been resolved permanently. If another crops up, you have inner resources and skills to identify & resolve it faster.
  

In my opinion this hope continue to only become hope because in order to be able make the hope become the reality we need more resources and capital invested, with current global economy recession I don’t think the boss will spend money to make this dream comes true. So it is look like we will perceive this ISO 9001 certificate more on marketability rather than on achieving quality.

In my experience with some ISO 9001 certified companies, I concluded that:

1. ISO 9001 doesn’t ensure product quality
2. This ISO 9001 applied and resulted in little more than additional bureaucracy and paperwork in some company.

Probably this failure influenced by failures in implementation and/or understanding of the Standard, rather than the Standard itself. Like myself mostly people who involved in set-up ISO 9001 not really understand the requirements but I think even we really understand the requirements it still difficult to ensure Boss cough up his money for any ISO 9001 improvement purpose.

My conclusion:
ISO 9001 is like mode, like a brand fashion thing so if you have more money, it is ok you buy it for your company prestige but if you not really need it or your customer not really asking it or you could make any excuse not to obtain this certificate yet (but we could tell that we already implement this system and plan to certify in the future). Better you delay it as long as possible because after you obtained this ISO 9001 Certificate you will spend more and more money and efforts to maintain them and also you will make your staff life miserable to make many paperwork to fulfill this ISO 9001 requirements, Frighten will result in the side-effect towards the quality because they will not focus to their normal work since they relocate their time for this ISO 9001 paperwork.

A day to remember (II): "Weekends at Nongsa Beach"

Last weekend after a pay day, the worker decide to gather some money (each US$5) in order to be able book a minivan go to the beach for short getaway from the hustle and stresses of daily working routine. There were all about 15 person decide to participated in this event. With a tight budget just enough for book a van and buy some food, we just wander down for some beach fun. Despite this simple vacation It seems everyone is enjoyed along with their good friends .

A Day to Remember (I)

Today is one of my QC inspector’s birthday, she is very sweet young lady who favorable among male coworker.

With simple surprised party and low budget birthday cake, every worker seems enjoy this celebration probably because the subject of this party is pretty girl or probably due to we are “all in the same boat “ suffering from domino effect of recent fuel price increased then treat this small party as trouble escaping .

With basic salary below US$120 per-month it is already struggling to make end meets for most of the worker before the fuel price increasing.

But like other Indonesians despite of severe economic problem our worker are have remained friendly and cheerful .

My first encounter with Batam

I came to Batam around October 1998 after failed to get any job in Singapore . Originally I happily lived in Jakarta but forced to escape to other country (Singapore) like many other Chinese due to Jakarta riot in May 2008. Why Batam ? because its near Singapore and I also have distant familiar here . Within five months looking job in Singapore I found a degree from Indonesia is not desirable there whose prefer a degree from reputable university around the world .In Batam after three month I found my first job here as Quality Engineer although I didn’t have any background in Quality, I learned and answered the interviewed from website . Why I choose Quality? (Answered à Please see my previous posting). Thank to this Company gave me chance to learn all subject about quality , it give me opportunity to upgrade myself in term of salary and higher position by join other company.
Batam is better than other province in term of competition for job seeker especially for people whose graduate from not hot demand subject like science because It's fair game here. Since many manager here are came from overseas so They don’t know/ care about from which University you are or what are your education discipline .They only need you could answered their question during interviewed and show that you have skill or ability to learn and adapt to the position offered . In order to be able confidently answered their question you need to know foreign language since most of this foreigner unable speak Indonesian. So foreign language either English or Mandarin is very important here . No matter how high your grade or how clever you are , it will be difficult to get any job here if you could not speak English (sometime Mandarin will be help if the Manager came from Singapore) Batam is close to Singapore. Just about 20Km away, with ferry, can take from 45min ~ 1hour, depends on which harbor you go. The longest journey is from Batam Centre, but since it is the latest and the nicest harbor, furthermore there is a big Mall nearby, just by crossing a bridge over the street; people like to go by that harbor more. Batam known as a cheap play ground for Singapore man , Many Singaporean like to come on Friday night either for shopping , previously some also come for gambling (but now no gambling permitted in Batam) but mostly of these man come for the ladies .

What , Why and How Batam Island ?

What ?
Batam Island known as Singapore's low cost playground 。
　
This island is the best choice location for You who just want a holiday in the lush warmth of cheap and easily accessible tropical island , just one hour ferry ride from Singapore 。There are several tourist resorts here with luxurious hotels and golf courses, also available other activities like Cable Water Skiing, Go Karting, Forest &Village Outings, Fishing , Watersports , Golf and of course wonderful & reasonable price of spa treatment 。
Batam nightlife a low cost , blossom entertainment scene resemble to Thailand or Macau of yesteryear 。
　
The main centre of Batam's nightlife is NAGOYA and Jodoh, with a string of bar, karaoke lounge , massage centre and high-tech discos, this entertainment district is bounded by Planet Holidays, Melia Panorama , Goodway ,Harmoni and other hotels 。The westerner favorite Lucy's Oarhouse 。The famous PP Banana GoGo 。Also a serial of bar /karoake /cuisine : Jungle bar, Classic Pub, Red Cock, Bistro , Red Rose and Beyond Bar 。With dozens of best and value for money massage parlor : Sports , Relax , Queens , Atlanta and others 。

Why Visit Batam ?

• Less than 1 hour from Singapore 。
• Batam famed nightlife is a load of fun with moderate price and will not burn a hole in your pocket 。
• A beautiful, smiling and welcoming Indonesian women are judged by many foreigners as among the world most sweet, charming and generous lady。　

How ?

Arriving at Batam either using a ferry or a airplane and the moment you step off the immigration checking area ,there is a sea of faces waving to you , claiming to offer the best price for a ride into town. But how does a first time visitor know what is a fair rate or whether a driver is a good people. That is why we have provide a service that will not only give the best deals in terms of service and price from your landing place to town but also to major resorts or any entertainment places you like with a fairest and clear indication of the cost 。