Automotive Quality Systems Handbook, 2nd Edition

the political climate or fear of reprisals. We can so easily forget

our purpose when in heated discussion when it’s not who you

are, but what you say and to whom you say it that is deemed

important. Those people who live by a set of principles often

find themselves cast out of the club for saying what they

believe. However, with presence of mind and recollection of

the reasons why the principles are important for survival, they

could just redeem themselves and be regarded as an important

contributor.

A quality management principle is defined by ISO/TC 176 as a comprehensive and

fundamental rule or belief, for leading and operating an organization, aimed at con-

tinually improving performance over the long term by focusing on customers while

addressing the needs of all other interested parties. Eight principles (see Figure 1.3)

have emerged as fundamental to the management of quality.

All the requirements of ISO/TS 16949 are related to one or more of these principles.

These principles provide the reasons for the requirements and are thus very important.

Each of these is addressed below. Further guidance on the application of these principles

is provided in Hoyle and Thomson (2000)

7

.

Customer focus

This principle is expressed as follows:

Organizations depend on their customers and therefore should understand current and

future customer needs, meet customer requirements and strive to exceed customer

expectations.

20 Basic concepts

Management

Leadership

Customer focus

Involvement of

people

Continual

improvement

Mutually beneficial

supplier

relationships

Factual approach

System approach

Process approach

Figure 1.3 The eight quality management principles

Did you know?

Neither the

definition of a

quality management

principle nor the eight

principles themselves

contain the word

quality.

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