Intent
WearX provides wear asset maintenance and mine materials handling services to mine sites in Australia and internationally, and has offices and manufacturing facilities in Newcastle, Adelaide, Ballina, Orange, Mackay and Perth.
WearX, as a large contractor to major mining operations, was being subject to ever-increasing supply chain pressures to demonstrate strong quality processes, with preference in tenders given to companies with certification to ISO 9001.
The WearX CEO and Managing Director approached Exis to develop a Quality Management System (QMS) for their operations to control product designed and manufactured at their facilities in Australia and also manufactured by contractors both in Australia and internationally. The development program was aimed at achieving certification to ISO 9001 within nine (9) months.
Approach
- Conducted a full internal QMS audit to review design processes, identify existing quality management processes for design and manufacturing validation and identify necessary controls for outsourced manufacturing.
- Established fortnightly mentoring program for the QMS Coordinator – half-day mentoring visits were used to build the knowledge of the QMS Coordinator by collaborating on procedures, registers, supplier management programs and audit/inspection programs.
- Established two-stage internal QMS audit program with audit checklists and tools – checklist allowed for systems and operations to be audited separately. Audit tools mapped to ISO 9001.
- At the request of the client, we attended both the ISO 9001 pre-certification and certification audits to assist the QMS Coordinator with the audits.
Deployment
Through mentoring sessions and off-site remote phone/email support we developed the QMS Manual, procedures and tools (registers, templates, forms etc.) involving key personnel across the business such as HR, design and drafting, engineering, manufacturing, sales and accounts.
The resulting QMS was rolled out across the business through:
- Internal QMS Audit to identify any outstanding tasks/issues and allow enough time to correct them prior to the certification audit
- One-on-one work with key departments (e.g. design, sales, accounts) to integrate the QMS across all facets of the business
- Quality and safety operations review of the Ballina foundry, and provision of detailed audit report
- Development of preferred supplier assessment and management program
- Development of a web-based intranet system to provide access to controlled QMS documentation
- Development and delivery of a QMS Awareness training package for all staff
Outcomes
- Quality management applied to critical processes across the business, from customer service, ordering, design and engineering through to manufacturing, dispatch and ongoing product support
- Measurable reduction in product non-conformance rates
- Improvement in tender success rates and positive feedback from clients
- Expansion of the QMS to cover additional three (3) businesses and new sites after merger in 2012
- System built such that it is was easily integrated with a safety management system implemented at all office and manufacturing facilities