Table of Contents
Customer Communication
In developing the product and service requirements at A2Z Services, we communicate with our customers and suppliers to ensure that the products and services that we deliver meet the requirements specified. In communicating with our suppliers and customers the communication will include (but not limited to):
- Supplying information to our customers on our products and services so that the correct product and service requirements are gained from the customer;
- Handling enquires, orders, documenting of contracts and developing and variations to these if required;
- Gaining feedback from our customers and suppliers relating to our products and services, including customer complaints;
- How A2Z Services handles and maintains control of customer’s property whilst it is at our company; and
- Communicating with our suppliers and customers on any requirements for contingency actions, if required.
Determination for Products and Services Requirements
When A2Z Services determines the requirements for our products and services, we define, developed, plan, process and dispatch our product against the criteria developed.
In determining the requirements for our products and services our company ensures that we meet and exceed:
- Any applicable statutory or legislative requirements; and
- We ensure that we meet and exceed the requirements necessary to deliver our products and services against the customer’s requirements.
In determining the output of our products and services, A2Z Services meets and exceeds any claims made on the offers made with regards to our products and services.
Products and Services Requirements Review
Prior to commitment to supply a product or service (such as a tender, acceptance of a contract, orders, or changes to orders / contracts), a review of the requirements of the product or service is undertaken, and the review will ensure that:
- Product or requirements have been defined by the customer and they include what is required to deliver the product or service and what the post-delivery activities are;
- Requirements not strictly stated by the customer, but are necessary to complete the processes at A2Z Services are specified and documented when they become known;
- Internal requirements of A2Z Services are specified and documented;
- Statutory and legislative requirements applicable to the products or services are met;
- Contract or order requirements differing from previously ordered products have been investigated and resolved; and
- A2Z Services has the capability to meet the requirements.
Documented information in the form of records for the review must be kept as per statutory and legislative requirements. The records must include (but not limited to):
- The results of the review; and
- Details of any new requirements for the products and services.
When taking a customer order, and prior to starting work on the order, confirmation of the scope of the order, changes required, and any special considerations are communicated as required. Where an order is made verbally, a record of the requirement is made and communicated to relevant personnel throughout the organisation. The appropriate department maintains a record of any order, or changes to existing orders.
After approval, a job number / order number is assigned and the transaction subsequently becomes a contract. Any changes to the contract (requested internally, or by the customer) must be confirmed in writing. In some situations, such as internet orders, it is deemed that a formal review is impractical for each order. Instead the review can cover relevant product information such as any advertising materials (online or catalogues). In these cases, a review will be conducted following specific work instructions relevant to the product and the department.
Products and Services Requirements Changes
Relevant documented information about changes to requirements for A2Z Services’ products and services is maintained in the form of records associated with the change to requirements. A2Z Services communicates the change with both internal and external stakeholders as required and update these stakeholders when product and service requirements are amended.
Design and Development of Products and Services Policy
General Introduction:
This section describes how A2Z Services manages the interface between different groups involved in design and development of the company’s products and services to ensure effective communication and role clarity.
The General Manager is accountable for the activities undertaken in the design / development stage and determines the key stages of the design and development for the product or service and its corresponding verification and validation as appropriate.
A2Z Services plans, implements and maintains ongoing processes for the design and development of our products and services. The planning considers the inputs and desired outputs and then a design and development review is planned to develop the methodologies for verification and validation. Verification and validation are conducted and recorded separately or in any combination as deemed suitable for the product or service.
Design and Development Planning
At A2Z Services, our design and development process includes a design plan, (see Design Plan Guide (OF0014)) which provides stages and controls based on:
- The nature, schedules and the consideration of the complexity for the required design and development tasks;
- The relevant design and development reviews and gates for development;
- The criteria and methodology for verification and validation tasks;
- Assigned roles, responsibilities, accountabilities and authorities for the design and development process;
- The resourcing required (both internal and external) to achieve the design and development of our products and services;
- The management of interfaces between various departments in A2Z Services involved;
- The requirement to engage our customers and end-users to ensure the product and / or service meets the requirements and is usable;
- The ongoing requirement for the subsequent provision of A2Z Services’ products and services;
- The auxiliary procedures and applicable records are kept ensuring that the design and development requirements of the customer and end-user have been met.
Design and Development Input
In designing and developing A2Z Services’ products and services, the following is required (but not limed to) to be considered:
- Functional and performance requirements (such as load rating, design envelope etc.);
- Lessons learnt and other information derived from previous design and development tasks and projects;
- Applicable statutory and legislative requirements (permits, registration, safety factors such as machine guarding);
- Applicable International and National Standards and / or Codes of Practice that A2Z Services is either certified against or have committed to meeting with the customer;
- What the potential consequence are of our product or service failing to meet the requirements;
- Other essential documentation / data.
All inputs are reviewed for accuracy and are adequate for the purposes against the design and development processes. The design and development processes at A2Z Services are as complete and unambiguous as possible as detailed by the customer’s requirements.
All requirements must be complete, reliable, and concise and must not be in conflict with each other. Any conflicts that do occur will require corrective or preventative action. Documented information in the form of records of all inputs are kept and maintained for the design and development processes.
Regulated Input Policy
Policy:
A2Z Services is committed to complying with all applicable laws and regulations governing its business practices. The following procedure details how A2Z Services identifies applicable requirements.
Regulated Input Procedure
- The General Manager is responsible for identifying applicable regulations and evaluating their potential impact on our operations;
- As necessary, the person / dept. responsible for identifying regulations is authorised to utilise external resources where necessary (e.g. legal or consultants), subject to the Directors
- The General Manager will collect and maintain updated copies (or current web links to) applicable laws and regulations;
The regulations will be mapped to the associated business activities using the Legal Requirements Register (OR0005)
Design and Development Controls
At A2Z Services, our design and development processes for our products and services apply strict controls to ensure that our products and services:
- Deliver the results that are required to be achieved are defined;
- Have reviews that evaluate our company’s ability to meet the customer’s requirements;
- Have verification tasks performed in accordance with planned arrangements to determine that design and development outputs have met the design and development input requirements. Verification data, including (but not limited to) review of calculations, testing data and comparisons to similar product designs is recorded and maintained by the relevant Department;
- Have validation processes performed to ensure that the product is able to meet the requirements for the intended use, where known. Every attempt is made to complete validation procedures prior to delivery or implementation of the product. Validation data, such as review and approval of performance testing results, is validated before initial implementation and after any changes or a new version is incorporated;
- Where necessary apply actions to correct or prevent problems occurring. These are determined through the review, verification and / or validation tasks and activities;
- Have the correct and accurate documented information in the form of records, which are retained as evidence of the process and controls associated.
At A2Z Services, review tasks, verification tasks and validation tasks are inherently independent and have separate purposes for making sure that controls are working effectively and efficiently. However, they can be completed separately or combined together depending on the size of the processes and the criteria being tested.
Design and Development Outputs
Design and development outputs undergo verification against the input and design. Specific validation / verification indicators are developed (configuration, acceptance criteria, supporting design documentation such as calculations, tests, statistical analysis and supplier and/or customer feedback).
Design and development outputs include, but are not limited to:
- Verification that the product meets the input requirements;
- That the products and / or services are adequate and capable to be used in subsequent processes;
- Instruction for the safe and proper use (including special circumstances and limitations).
Design outputs are reviewed and approved prior to product release and list all acceptance criteria, drawings and other required verification data. Records of all design outputs are kept and maintained.
Design and development review is conducted at regular intervals depending on the complexity of the activities. The purpose of the review is to identify any problems and recommend corrective actions and to evaluate how well the input / output procedures meet requirements. The appropriate department maintains records of all reviews.
Design and Development Changes
Any changes to the design and development must be identified and recorded and are subject to review and justification. All changes will then undergo review, verification and validation and results of this data maintained by the relevant Department according to specific departmental work procedures.
The review of design and development changes includes evaluation of the effect the planned changes will have on already-delivered product.
At A2Z Services, we maintain documented information in the form of records that provides evidence of:
- Design and development changes;
- The results of reviews;
- The authorisation and approver of changes; and
- The corrective or preventative actions taken to address problems and prevent adverse impacts.
Externally Provided Processes, Products and Services Control
General Introduction:
At A2Z Services any outsourced processes that are completed on behalf of our company will be monitored and measured similarly to any internal process against the design and development requirements of our customers.
In the design and development of externally provided processes, products and services to our company, the controls applied to the delivery of the processes, products and services will consider:
- How external processes, products and services that are intended to be integrated into our internal processes, products or services are fit for purpose and can be integrated;
- When external processes, products and / or services are delivered straight to our customers that A2Z Services is able to provide oversight to ensure that the outsources processes, products and services are capable and meets the customers’ requirements; and
- When a decision by our company is made to outsource a process or part of a process to an external provider.
At A2Z Services, we will ensure that when a process, product or service is being outsourced then stringent evaluation, selection, monitoring of performance and review methodologies are developed and implemented to provide assurance to our customers that the processes, products and services that are outsourced meet requirements. External Quality Control Plan (OF0015)
All document information in the form of records is retained with regards to the design, development, and evaluation and monitoring of outsourced processes, products and services.
Control Type and Extent:
As part of A2Z Services’ outsourcing of certain processes, products or services, the oversight and assurance of the outsourced company is monitored so that there is no reduction in our company’s ability to deliver conforming products and / or services to our customers.
In doing so, A2Z Services will:
- Ensure and provide oversight that the processes outsourced remain under the control and guidance of A2Z Services;
- Define, design and develop the controls that we are expecting our outsourced vendors to work to and the controls being applied to the output;
- Consider the impacts of:
- The vendors’ ability to design and develop processes, products and services that meets our customers, statutory and regulatory requirements;
- The effectiveness of the controls applied to the externally sourced processes, products and / or services;
- Determine and implement the necessary review, verification and validation tasks that are required to oversight and provide assurance that the external processes, products and / or services are meeting customer requirements.
Information for External Providers
At A2Z Services, we must ensure that prior to providing and external provider with customer requirements that these requirements are at a standard where the external provider can work to them before we communicate and consult with them.
When we initiate communication with the external provider to provide outsourced processes, products and / or services, we must advise our requirements for:
- The scope of the processes, products and / or services to be provided;
- And approval methodology for:
- The externally provided products and services;
- How the processes are to be completed and the equipment to be used to develop the outputs;
- The release criteria for the products and / or services;
- The externally provided products and services;
- The training and competence required to deliver the product and / or service, and what qualifications are required by the external provider;
- How the external provider is to interaction with our company;
- Oversight and assurance (control and monitoring) to ensure that the external provider is performing to the requirements; and
- Determine and implement the necessary review, verification and validation tasks that are required to oversight and provide assurance that the external processes, products and / or services are meeting customer requirements. This will be conducted by either our company or our customers at the external provider’s workplace. Outsourced process register(OR0013)
Production and Service Provision Control
All production and service provision is conducted under controlled conditions and with documented information that includes:
- Procedures / drawings / specifications / blueprints (etc.) that describe the characteristics of the product and / or services to be provided. The documented information also describes the results that are required to be achieved;
- The use of suitable infrastructure / equipment and the processes are operated in a suitable environment:
- Infrastructure / equipment used in the process must be fit for purpose, be maintained and used within the parameters and limitations of manufacturer’s recommendations;
- The operating environment must be suitable in terms of temperature, airflow and humidity to allow for the operation of processes;
- The use and availability of monitoring and measuring resources:
- This includes the use, care, calibration and maintenance of measuring equipment;
- The use of inspection and testing (monitoring and measuring) procedures throughout defined key stages of planning, development, production, and prior to shipping:
- Test results will identify items that have been inspected, the type of inspection, date of inspection, the person conducting the inspection, and results of the inspection (pass or fail) and subsequent corrective actions if needed, Test Protocols (OR0015)
- A2Z Services employs competent people to conduct our operations in line with the processes and procedures designed and developed. A2Z Services also employs competent testers and inspectors to ensure the accuracy of our products and services to meet our customer’s requirements;
- Where the resulting output of our processes are not able to be verified by subsequent monitoring and measurement, we will validate and where required, re-validate our ability for our planned processes to achieve the output results required through our product and service provision;
- All of our design, development and implementation of our processes and outputs have considered the human machine interface and we have taken actions throughout the process to mitigate and prevent processes impact by human error. Our company considers the requirements and criteria for implementing release, delivery and post-delivery activities:
- Once an item has passed the quality inspection, it will be arranged for supply to the customer by Courier or A2Z employees as applicable.
- Any hazardous chemicals, hazardous materials or dangerous goods are labelled accordingly, stated on all transport documentation and consideration is given to this when selecting an appropriate vehicle (suitable to carry the substances with appropriate placarding);
- All customer requests post-shipment are governed by the procedures in this Operations Manual. The General Manager is responsible for responding to customer service, parts ordering, service / repair, inspection and / or warranty requests.
Identification and Traceability
Managers are responsible for the development of procedures for the identification of materials, components and sub-assemblies, throughout the design and production process where applicable. They are responsible for identifying and developing the criteria and outputs necessary to ensure and provide assurance for the conformity of our products and / or services.
Products / Processes – Identification and Material Traceability identifies all products / processes at A2Z Services, which require identification and material traceability.
Managers are responsible for allocating job numbers, orders numbers, invoice numbers and other customer-related order identification and traceability methods and the status of these throughout the process.
Documented information in the form of records of identification and traceability methods, where implemented, are maintained by the responsible Department and will be collated and centralised by Quality Assurance Department.
Property Belonging to Customers or External Providers
A2Z Services exercises due care with all property belonging to our customers or external providers whilst it is in our control.
Project Managers / Sales are responsible for coordination between the company and the customer to ensure timely and efficient receipt and processing.
Management are responsible for the receipt, handling, storage and control of customer-supplied product. Customer supplied product is identified, verified, stored, and maintained as other purchased products unless a contract indicates special handling is required. In that event, agreed procedures are developed and implemented.
Quality Assurance is responsible for inspection of the customer-supplied product to assure conformance to defined product and documentation requirements.
Production controls and handles customer product during the manufacturing, final assembly, test and shipment as any other purchased product. Any customer supplied product that is lost, damaged, or otherwise unsuitable for use is documented and reported immediately to the customer and documented information in the form of a record maintained and retained.
Note: Customer property can include materials, components, tools and equipment, premises, intellectual property and personal data.
Preservation of Product
Documented information in the form of processes and procedures are developed and implemented for the storage and handling of products to ensure the quality is preserved. Specialist equipment (such as temperature-controlled rooms, storage shelves, boxes, lifting equipment and / or transport equipment, personal protective equipment) will be fit-for-purpose, maintained and operated by competent persons to ensure limited opportunity for damage. If damage or defective items are identified, they are to be reported accordingly.
Note: Preservation includes identification, handling, contamination control, packaging, storage, transmission or transportation and protection of our products and services.
Post Delivery (aftercare) Activities
At A2Z Services, we have determined the post-delivery activities required to ensure the longevity of our products and / or services. In determining what these activities are, our company and management team considers:
- Applicable statutory and regulatory requirements on our products and services;
- How we fix potential undesired consequences associated with our products and services;
- The warranty period and the expected use and lifetime of our products and services;
- Customers’ requirements and how we have met and exceeded them; and
- Ongoing customer feedback and the implementation of that feedback into future versions of our products and services.
Note: Post-delivery activities include (but are not limited to) warranty provisions, contractual obligations between our company and our customers, and supplementary services as determined in communications between our company and the customer.
Control of Changes
At A2Z Services, our Quality Assurance function and Management Team review and where required, implement control changes regarding product and / or service provision. The review and change control allows ongoing conformity with the customer’s requirements.
Documented information in the form of records is retained with regards to the review and resulting change actions. The documented information shows who authorised the changes and the decisions made accordingly.
Release of Products and Services
At A2Z Services, we will release our products and / or services at appropriate stages after verification that the product or service meets the requirements of our customer.
The release of a product or service will not move ahead until all the planned activities for the product or service has been completed, or, the Manager has authorised the continuation. This is to be done in consultation and approval of the customer.
A2Z Services keeps documented information in the form of records on the stages of release for our products and services. Our documented information includes:
- Evidence of conformity with the customers’ requirements and the acceptance criteria associated using the Product Approval Checklist (OR0013); and
- Traceability to the Manager authorising the release.
Non-conforming Outputs Control
At A2Z Services, any nonconforming products and services will be identified and controlled so that the product or service is not delivered to the customer. Where the nonconforming product or service has been delivered to the customer we will have the product or service returned and have it corrected or remade as soon as possible.
To achieve correcting the nonconformity we will do one or more of the following:
- Change the input and process to correct the nonconformity;
- Segregate, contain and / or suspend the operation of the product or service until the process can be corrected;
- Inform the customer of the issue and nonconformity;
- If nonconformity is acceptable, obtain an authorisation from the customer that the nonconformity is acceptable under concession.
If the product and / or service is changed then the product or service is revalidated for conformity against the customer’s requirements.
At A2Z Services, we will retain documented information in the form of records that:
- Describes the nonconformity against the customers’ requirements;
- Describes the actions taken to fix the nonconformity;
- Describes any concessions obtained and approved from the customer; and
- Identifies the manager authorising the actions required.
All non-conforming product is documented using the Non-Conformance Form (OF0007)
Monitoring, Measurement, Analysis and Evaluation Policy
A2Z Services will ensure all testing, inspection, monitoring and measuring techniques are fit-for-purpose and the methodology is used to the full extent, such as statistical analysis where applicable. The aim of measurements, analysis and evaluation is to:
- Determine what need to be monitored and measured;
- Determine the timing of when the monitoring and measuring will be done; and
- Determine when the results from the monitoring and measurement will be analysed and evaluated.
At A2Z Services we will evaluate the performance of our company and QMS regularly to provided assurance that we are operating effectively and efficiently. Documented information in the form of records will be retained as evidence of the evaluation and review of the operation.
Environmental Performance Evaluation Policy
A2Z Services commits to monitoring of the system to evaluate the effectiveness of the implemented EMS by:
- Objectively evaluating how well the requirements of the system are fulfilled;
- Verifying the extent to which our organisational, stakeholder, and legal requirements have been met;
- Reviewing the suitability, effectiveness and efficiency of the EMS;
- Determining the need or opportunities for improvements within the environmental management system.
All operational controls and procedures will include documented information that includes:
- Procedures / drawings / specifications / blueprints (etc.) that describe the environmental aspect and the control method. The documented information also describes the procedures necessary to achieve the intended outcome and monitoring required;
- The use of suitable infrastructure / equipment and the processes are operated in a suitable environment:
- Infrastructure / equipment used in the process will be fit for purpose, be maintained and used within the parameters and limitations of manufacturer’s recommendations;
- The operating environment will be suitable in terms of temperature, airflow and humidity to allow for the operation of processes;
- The use and availability of monitoring and measuring resources:
- This includes the use, care, calibration and maintenance of measuring equipment;
- The use of inspection and testing (monitoring and measuring) procedures throughout defined key stages of implementation
- A2Z Services employs competent people to conduct our operations in line with the processes and procedures designed and developed. A2Z Services also employs competent testers and inspectors to ensure the accuracy of our products and services to meet our environmental requirements;
Customer Satisfaction
Sales and Customer Service is responsible for seeking customer feedback on whether their requirements have been met by A2Z Services. Information is sought via:
- Customer satisfaction surveys;
- Market share analysis;
- User Opinion Surveys;
- Meetings with customers; • Warranty claims;
- Repeat customer / lost customer analysis;
- Compliments;
- Returns rates.
Quality Assurance collates responses and analyses feedback in order to recommend any changes to the product or processes and to drive continual improvement of the QMS. Corrective actions are raised and completed as required.
For best monitoring of customer satisfaction this is recorded in the Compliments and complaints register (OR0044)
Analysis and Evaluation
At A2Z Services, our managers will analyse (including statistical analysis) and evaluate the monitoring and measuring data to provide information as to the conformance of our products and services.
The continuous analysis and evaluation will provide documented information on:
- Our consistent conformity of our products and / or services to our customers’ requirements;
- How well our customers are satisfied with our products and / or services;
- How well our company’s QMS is functioning;
- Our planning and how well we achieved our planned outputs;
- How effective the corrective actions we have taken have helped address our risks and opportunities;
- How well our external providers are performing against the customer’s requirements; and
- Where plans can be made to improve the company and the QMS.
All operational controls and procedures will include documented information that includes:
- Procedures / drawings / specifications / blueprints (etc.) that describe the quality aspect and the control method. The documented information also describes the procedures necessary to achieve the intended outcome and analysis required;
- The use of suitable infrastructure / equipment and the processes are operated in a suitable environment:
- Infrastructure / equipment used in the process must be fit for purpose, be maintained and used within the parameters and limitations of manufacturer’s recommendations;
- The operating environment will be suitable in terms of temperature, airflow and humidity to allow for the operation of processes;
- The use and availability of monitoring and measuring resources:
- This includes the use, care, calibration and maintenance of measuring equipment;
- The use of inspection and testing (Analysis and evaluation) procedures throughout defined key stages of implementation:
- Test results will identify items that have been monitored, the type of inspection, date of inspection, the person conducting the inspection, and results of the inspection (pass or fail) and subsequent corrective actions if needed;
- A2Z Services employs competent people to conduct our operations in line with the processes and procedures designed and developed. A2Z Services also employs competent testers and inspectors to ensure the accuracy of our products and services to meet our quality requirements; Test Protocols
- Where the resulting operations are not able to be verified by subsequent analysis and evaluation we will validate and where required, re-validate our ability for our planned processes to achieve the output expected;
- All of our design, development and implementation of our processes have considered the human machine interface and we have taken actions throughout the process to mitigate and prevent processes impact by human error. Our company considers the requirements and criteria for implementing suitable controls:
- Operating procedures: The General manager is responsible to ensure the operating procedures are correct and that all relevant safety and operational, repair, service, maintenance, cleaning, installation, erection, commission and dismantle information is clear and provided in enough detail;
Forms and Registers
Amendment Record
Issue#: 1 Issue Date: 13/7/2022
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Disclaimer: This documentcontains material to assist in meeting environmental management, Work Health and Safety and Quality obligations under the International Standard ISO AS/NZS ISO 9001:2016,14001:2016 and other legislative bodies. This document contains material sourced from Safe Work Australia. Any such material remains subject to copyright © Commonwealth of Australia. https://www.safeworkaustralia.gov.au/copyright. Although every effort has been made to ensure the accuracy of this information at the time of publication, it is provided as guidance only and does not provide legal advice on meeting your obligations. This document and its contents are © A2Z services 2018 and or the originating source authors and no permission is given for its duplication or copying, in part or in its entirety, for use outside its original purposes as stated within the company.