ACI 121.1R-16 Guide to Quality Management Auditing in the Concrete Industry

ACI 121.1R-16 Guide to Quality Management Auditing in the Concrete Industry. 4.1—Simple, self-invented systems Some variation can be expected in the way quality manage- ment is handled in smaller companies. Firms without a struc- tured approach may have little experience with established quality management standards and simply use a measure of common sense in setting up their processes. It is benefcial to have written procedures, as they standardize operations, specify documentation, assign responsibilities, facilitate training, and provide a point of reference should operations need modifcation or improvement. These organizations may or may not have written procedures and may not need them considering the level of sophistication required by their customers and the scale of the work. 4.2—Contractually-based systems Other companies may employ systems based on agency or owner requirements, perhaps driven by specifcations that are focused on a particular aspect of the work, such as batch control, placement, and inspection without consid- eration for the other supporting processes to be found in a total quality management system. Examples are state department of transportation systems that focus on inspec- tion and testing and the Construction Specifcations Institute Series 01-40-00 specifcations, which are usually written to an owner’s requirements. There is no single approach to a quality management system, and in the absence of mandated requirements, organizations can tailor a quality management system to their particular needs. 4.3—Systems modeled after ISO formats, current and noncurrent Common to agency and government work are systems based on the ISO 9000 series. Starting in 1987, the Inter- national Standards Organization (ISO), in conjunction with local organizations such as Canadian Standards Association (CSA), the American National Standards Institute (ANSI), and the American Society for Quality (ASQ), has issued the ISO 9000 series of standards to defne the requirements for a quality management system and the elements that make it compliant with the ISO standard in effect at the time. Firms are allowed to register as compliant with the current standard if they are found compliant by an ISO-authorized third party known as a registrar. There have been several revisions since 1987 as explained in the following. Registration is typically granted for a 3-year period. Firms who wish to retain their registration need to be registered to a revised standard within 3 years of its issue.ACI 121.1R pdf download.