A Cook's Dilemma!

Mr Wok, a hawker, is a famous cook. Many customers patronise his stall. His "process control" is good : e.g.

a) quality planning in purchasing the raw materials (vegetable, meat, etc.) which are fresh, and of the correct quantity for the day etc.,

b) preparation of ingredients, slicing of meat, etc.

c) customers' order is taken by him directly,

d) cooking process, recipe known by heart

e) cooked food is served by his helpers

f) tables are cleaned for the next customers.

He is happy as he is proud of his good performance. Certainly he does not need a written procedure on such "normal process" and its "control". He is the expert.

One day a 5-star hotel restaurant manager invited and employed him due to his popularity of cooking certain types of dishes. After a short while, Mr. Wok realised he is involved only in a small aspect of the process i.e. above d) cooking process, but also with variety of recipes due to different customers' requirements / tastes. It is a process of larger complexity that serves the needs of not only many many customers, but variety of them with sophisticated tastes and requirements.

Mr. Wok is in great dilemma. Many customers and suppliers and colleagues are frustrated, not happy. Customers "A" (an important relative of the hotel boss) complained that the food ingredient was off specification, customer "B" (an ordinary and infrequent guest) was angry with the slow cooked meal, customer "C"'s food delivered was not what he ordered, etc. Supplier "X" was angry with the rejected and returned raw materials, supplier "Y" was made to rush to deliver a special ingredient to Mr. Wok. Colleague "1" had repeatedly reminded Mr. Wok the urgency of the customers' meal, colleague "2" could not plan on the types and quantity of food (raw materials) to order due to lack of co-ordinated data / information.

Mr. Wok is not happy and not proud of his cooking anymore. His "normal cooking process", which was in good control, is NOT under "controlled situation". The root cause is NOT his capability, experience (or training), competency etc. It is clearly a lack of "quality system".

The 5-star Hotel decided to use ISO 9002 to improve the situation and examined & experimented with clause 4.9 Process control:

The supplier shall identify and plan the production, installation and servicing processes which directly affect quality and shall ensure that these processes are carried out under controlled conditions. Controlled conditions shall include the following :

c) compliance with reference standards/codes, quality plans and / or documented procedures ; etc. etc. and ...

4.1.2.1 (Management) Responsibility and authority

The responsibility, authority and the interrelation of personnel who manage, perform and verify work affecting quality shall be defined and documented, particularly for personnel who need the organisational freedom and authority to :

a) initiate action to prevent the occurrence of any nonconformities relating to the product, process and quality system ; ....... e) control further processing, delivery or installation of nonconforming product until the deficiency or unsatisfactory condition has been corrected... etc. etc.

As a result, policy and procedures are written (put in place), e.g. who are the more important customers, who can over-rule the priority of customers serving (under what conditions), advanced booking and its rules, meal-order sheet with time, priority marking, special specification, etc. etc. etc. As a result Mr. Wok's pride in his workmanship (cooking) is restored and he is once again happy, so are his customers, suppliers and colleagues.

In most organisations, due to its long history of maturity and many veterans still serving the Company, there are not many cases of "in-experience" "lack of training" "incompetence" of employee. More often than not, there are many rooms for improvement on the part of the 4.1 Management Responsibility, to give clarity in procedures / instruction on interface / inter-relation / interdependence areas that has impact on the overall process control.

Hence it may not be the issue of engineering not knowing how to do maintenance that causes delay, but lack of policy and procedure on work priority with respect to various internal / external customers demand.

Hence it may not be the issue of operators not knowing their basic normal process control, but lack of policy and procedures on which internal and external customers' requirement to be satisfied, under what priority and stipulated conditions (normal conditions, emergency conditions).

Creative and innovative use of ISO 9000 management principles as tool can bring about a satisfying and conducive working environment for all staff, customers and suppliers.

End.