When one of North America's leading food companies first approached Intelex, they were in search of a solution that would improve their system for tracking and re-distributing product that has been placed on hold in both their manufacturing and storage facilities. With their product being sensitive to expiration, any units that are not re-distributed efficiently must be discarded resulting in lost production and revenue. Historically the company used standard email as their communication method and Excel spreadsheets to store and track the data. They required a more sophisticated and individually tailored communications tool to better connect all parties involved, streamline the process and decrease lost revenues.

The Intelex System provided the ideal platform to track both internal and external holds of product and seamlessly foster a two-way avenue of communication between manufacturing and storage facilities, with all data in one easily accessible location. Specifically, Intelex's web-based iForm® application allowed for a custom "Product Hold" module to be created which was designed collaboratively with the client and Intelex development team to track the quantity, type, expiration and location of all product placed on hold and generate custom core reports and dashboards to manage the data.

With the development of the custom iForm®, implementation and roll out to approximately 30 manufacturing facilities and 50 cold storage facilities taking place in a three month period, a significant margin of savings was quickly realized as all product placed on hold was much more easily and efficiently tracked and re-distributed. With a first year recorded savings of $13.1 million and a second year savings of $9.8 million, in comparison to the email/Excel method baseline, Intelex's custom iForm® solution cultivated an impressive $22.9 million in savings in the two year period post implementation.

Find out how an Intelex iForm® Solution can help your organization save time, money and resources today.

There are many ways that an organization can go about retooling their operations and processes to produce a better end product or service. The fundamental challenge in achieving any improvements comes in finding ways to accomplish them while at the same time saving time and money. One such method of unlocking potential performance, while saving both time and money, is that of implementing operational change to your organization’s structures and procedures. “Beyond Headcount Reduction,” a recent article featured in Quality Magazine, written by Peter J. Sherman, lead instructor at Emory University’s Six Sigma Program in Atlanta GA, outlines the principals of operational change as well as the impact it can have on an organization’s output, level of service and ultimately their bottom line.

Sherman begins by first addressing the fact that the majority of businesses today are in an extremely defensive posture as a result of the recent decline of the economy. With many organizations having eliminated staff, froze salaries, cut hours, reduced overtime, and cut back services, the general solution to managing business during the recession has been to reduce workforce and freeze spending in order to cope and hopefully come out on top. Sherman believes that near-term solutions like these will ultimately have a negative impact in the long-term. He suggests that reducing costs and headcount will likely cause organizations to enter into an endless cycle of quality issues and declining revenues, while at the same time leading to future pressure to reduce costs again and again. A more effective solution, according to Sherman, is to implement operational change. As Sherman states, “Rather than solely focusing on reducing costs and headcount, operational change is needed to unlock performance and create real and sustainable value for an organization. Operational change means looking within to change and improve business processes in order to save money.” More basic than applying process improvement methodologies such as Six Sigma, lean or ISO 9000 standards, operational change is equally effective for both small businesses and large corporations regardless of industry. Operational change is essentially looking at your organization from the inside and identifying and improving core operational processes in order to obtain the same or an improved level of service or output with lest cost.

In order to achieve operational change, Sherman offers four management principles that when implemented will help to unlock performance within your organization. These principals cannot be applied overnight but rather must be implemented layer by layer systematically in order to benefit fully from them. Sherman’s four principals are as follows:

Layer 1 – STANDARDIZATION
Although standardization is sometimes viewed as a deterrent to innovation, it plays a critical role in streamlining operations and initializing the implementation of operational change. Seemingly an obvious principle, many large companies have just begun to apply standardization in order to foster a consistent customer experience and reduce operating costs. Standardization should be applied to areas of operation where there are inconsistencies within processes that directly increase cost.

Layer 2 – INTEGRATION
Integration is the second principal involved in executing operational change. Having systems and processes in place that can accommodate any new product, regulation change or new growth will ultimately lower costs and save time. Having to manage work-arounds and one-offs becomes tedious and costly. The ideal operation should consist of a seamlessly interlinked set of systems and processes to support the full customer life cycle from sales to billing to delivery to customer service.

Layer 3 – CENTRALIZATION
The third principal is centralization, which Sherman defines as removing redundancies and achieving economies of scale. More simply put, centralization implies organizations performing like functions in fewer locations with fewer suppliers or venders. Some typical operational functions that centralization can be applied to are advertising, accounting, purchasing, human resources, information technology and legal.

Layer 4 – OPTIMIZATION
Upon completion of implementing the processes of standardization, integration and centralization, your organization should have experienced some transformational challenges. At this point it is important to optimize performance in order to maximize value. To achieve sustainability, continually streamlining systems and processes is imperative and applying proven process improvement methodologies such as Six Sigma and lean can be effective at this point.

Implementing operational change through Sherman’s four management principles offers one approach to improving an organization’s level of service and output and ultimately increasing the quality of their products and customer experiences. A web-based Quality Management System like the one offered by Intelex Technologies in conjunction with the implementation of operational change will provide any organization a comprehensive and easy to implement solution for tracking, monitoring and reporting all quality issues throughout the transformation process and beyond.

As announced in an article posted on Quality Magazine's website, a new ISO standard defining the Quality Management System requirements for suppliers to the automotive sector has just recently been published. ISO/TS (Technical Specification) 16949:2009 was jointly developed by the members of the International Automotive Task Force (IATF) and submitted to The International Organization for Standardization (ISO) for approval and publication. The new document comes in the wake of a review conducted of its predecessor ISO/TS 16949:2002 which was carried out by the IATF and ISO Technical Committee ISO/TC 176. No major changes to the standard’s technical requirements have been made; instead the updates mainly consist of improvements to management requirements to reflect the content of quality management systems standard ISO 9001:2008 and an improved consistency with the environmental management system standard ISO 14001:2004.

The 2002 version has been used by major automotive manufacturers to approve the more than 35,000 organizations worldwide that produce and supply parts for the automotive industry. Implementation of ISO/TS 16949:2009 is seen as an opportunity for automotive suppliers to improve quality while reducing costs and the IATF has set a transition period of 120 days from the date of publication (June 15th 2009) to comply with the new requirements. As the article quotes ISO Secretary-General Rob Steele, "With the global nature of the automotive industry quality management systems based on ISO/TS 16949:2009 throughout the supply chain will serve to streamline operations, and thus help organizations cut costs while improving efficiency," commented Steele, "The publication of ISO/TS 16949 will assist the sector, reassure consumers and ensure significant benefits for automotive suppliers amid the challenges facing the industry." As organizations begin to implement the new specifications associated with ISO/TS 16949:2009, improvements should  be seen on an ongoing basis as the new standard is aimed to foster the development of a quality management system that emphasizes continual improvement, specifically focusing on defect prevention and reducing variation and waste in the supply chain. A Web-Based Quality Management System such as the one offered by Intelex Technologies provides the tools, adaptability, power and support needed to comply with and surpass ISO standards, all in a web-based system that is easy to use and implement organization-wide.

We're pleased to announce that Intelex has been chosen by Telenor Pakistan to provide them with a web-based software solution designed to address all aspects of an effective telecommunications quality management program including document control, nonconformance and corrective-action tracking, and audits management, etc.

Telenor Pakistan is a subsidiary of Telenor ASA – a telecommunications service provider in 13 countries across Europe and Asia. Since its launch in 2005, Telenor Pakistan has become the single largest direct European investment in Pakistan to date, which as a result has contributed to its success as the fastest growing mobile network in the country, with coverage reaching deep into many of the most remote areas of Pakistan.

When Telenor Pakistan began shopping for a software provider, they identified several requirements for the solution that would best meet their needs, the top three being an easy-to-use document control system, a reliable audits management program, and the ability to streamline TL9000 initiatives organization-wide. We knew that our out-of-the-box quality management system didn’t address TL9000 requirements so we used our iForms^® technology to build custom forms and reporting capabilities that would comply with TL9000.

"In what is an exciting, fast moving market, Telenor Pakistan always needs to be ready to meet growing market demands and offer reliable and robust services that our customers demand of us. Choosing a TL9000-based QMS is a step in that direction. TL9000 includes all the ISO 9000 requirements, and 90 additional requirements specific to the telecommunications industry. However, what really sets TL9000 apart from ISO 9000 are the set of measurements, which can be benchmarked globally under various product categories. We selected Intelex because it's QMS, iForms^®, and reporting software could be easily configured to manage the TL9000 measurements, in addition to the standard requirements of ISO 9000. We look forward to a rewarding partnership between Telenor Pakistan and Intelex Technologies," said Khalid Shehzad Chief Technology Officer of Telenor Pakistan.

"Telenor Pakistan has only been around since 2005; however, in just four years they've become the dominant player in the telecommunications industry in Pakistan. They have experienced tremendous growth over the last few years by dedicating themselves to providing their customers with a superior product and customer service," commented Mark Jaine, President and CEO of Intelex Technologies Inc. "Implementing the Intelex Quality Management System with iForms^® is just another way for Telenor Pakistan to solidify their commitment to providing high-quality services."

The purpose of a quality management system is to enable continual improvement regardless of market conditions; therefore, organizations that had the foresight and business smarts to have implemented effective quality management systems prior to the current recession have been proactively refining their business processes, minimizing the potential for nonconformance expenses, and enabling complete performance visibility as opposed to implementing last minute reactionary decisions intended to cut costs quickly. Invariably the "quick fix" approach to reducing the bottom line will directly impact product and service quality, which will ultimately have a negative impact on revenue generation.

The article "Prepared for Battle: Defend yourself in any economy with sound quality management" by Peter Grossi in this month's Quality Progress magazine delves much more deeply into the concept that businesses with existing quality management programs are better positioned to adapt during difficult economic conditions. "What organizations need to keep in mind, however, is that while the impact of a recession may be significant from a psychological perspective, in reality the application of sound quality management principles has a much more significant effect on an organizations success than the state of the economy."

So where does that leave businesses that don't have a quality management program in place? It leaves these organizations with a significant opportunity to improve their performance and strengthen their business operations so that they too can prosper regardless of the economic climate.

To read Peter Gross's complete article please visit the Quality Progress website. For information on the Intelex Quality Management System you can register for a live demonstration or free trial access online.

An effective, well-implemented Quality Management System (QMS) enables organizations to improve their bottom line through increase performance visibility. A QMS that takes a complete life-cycle approach to quality management will track all of the nonconformances, corrective actions, workflow processes, tasks, documents, and resources associated with quality in real-time.  In addition, best-in-class organizations continue to improve and strengthen  their quality management system after the initial implementation. In an effort to help organizations within the automotive industry to facilitate this improvement The Automotive Industry Action Group (AIAG) recently announced they will be offering two courses designed to help organizations strengthen their Quality Management Systems.

The first course is “Effective Audit Findings for Continual Improvement.” Using audit findings as a method of identifying problems with a QMS and facilitating improvements based on these findings is an effective way to strengthen your QMS. But sometimes these findings are missing criteria, lack objective evidence, can be difficult to interpret or lack a focus on continual improvement. This course, intended for internal auditors, management representatives, second-party auditors, and certification body auditors will shine some light on how to make the most of your audit findings. As the AIAG website describes, “this course uses a practical approach to explain how to develop and document effective findings and nonconformity reports. Using workgroup activities and hands-on participation, instruction will help quality managers and organizations improve the quality of the findings written by internal auditors.”

The second course is “Mastering the Process Approach Step By Step.” As ISO standards require all service and manufacturing industries to understand, implement and monitor a QMS using a process approach, this course intended for internal auditors, management representatives, process owners, process implementers, quality personnel, certification body auditors, and second-party auditors will outline the necessary steps to master the process approach. As the AIAG website states, “Whether your organization processes foods, manufactures aerospace components, assembles automotive modules or delivers furniture, you need to understand the fundamentals and benefits of the process approach if you plan to become, or are currently certified to an ISO standard.” This course walks you through the process development tools demonstrating how to use them and explaining the difference between an elemental approach with threads-through clauses as opposed to the process approach with process audit trails.

Both courses run from 8 AM to 5 PM and are being offered on multiple dates beginning this June and running until December. Visit the AIAG’s website at www.aiag.org  for specific dates, costs and location.

The ASQ World Conference for Quality and Improvement is being held at the Minneapolis Convention Center in Minneapolis, Minnesota from May 18-20, 2009. This year, Intelex will be sending three representatives; Bevin Lyon, Daniel Marcus, and Tomas Kuras. The guys will be available for live demonstrations of our:

Quality Management System Nonconformance & Corrective Actions Module Document Control System Training Management System Supplier Performance Tracking Module Audits Management System, and more.

If you're already using Intelex's software please stop by for a visit! It’s always great to catch up with clients.

Intelex Technologies has released its latest software innovation, the Intelex OpenPass API, a revolutionary application programming interface that will enable its users to sync and report data between multiple business management systems.

The Intelex OpenPass API functions as a conduit for seamlessly feeding data between multiple software programs. This means that Intelex’s environment, quality, and health & safety, and business management Software can now share data with pre-existing business software applications; thereby, saving time and resources while maintaining a degree of accuracy that’s difficult to achieve when data is transmitted manually.

The City of Calgary and St. Gobain are the first Intelex clients to take advantage of the OpenPass API.  The City of Calgary used our OpenPass API to import employee and location data from their pre-existing HR system into their Intelex System. They also used the OpenPass API to export employee injury data (i.e., incident number with date and time stamp) from Intelex’s Master Incidents Module into their HR program.

St. Gobain used the OpenPass API to import training courses, employee lists, and employee workgroup data from Lotus Notes into the Intelex System and Training Management Module. By using the OpenPass API St. Gobain was able to quickly populate their new Intelex System with historical data that will be a key factor in reporting accuracy and trending.

If you think that your organization could use the Intelex OpenPass API to import, export, and sync data between a pre-existing management program and your Intelex System, send an email to client.relations@intelex.com or call 416.599.6009 for more details.

In May 2008, a revision of ISO 9001, the world’s most popular standard for quality management systems (over one million certificates issued in 170 countries), was submitted for approval.

The International Organization for Standardization’s official press release (June 17, 2008) explained that “The proposed ISO 9001:2008 does not introduce additional requirements compared to the last edition in 2000 and does not change the intent of ISO 9001:2000.”

The November 2008 issue of Quality Digest magazine said ISO 9001:2008 “clarifies requirements in outsourcing, document control, and customer relations ... Many of the changes are designed to bring about better compatibility between ISO 9001 and the ISO 14001 environmental management systems standard.”

For a document detailing ISO 9001:2008 requirements visit the International Organization for Standardization’s website.

Among the many regulations overseen by the Food and Drug Administration, there is one pertaining specifically to electronic records and signatures generated by computer systems - 21 CFR Part 11.  The FDA's purpose here is to ensure that electronic records and signatures are trustworthy, reliable and compatible with the FDA's mission of safeguarding public health.  Section 11.10 of the regulation requires procedures and controls to be put in place that "ensure the authenticity, integrity, and, when appropriate, the confidentiality of electronic records".  Intelex offers a validation pack that is designed to test your system's compliance to these requirements. For more information, please contact an Intelex representative.