Seven guiding principles for designing refrigeration systems that perform reliably and efficiently.

Back in November 2023, I touched briefly in the seven principles that form the basis of the international quality standard ISO9000. I said at the time that the principles didn’t seem to have much to do with quality control in the traditional sense, so it’s time to look more closely at the reasons for their inclusion in this touchstone.

The first of the seven is customer focus. This begs the question “what do customers have to do with the internal workings of my factory?” The answer, of course, is “everything!” The prime function of a quality management system is to ensure that the output of the business is at least meeting customer requirements, if not exceeding them.

Second in line comes leadership. This reminded me of business guru Peter Drucker’s comment that every business has a culture, whether the management tries to shape it or not, and it is remarkably durable. If leadership shows by their actions that quality is important to them then it will be important to their staff too. Just having a manual or a set of procedures isn’t enough. If the words don’t match the actions of the leaders then it is the actions that will set the tone. As Drucker says, culture is persistent.

The third principle is engagement and is another instance where actions speak louder than words. If staff think that quality is what the quality department does then the whole ball will begin to unravel. However, if they all see their role in the organization as contributing to customer satisfaction—because that’s what their leaders seem to care about most—then, provided they are equipped both physically and mentally for their job, the results will follow.

The fourth principle moves us a bit back toward traditional quality systems: the process approach. It has been observed many times that the best quality manual is the one that captures the processes of the organization that are already delivering success. Why bother writing them down in that case? There are two reasons. The first is based on what’s written above and the second on what follows. Formal quality procedures emphasise that the company leaders want their staff to care about their customers. Writing down what worked 50 years ago, or 20 years ago or even last week isn’t enough. The procedures need to live within the fifth principle, which is continuous improvement. A cycle of reappraisal and readjustment is essential to keep a process fresh and relevant, and if the process isn’t described in a procedure then what’s to improve?

This process improvement cycle needs to be based on sound information, which is the sixth principle. This is where you’d think we are better off than ever before because we are awash with data, but sometimes too much information is as debilitating as too little. This is where I hope we will see transformation progress in the intelligent use of AI to inform our decision making, but we will need the seventh principle, relationship management, to balance increased automation of process decisions.

Now go back and reread this column thinking about a refrigeration system rather than a business. Does the system do what the customer needs it to? Do the managers care? Do the operators and service techs know what’s required of them and does everyone seek to make it continuously better than before, using data to drive their decision making? Sadly in too many cases, at least one member of the gang is missing in action.