Guidelines on how and where materials are placed and segregated prior to release either into production or to shipping are also important to enact and provide information on how material is rotated based on shelf life and need. These procedures should dovetail with the organization's Hazard Communication program to provide labeling requirements for both raw materials and final products including Material Safety Data sheet and technical data sheet distribution. Program and Manual Review Procedures provide guidelines for periodic review and revision of the program. This section should also provide a framework for internal and, if needed, external audits of the program to insure it is functioning correctly as well as feedback for modification. The procedure should also indicate how often audits should occur and who should conduct them.
Audits can be as simple as one-page checklists.
Customer Complaint and Product Recall Procedures . The organization should develop plans and procedures to handle and document customer complaints including who should take the initial contact, who has the authority to make decisions, what managers should be contacted, and how the complaint should be documented. The section should also detail how a product will be recalled, including who should authorize the recall and how customers will be identified and contacted. Other areas that need to be addressed for ISO 9000 certification include new product design control, purchasing procedures, statistical techniques, training procedures, inspection, measurement and testing equipment. About the author. . .