A critique of the impact of Eskom's quality management system failures on business operations

[摘要] The implementation of Quality Management Systems plays a major role within the majority ofthe companies wishing to excel in their business operations and customer service. Eskomembarked on a journey to Business excellence in March 2012, which involves theimplementation of auditable Quality Management Systems in all its divisions and departments inits value chain. The company achieved a companywide ISO 9001 :2008 certificate in March2013, compliance and consequent certification are a major achievement, particularly for acompany of Eskom's size, more so due to the short period of time in which this achievementwas reached.For any company to reap the benefits of ISO 9001 :2008 Quality Management Systemcertification; surveillance audits, internal audits and other risk mitigation initiatives has to beconducted by the company as part the continuous improvement initiatives prescribed by the ISO9001 standard.This study was carried out by obtaining data from audit and inspection reports, focused groupdiscussions with professional quality practitioners and a site visit to different power generatingstations was also conducted by the researcher, engaging with different people at shop floorlevel as part of the direct observation data collection.Although control of product and service non-conformances goes a long way in reducing failurerate in company operations, OMS also plays a critical role in ensuring that operations arecontrolled and ran efficiently. Results obtained from this study indicated that Eskom has notfully benefited from the implementation of the ISO 9001 :2008 systems as a result ofinconclusive audit findings, reoccurring non-conformances relating to the Turbine and Boilerequipment

[发布机构] North-West University