Eliminate your Quality Manual?

Not that a quality manual is not specifically required, is anyone considering eliminating their Level 1 Quality Manual?

I have also seen articles about changing the typical long quality manual to a 1-3 page that describe the QMS at a very level covering key process flows.

 

I've recently eliminated our "traditional" Quality Manual that was just a regurgitation of the standard. It's been replaced with a 2 page document, still called a Quality Manual, that includes Scope and Exclusions, the Quality Policy and a list of Documented Procedures. This is in a tabbed 3-ring binder that also has tabs for the Process Interaction Map, an Org. Chart, a Lab Scope and our 7 documented procedures. Everything else in our QMS is covered with Work Instructions.

 

We also no longer have a Quality Manual. We have an integrated Business Managment Handbook (maintained documented information), which covers the integrated BMS, including the QMS requirements. We are also just running a gap analysis against DIS 45001. As both the standards are aligned to Annex SL, along with a significant element of our BMS manual), it is really easy to integrate the two individual standards (9001:2015 and 45001) into our Business Management System.

 

Here is where the idea came from. http://www.qualitydigest.com/inside/quality-insider-article/two-page-quality-manual

My last employer was massive corporation who's Level 1 quality manual was only 4-5 pages. They also had 20,000+ level 2&3 documents but that is another story.

 

Eliminate who wrote your Quality Manual
After working for more than 10 years in the lab 24 year ago I went to do my first weekly course for writing a quality manual for ISO 9001.
For many year I have wrote many edition of it for the company where I work.
We takes the certification whitout problem and for every new edition compliment from thirtd part auditors.
I have spent all my life beleiving that working for quality assurance was a mission.
I remember how I was happy to buy for the first time the quality control handbook during my vacation in one books shop in Oxford, and How many Christmas I spent on Elsmar Cove.
May be a sincronicity but Elsmar cove it was made to end and my effort for quality also. From the last month I'm doing back office for safety office. I have never dealt with security, history teaches us that the new place that I occupy is the gateway take exit from the company, but I need money to live and I have to sit tight.
The quality manual is no longer needed!

 

We will be keeping ours, since our customers always want a copy. However I will be revisiting it to re-align it to the new clause arrangements (I have been putting that thankless job off for awhile). Our manual is basically for our customers, and they like to compare it clause by clause to the standard. So a rewrite it is.
That all said, we are not pursuing 9001:2015, instead we are going 9001:2008 compliant, which it will say in multiple places. I intend to address what I can of 2015, but will ignore the rest. We will get dinged on some of that I expect, but the overall supplier rating (which the manual counts as part) will not decrease much. You could say we have conducted and RBT exercise on it, and decided to accept the risk.