Quality Enhancement Plan

A Quality Enhancement Plan will be required for all construction products covered by the EU Construction Products Directive (89/106/EC) that are the subject of attestation of conformity (AoC) procedures relating to product certification or certification of factory production control, i.e. AoC levels 1+, 1, 2+ and 2.

The Quality Enhancement Plan should specify the particular production operations necessary to ensure the continuing compliance of the certified product with the requirements of the harmonized European Product Standard. The document should be properly controlled and authorized for issue. A copy of the Quality Enhancement Plan and the factory production control documents should be submitted to the Notified (certification) Body for review. This may not necessarily be the same organization as currently provides quality management system certification to ISO 9000 to your company. In the case of the CPD, the Notified (certification) Body role within BSI is carried out by BSI Product Services, using BSI Global Quality Services to perform the inspections of factories and their FPC systems.

Once implementation of the FPC system has been assessed and accepted (and the relevant EC Certificate of Conformity issued), the Quality Enhancement Plan should be retained on file and any proposed amendments should be submitted for clearance before being implemented. The following provides general guidance on the contents of a Quality Enhancement Plan that is likely to be acceptable in a majority of cases.

• The operations should be regarded as additional to those that would normally be carried out under a quality system to ISO 9000. It is emphasized that this envisages a standard situation that may not be applicable in all circumstances.
• A Quality Enhancement Plan must reflect the requirements of the relevant harmonized European product standard, particularly the Annex Z covering the provisions of CE marking and should include, but not be limited to, the following:
  • Specific raw materials and/or component specifications with the inspection and/or test criteria.
  • Details of the manufacturing process identifying critical stages, the in-process inspection procedures, limits of acceptance and rejection criteria. This should include, where appropriate, a process flow chart of the manufacturing and inspection stages.
  • Particular procedures for dealing with non-conforming product e.g. disposal, identification, segregation, corrective action.
  • Frequencies of tests on finished products and the test methods to be used.
  • Details of the further testing of samples in accordance with a prescribed test plan
  • Specific sampling requirements and related procedures.

Similarly, core requirements of an institution are to develop an acceptable Quality Enhancement Plan and show that the plan is part of an ongoing planning and evaluation process. The Quality Enhancement Plan is a significant component of the reaffirmation process and should be designed to demonstrate a capacity to address significant issues and aspirations. Engaging the wider academic community, the Quality Enhancement Plan is based upon a comprehensive and thorough analysis of the effectiveness of the learning environment for supporting student achievement and accomplishing the mission of the institution. The objective of the Quality Enhancement Plan is to outline a course of action for institutional improvement by addressing one or more issues that contribute to institutional quality, with special attention to student learning.