Clause 6.3 Infrastructure

This involves the facilities and equipment you need to perform effectively. Start by determining and providing what is needed. Also review the infrastructure requirement regularly.

Failure of equipment (such as welding equipment in a machine shop, testing equipment in quality assurance department etc.), lack of facilities (such as shortage of shelf space in stores), or lack of repair/maintenance capability can have serious effects on quality of product and/or service. It is therefore essential that infrastructure is identified and controlled.

The focus should be on the infrastructure that is most important for the type of the organization. For example, a manufacturer of chemical products should probably focus on equipment and maintenance, while a law firm will put more emphasis on work space and associated facilities. Similarly, if an organization has equipment that can easily be replaced without affecting quality or product and/or service, maintenance activities can be relatively simple and limited. More complex equipment that is difficult to replace should have a more exhaustive maintenance program.

Standard require providing resources necessary for achieving conformity of product requirements (7.2.1). The infrastructure may include:

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  Building, workspace and associated utilities


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  process equipment (both hardware and software)


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  supporting services (such as transport, communication or information systems)

The term "information systems" is added in 2008. Enterprise Resource Planning Software falls under category of information system. Large corporate are already having Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) Software. Medium, small and even tiny industries are implementing ERP.

Standard has given transport and communication as an example and a liberal interpretation includes information system. Though I have never seen auditors asking questions relating to ERP software development (within the organization), its implementation, its suitability to organizations type of business, features, training to its users, its update, training on new version etc.

Organizations that have Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP), should maintain records of its implementation, updates, training to users etc.

Prepare a list of infrastructure facilities in the organization such as list of machines, list of fire extinguishers, list of material handling equipments / devices, list of measuring instruments. Also identify if preventive maintenance is required, and if required prepare list of activities along with periodicity (preventive maintenance plan).

Perform preventive maintenance as per preventive maintenance plan. Though standard does not demand records, keeping records of maintenance activities (preventive or breakdown) will help organizations in identifying occurrence of a problem before hand and initiate preventive actions by either modifying the preventive maintenance plan or replacing the equipment / device. This will also help in identifying future resource needs.

External Document Reference: Documentation Kit

Methodology for Resource Maintenance

List of Machines

Preventive Maintenance Plan

Machine History Register (Breakdown and Preventive)