The season to review
In many parts of the country, the weather restricts and dictates paving activities and drives paving crews and laboratory staff to catch up on maintenance, training activities, and, yes, calibrations of equipment and procedures as they pertain to your Quality Management System (QMS). In some cases, the decision is made to begin the accreditation process during these slower times, either way, the winter season is a great time to review your QMS.
Standards to follow, guidelines and guardrails
In the construction materials sector, the AASHTO Accreditation Program (AAP) is the most common accreditation body, and the AASHTO R18 Standard is the starting point for quality standards, whether your laboratory is accredited or not. Additionally, not having a plan is a plan to fail.
A plan is a method that is prepared in advance, while processes are actions or events that are performed to achieve the plan. Plans and processes work together to achieve goals, but they have different purposes.
Planning
Define objectives
- Ensure compliance with AASHTO R18 and other relevant standards.
- Improve laboratory process efficiency and accuracy.
Identify a QMS Implementation Team and assign roles such as:
- Program Manager (oversees the implementation)
- Quality Manager (ensures compliance with quality standards)
- Lab staff responsibilities
Create a detailed timeline with specific milestones:
- Software subscription and initial setup
- Staff training
- Full system implementation
- First internal audit
Define key processes and procedures
- Process Identification: Identify core processes related to the QMS; periodic equipment procedures, annual internal audits and management reviews, etc.
- Document processes: Create standard operating procedures (SOPs), Including instructions, responsibilities and expected outcomes.
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User Question
Q: Can you provide assistance and training after the onboarding process? Also, can we add satellite labs along the way?
A: Yes! to both of your questions. There are several training options after the onboarding process, please see the following options and call us to discuss your needs, and satellite labs can be added to the primary lab account at any time.
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Training and customer service
Getting started happens within the setup process. It’s intuitive and follows the sections that require procedures within the Management and Technical sections. Each section number within the setup process corresponds to AASHTO R18. You can either enter your Procedure Itself for each section or upload a file with the details of the procedure. I always tell labs during a demo that it’s much like a ‘Turbo Tax’ experience as it walks you through each step.
Once you have completed the setup process, or wish to move on to the dashboard view, just click “Save Progress” and “Exit Setup” in the upper right-hand corner. It’s straightforward and intuitive.
Upon exiting the setup process, there will be a dialog box that pops up asking you if you would like to add additional ASTM quality standards, and their sub-standards, i.e., D3666 (aggregate).
Additional Training needed to jump-start the onboarding process:
Virtual training
We target a specific area for training and limit the time to one hour. An example would be adding Equipment Procedures to your Equipment. There is no charge for virtual training limited to 1 hour.
Onsite training
We spend one day in your laboratory to review all aspects of your quality manual and take a deep dive into R18labQMS implementation. This training is fee-based, please inquire.
Resources
Once you work through the setup process, the following links can be found in the lower right-hand corner of the application.
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Upcoming Meetings and Sponsorship we will soon be attending:
This is a MUST-ATTEND Conference!
2025 AASHTO re:source Technical Exchange
March 17-20, 2025 in Bellevue, WA
More notables
- AASHTO re:source Q&A Podcast with Brian Johnson & Kimberly Swanson
S2 E18: Moving to a Digital Quality Management System
Gary Irvine, from the Asphalt Institute, joins us to discuss the benefits of moving from a paper QMS to a digital system.
- Please check out our most recent promotional R18LabQMS video
For all questions regarding your Quality Management System, whether your lab is accredited or not, please contact us and learn how R18LabQMS can add value to your laboratory.
One last favor to ask, if there is a specific topic of discussion you would like to see in upcoming blogs, please send us a note!
Gary Irvine | R18LabQMS Program Manager
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