How can you maintain quality control in a multi-site organization?

I still remember, 16 years ago, how challenging it was for me to maintain Quality control in multi- location manufacturing units. Following steps helped me: 1. Standardization was key. Designed systems, processes, policies etc. centrally 2. Made manufacturing unit heads responsible for driving quality 3. Imparted trainings and ensured that the requirements are understood 4. Lastly, conducted regular reviews and audits to ensure effective implementation of requirements. In today's world it's more easier, we can have standard digital tools for multi-site organization and Top Management/ QM Head can view real time performance of all sites on single dashboard. Best of luck for your digitalization journey!!!

I feel the application of technology to monitor and enforce quality standards with regular audits paving the way to continuous improvements can ensure consistent quality performance across different locations.

Quality Control can be maintained by 1) Training on Quality Tools, sharing of knowledge of voice of the customer and developing culture of knowledge sharing. 2) Creating a culture where every individual can contribute towards providing solutions or helping continual improvement. 3) Displaying the results of improvement projects 4) Motivating the teams to participate in Quality forums.

?Standardize Quality Processes across all sites. Use Centralized QMS for consistent monitoring. ?Conduct Regular Audits to ensure standard adherence. ?Provide Ongoing Employee Training in quality control. ?Maintain Strong Inter-Site Communication for coordination. Encourage Sharing of Best Practices among locations. ?Implement Technology for efficient data management. ?Establish Feedback Systems for continuous improvement. ?Empower Local Managers for on-site quality decisions. ?Foster a Culture of Continuous Improvement in quality.

Maintaining quality control in a multi-site organization involves implementing standardized processes, regular audits, and fostering a culture of continuous improvement. Utilize consistent performance metrics, conduct regular training sessions, and establish clear communication channels across all sites to ensure adherence to quality standards. Regularly review and update procedures to address evolving challenges and maintain a feedback loop for continuous enhancement.

Regular training should be given to the staff. The training content should emphasize mindset and awareness regarding quality rather than solely focusing on practices or activities. The management team should strive to cultivate a culture where quality is everyone's responsibility, not just that of the Quality Team.

Yes, but: put careful thought into how prescriptive to write your centralized processes and high level requirements. Establish minimum requirements to ensure consistency across the sites, and then, for best results, give the capable local quality professionals the flexibility and TRUST to comply in the way that best suits them. Forcing top-down mandates (even in a well-meaning response to an audit finding) will often backfire.

Quality Management can be maintained through standardized processes and procedures, but reviewing that there are no unnecessary steps or tasks (check SOPs), controlling and monitoring customer service, applying updated technology, and having feedback from those who developed the product.

Other aspects that you need to overcome are:- We’ve always done it like- doesn’t mean that it’s right. Not made here- HQ telling us how to do our jobs again from their ivory tower. You will need to “sell” the revised/ new processes to the masses and demonstrate that the changes will improve throughout, FPY etc, make their lives easier, more efficient and potentially better market share/profitability/bonuses/pay rises

Standardize your Quality Process by various methods that are suitable for company quality control. Like round robin test- sharing the same sample across multiple locations and evaluation of the results from each location for variability and cause of variability. Chemist validation of each location and standardize instruments used for multiple locations. The variability in QC process and procedures are minimised and standardised for multi-site organisation.

Tecnologia é fundamental para o Sistema de Gest?o da qualidade em multi-sites. O controle das informa??es e a possibilidade de disseminar a informa??o de forma estruturada sem dúvidas traz ganhos de curto, médio e longo prazo as organiza??es bem como nos ajuda a mensurar os resultados para melhor tomada de decis?o. Sistemas de tratativas de reclama??es, atendimento ao cliente, controle da informa??o documentada e requisitos legais, registros de manuten??es preventivas, corretivas e preditivas s?o essenciais a um processo. O ponto de aten??o fica para as implementa??es dos projetos que envolvem tecnologia deve haver o cuidado de incluir quem de fato conhece o processo.

In my experience, governance is key. - Set up quality KPIs, monitor and evaluate - run monthly, quarterly and semi annual reviews - site visits every quarter or defined frequency - use technology to put everything on cloud CRMs so you can access info from anywhere - use workshops with site heads to stay calibrated with the defined processes - use annual quality meetings to stay collected as a team - create reward methods across sites in those annual days to create overall champions who could be followed by other sites (this is optional)

Las plataformas de E learning también pueden contribuir en la estandarización de los conocimientos y entrenamiento del personal.

Usar a tecnologia a nosso favor, mas jamais esquecer que em certos momentos, a visita, conversa e análise presencial possui seu diferencial! Ferramentas que utilizem bases únicas e facilitem cada vez mais seu desdobramento, para que a repeti??o de tarefas n?o seja necessária e o tempo no ambiente de trabalho e processos, sejam cada vez mais produtivos e principalmente com qualidade.

La clave es tener un centro de la información, en dónde se centralicen los procedimientos y guías para mantener los procesos, de esta forma se puede estandarizar los procesos y directrices a cada operación. Adicional es importante que un departamento brinde el soporte a las operaciones en caso en que se les complique o tengan problemas con la implementación de las guías.

La culture qualité et l'amélioration continue sont favorisées par un fort engagement de la Direction à voir la qualité comme une démarche permettant à l'entreprise de se surpasser mais pas comme des contraintes supplémentaires pour répondre aux exigences réglementaires. Elle est encrée par la valorisation de l'effort de tout un chacun et la collaboration entre les pilotes des processus, sans oublier la fluidité et la transparence de la communication dans l'entreprise.

Commitment and Integrity will emphasize the culture of quality and should always create a positive environment within the organization

A robust commitment from leadership to view quality as a catalyst for self-improvement, rather than as an extra burden to fulfill regulatory obligations, is the cornerstone of nurturing a culture of quality and continuous enhancement. This perspective values the collective contributions of every individual and encourages collaboration among process managers. Furthermore, it underscores the importance of fostering seamless and transparent communication throughout the entire organization.

Cultura e Qualidade devem estar sempre em constru??o. De acordo com minhas experiências profissionais a falta de cultura que promova e fomente a melhoria contínua dos processos e consequentemente a qualidade é a principal causa do insucesso de um Sistema de Gest?o da Qualidade. Se alta dire??o e base n?o estiverem altamente comprometidos com as melhorias, existe o risco de que a empresa tenha aumento de custos devido a inúmeros desperdícios que podem ocorrer na execu??o dos processos na organiza??o. Pessoas n?o treinadas, falta de controle e recursos podem afetar diretamente o resultado final do produto ou servi?o e n?o agradar aos clientes. Promover a??es de melhoria contínua s?o de fato uma estratégia eficaz.

La cultura de Calidad debe fomentarse desde la alta dirección, sin el compromiso de líderes de la primera, gerentes y socios resulta difícil empoderar y motivar al personal. Así, la motivación de los miembros de una organización es clave, gente sin motivación no trabaja por resultados de Calidad.

One thing I found helpful is implementing quality control measures throughout the organization, follow what's been implemented and improve by conducting Audit, completing daily risk assessments per department to pinpoint what needs to be fixed, when and how.

Reviews should be conducted periodically, including outcomes, legal and quality risks, and business strategy alignment. This review must be carried out with technical and strategic positions, to agree on priorities, changes and budgets that support the next strategy.

Medir as a??es e os processos através das pesquisas, auditorias é essencial para evidências a evoluíndo de um projeto de melhoria contínua que possa ter sido implementado, verificar se estes processos est?o de fato alinhados com as estratégias isso ajuda a verificar se a padronizando está fluido e se n?o há altera??es significativas a serem implementadas.

Frequent evaluations provide a platform for pinpointing discrepancies or lapses in quality control processes among diverse sites, empowering the organization to rectify these issues and uphold consistent quality standards. Through regular scrutiny of quality control strategies, companies can dynamically respond to shifts in regulations, evolving customer expectations, and emerging industry best practices. This proactive approach guarantees that quality control measures stay not only effective but also aligned with the latest standards and expectations.

And view your inspections / audits as not just the finding of problems, but as training opportunities, especially on the 'whys' of compliance.

Even in highly advanced automated operations something might fail or wherever there are human interventions, errors may occur. Continuous learning through these failures and making efforts to make a error free system is one way of advancing Quality control operations. Especially where human errors may occur ,it needs to be studied why such errors occur and how one can reduce chances of such errors.

I find it very useful to participate in discussion groups, watch expert videos on YouTube or live streams, and attend conferences because there's always something to learn or gain insights to improve our processes/management.

In the realm of multi-site quality control, the final step involves collaborating and learning from peers and industry experts. Drawing from successful experiences and challenges of other organizations implementing multi-site quality control enriches understanding. Engaging in quality management networks or forums enables the exchange of ideas and insights with peers and experts. This collaboration offers new perspectives and inspiration for enhancing quality control initiatives across multiple sites.

Learning from your peers does not always mean external organisations. Learning from and sharing practices internally can also be very helpful.

To maintain quality control in a multi-site organization, it is helpful to have a FTE dedicated to standardizing processes and ensuring consistency across campuses. I have also found it important to have a shared document or shared application where metrics and audit results are contained, so that comparisons can be made and best practices can be shared.

In multi site organisation, Quality control KPI and ownership on Quality should be with operation team as a primary goal. Productivity could be a second top priority KPI. The primary role of Quality function is to monitor the progressive target in sites and support operation on focus area with necessary corrective & preventive actions. To have more ownership & commitment to complete the projects ontime, Quality function should have Productivity & ontime completion of project also as their KPI. If Quality, Proctivity and timeline is maintained there is very unlikely for cost overrun and customer dissatisfaction.

Ensuring quality control in a multi-site organization poses challenges, but it can be achieved by incorporating key elements: 1. Enforce standardized processes. 2. Conduct regular audits. 3. Facilitate effective communication. Additionally: A. Establish clear quality standards. B. Implement impactful training programs. C. Utilize technology for real-time monitoring. Cultivate a culture of accountability, encouraging feedback from each site to promptly address identified issues. Regularly review and update quality control procedures to adapt to changes. Effective communication and collaboration among sites are essential for maintaining consistent quality throughout the organization.

In my experience it is very helpful to have like a yearly face to face quality conference with QC/ QA team leaders of each site. This to exchange information & practices , follow up on standardisation and to see the quality control lab/ teams. Although all QC practices may be similar there can be local practices and cultural differences worth to be kept and where all can learn from.

Sustaining gains made in QI is usually a challenge, however by implementing the listed insights and in addition I can add developing standard operating procedures that are reviewed regularly,posting visible reminders of expectations and reviewing progress consistently are ways we can maintain QC.