January Newsletter

“An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.”

Benjamin Franklin

the current landscape

Few of us would argue with the conventional wisdom so eloquently expressed in the quote above. Yet we often cannot apply its wisdom, as we are consumed by the stresses and demands of our daily work. This can be especially true for those responsible for quality within an organization. Contrary to what many outside of quality think, an internal quality team is often inundated with simply trying to overcome the constant challenges of keeping the organization running. This team can easily become overwhelmed by addressing immediate problems on the manufacturing floor, responding to the latest urgent customer inquiry or complaint, meeting the demands of internal customers and stakeholders, or preparing the latest in a series of presentations required by senior leadership. These tasks take up what little spare capacity is left. As quality professionals attempt to plan and implement continuous improvement to get ahead of the myriad of problems plaguing the organization, the day-to-day demands on their time routinely get in the way. Continuous improvement campaigns become less than effective. The proverbial ‘fire fighting’ takes precedence over ‘fire prevention.’ Days, weeks and months go by, and often little progress is made on the larger systemic issues. This leaves many quality professionals frustrated and demoralized. And the looming annual audit or inspection only adds to growing and often debilitating stress. Over time, this causes burnout in even the most disciplined people, and negatively affects the company culture.

Organizational Health

We all know, or at least we should, that we need to eat right, get plenty of fluids, exercise, and get enough rest as part of a long term healthy lifestyle. Yet so many of us walk into our annual physical, bracing for our doctor to gently admonish us that one or more aspects of our lifestyle are not conducive to our long-term health and wellbeing. We start the new year with resolutions to find the motivation and discipline to make the necessary changes, which are often cast aside as we simply try to cope with the daily demands of our lives.

Quality within an organization is no different. Management teams meet and discuss the objectives for the year, and all too often, quality objectives take second place to what are perceived as more pressing needs. Time elapses, and the next reality check often presents itself as a ‘failed audit’ or major customer complaint. Plans are developed and well-intentioned promises are made, and the day to day eventually forces everyone to return to business as usual.

And the quality team either takes the brunt of the blame, or is left feeling powerless to implement any real or lasting change. Sound familiar?

“Doing the same thing over and over again, and expecting different results, is the definition of insanity.”

Albert Einstein

Realistic change

Those organizations, plagued with quality problems and a less than supportive business culture that wish to break this cycle need to do something substantially different. Pushing the quality team to do more or do better is often simply unrealistic. If it was easy or obvious, someone would have already done it.

So what is the answer?

Consulting

Using an experienced professional quality consultant may be a viable option for many organizations faced with the scenario described above. Using such services offers several significant advantages.

1.????? A professional consultant is both objective and independent. A fresh perspective is often helpful in bypassing existing paradigms and organizational thinking. The local quality team must navigate a variety of influences, both political and cultural, to maintain credibility and often as a matter of survival. These influences often inhibit significant continuous improvement, and a consultant can facilitate breaking through many barriers without jeopardizing relationships between quality and other functions within the company.

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2.????? A consultant can provide significant experience and expertise not currently available, and much more affordably than hiring the necessary experience as a full-time employee.

a.????? Many local quality teams lack significant experience in the procedural writing required for an effective quality management system (QMS). Many individuals find procedural writing both difficult and stressful. A properly experienced consultant can provide draft procedures and work instructions, as well as finished documents, ready for full implementation.

b.????? Internal audits are a critical component of an effective continuous improvement initiative. They provide objective evidence into the effectiveness of a QMS and can help determine which elements require increased focus. Unfortunately, the local quality team is often too busy or lacks the significant experience required to properly use this tool. Certain quality standards also require an independent assessment of the QMS through an internal audit program, and since they are primarily responsible for planning and implementing the quality system, they find it difficult to assess their own work independently.

c.????? Statistical data analysis employing tools such as statistical process control, hypothesis testing and design of experiments requires an advanced level of knowledge. Many quality professionals simply lack the training, and many of those with the training lack real world experience. A properly trained and experienced consultant can guide the local quality team in analyzing existing data to determine trends as well as identify root cause.

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3.????? Consultants can be effective in boosting the local quality team by focusing only on specific tasks and avoiding ‘analysis paralysis.’ Too many quality functions get mired in analyzing mountains of data and planning grand improvement strategies, which often overwhelm existing resources. Sometimes simply taking smaller bites out of the continuous improvement elephant using a consultant, 0ver time, can yield much more effective results.

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This last point is crucial. Far too many quality management professionals get bogged down in creating grand strategic improvement plans, which often result in disappointment as daily demands compete for critical resources and experience. A consultant can help identify ‘low hanging fruit’ and suggest smaller projects regarding continuous improvement. Given significant economic pressures and shareholder expectations to maximize profit, few companies have the financial resources to invest in everything they need, and hard choices must be made. The result is that critical infrastructure, including an effective QMS, suffers. Rather than investing in large-scale strategic continuous improvement programs, many companies would do well to simply identify a few smaller projects and build a pattern of success. A consultant can be highly effective in this regard, and more economical than many people realize.

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An added benefit to such a strategy is that through the support of a consultant, the local quality team can see tangible progress towards their continuous improvement goals. Properly managed, such improvement can give them confidence that the organization is moving in the right direction and help minimize the frustration often associated with this functional discipline.

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To that end, QEV Consulting can offer a unique perspective in partnering with the local quality team to identify and implement limited targets for continuous improvement. For further details, please reach out to us at:

·??????? [email protected]

·??????? [email protected]

·??????? www.qevpro.com