Change, innovation, progress: the quest for performance requires a continuous improvement approach. In In a complex, fast-moving world, it's particularly important to take an interest. The aim of continuous improvement is not only to enhance and maintain quality, but also to ensure the safety of goods and people.
ORSYS interviewed Bobby Diot, QSE consultant and trainer, certified coach : Lean Six Sigma® Green Belt and PRINCE2® project management, on the subject of quality combined with occupational health and safety, a pillar of business development and performance.
How do you define quality?
Quality is often described as 'good' or 'bad'. But in relation to what? And from whose point of view? Because one person will be satisfied with a product or service that another considers mediocre...
Generally speaking, quality means providing a service or product that meets the customer's requirements. This is also the position of AFNOR, which considers quality to be "a product or service [...] whose characteristics enable it to satisfy the expressed or implicit needs of consumers".
Do companies have the same vision of quality?
For companies, quality meets more specific criteria, particularly in organisational terms. With regard to quality management system (QMS) certification, the fundamental concepts are defined in ISO 9000 2015 version. According to this standard, "a quality-driven organization fosters a culture of behaviour, attitudes, activities and processes that deliver value by meeting the needs and expectations of customers and other relevant stakeholders".
Companies involved in a quality approach are looking for the best possible organisation. To achieve this, it can rely on the seven quality management principles defined in ISO 9000 version 2015:
- customer focus ;
- Management leadership ;
- staff involvement ;
- the process approach ;
- continuous improvement;
- evidence-based decision-making ;
- stakeholder management.
Is the QMS a factor in standardising quality?
The quality management system is a factor of continuous improvement and permanent adaptation in a changing economic, regulatory and social environment. The important thing to remember is that each company builds its own QMS based on its activities and culture.
How mature are French companies in this area?
According to AFNOR, France has 57,700 ISO 9001-certified sites, out of a total of 4.5 million registered companies. Does this mean that quality management system certification is not attractive to company management? We have to admit that the vast majority of certified companies are solely to meet customer demand and not to install a QMS dedicated to its own performance.
The use of ISO 9001 certification as a commercial showcase is leading the company to structure a minimum quality approach to retain the certificate. As a result, two quality management systems may have to coexist within the company, one dedicated to the certification body, the other intended for the company's internal efficiency. What are the consequences of this? A proliferation of potentially contradictory constraints, cumbersome processes and a lack of understanding on the part of employees.
What are the most common obstacles encountered?
Companies are still reluctant to deploy and exploit process-based management to develop internal customer/supplier relations. The raison d'être of the process approach is to respond to the strategy defined at the highest level of the company. The aim is to develop a transparent organisation in which each employee contributes to achieving the expected performance.
However, the most striking pitfall lies in the management of non-compliant products and/or services, which are remedied by an ad hoc repair. Then you move on to something else, to other productions, until the deteriorated situation returns again. Even though the non-conformity has been recorded. It's clear, then, that the absence of any in-depth treatment of the causes of the failures demotivates employees.
Why and how can you unite or reunite your staff around the quality approach?
Involving everyone in the company is one of the keys to success. For me, one of the keys to success is to move away from silo management and involve everyone in the company. As far as I'm concerned, moving away from silo management and move towards cross-functional management is the solution. In other words, we need to open up the company and think synergy rather than hierarchy. The aim is to optimise business operations by creating synergies between the main functions and services.
In addition, the quality approach must be supported with conviction by the general management It is up to the company to define the direction and objectives to be achieved; it is up to the employees to implement them. This means uniting all employees around a corporate project. In other words, a policy that clearly sets out the company's objectives and the resources it deploys to achieve them.
Are there any other points to watch out for?
The construction of a quality management system must above all be based on common sense. It's not about making the company look better than it is!
It is essential to have a step-by-step overview of the entire process involved in fulfilling customer orders. It is essential to have a step-by-step overview of the entire process involved in fulfilling customer orders. In other words focus on the customer journey. This observation needs to be shared with all those involved in the day-to-day running of the company.
Is the health crisis accelerating management's awareness of the impact of quality in the company?
The suddenness of the health crisis and the lack of hindsight mean that we cannot give a definitive answer to this question today. What is clear is that teleworking has caused a great deal of concern among managers. However, an analysis of some of the feedback we have received shows that the exchanges between managers and employees have encouraged the responsiveness and adaptability needed to continue working in this context. This further reinforces the idea that collaborative management is one of the keys continuous improvement and company performance.
What are the best practices for getting your QMS off to a good start? What are the prospects for further improvement?
I mainly identify three good practices which are prerequisites to be worked on prior to the process:
- determining the company's project in the light of its culture and expected developments;
- promote a culture of empowerment, autonomy and learning from experience;
- build a system that fosters trust between the players in the company.
Organisations that have already made significant progress in this area can launch a development approach via these three areas:
- raise visibility by sharing the company's challenges and creating synergy between all the company's forces;
- move towards a learning company ;
- make more room for internal entrepreneurship.
What have been the most significant developments in the quality management profession in recent years?
Today, it is widely accepted that quality is the concern of everyone in the company, not just the quality manager. The impetus comes from general management, which is responsible for the effectiveness of the QMS. For his part, the Quality Manager takes on the role of a project manager It's up to the quality manager to understand the customer's needs, take ownership of them and share them with the teams. The quality manager must therefore develop your interpersonal skills to cooperate with all levels of the company. It can be said that he is the promoter of the Integrated management system.
As project manager, he or she provides a motivating vision of the quality management system, brings together all the players and facilitates exchanges between departments. It is a a field player who must act as a cross-functional leader. In addition to their skills in quality standards and tools, they are required to master collaborative management techniquesin other words cross-functional management.
In short, the Quality Manager is the promoter and facilitator of the process.
