What quality control can do for you

Print Action, Sep 2003 by Liu, Joanna

Not long ago, I was driving down the road when my mother-in-law asked me a question as she pointed to a large manufacturing plant. A banner ran across the roof of the plant, thanking employees for ISO 9001:2000 registration. I was immediately reminded of a few years ago when I was first given the task of registering Specialties Graphic Finishers to adhere to the same quality assurance standard.

I had just joined the company after graduating from Ryerson University and it was daunting to think of implementing a quality assurance system that meets the needs of ISO 9000. In other words, the company wanted me to deliver products and services consistently to the customer's requirements, to make fellow employees more productive through clear procedures, to improve manufacturing processes, to attract new business, and to increase profit margins.

Fortunately for me, the person affiliated with obtaining ISO registration for Specialties in 1995, Tom Baldock, was still with the company. Although some dramatic changes were made to the standard from the 1994 version to the 2000 version, he taught me a valuable lesson: whether you use Six Sigma, Gap Analysis, or some other method, it is always easier to bring all your processes to a very basic level and build on top of that foundation.

By simplifying processes and procedures, a company can implement an effective system relatively painlessly. First and foremost must come the acknowledgement that a quality system's core is built around the customer and, therefore, moving forward with the project should always be done for their satisfaction, trust and repeat business. This is why many organizations appoint someone within the management team to work with a consulting firm to obtain registration. My organization, however, opted not to rely on a consulting firm at all.

A customer's request for a quotation, for example, can be broken down into very simple stages. Considering it as a workflow, from customer to sales to estimating, the sales staff must first consider how the customer's request will be communicated - face-to-face, by phone, fax or email. From here, a method for documenting the customer's request is determined. Points of verification are established to ensure all the customer's requirements are met and finally how the customer will receive their quote.

My attack plan at Specialties began by outlining the basic workflow process of the company. I developed diagrams to analyze the actual procedures used by employees of each department. Employees had become used to performing tasks their own way, but no two employees performed that task in the same way. Over the years, this created a huge level of frustration between the departments because no one sat down and discussed the problems. Employees just accepted the way things were and did their best to work around it.

At first, it was difficult to change the habits of employees who found their personal methods very comfortable. By including their suggestions, however, as well as showing them how their work affected others, it became easy to convince them they would benefit from something new.

There were times when it became too cumbersome to document all the activities of one department. The solution was to simplify the activities into their basic components and then build up from that point. This allowed us to concentrate on the necessities of that process to find the inefficiencies and redundant tasks.

Information was being recorded twice: once written on a form and then typed into the computer. Employees were used to the old way and had become so accustomed to it that they simply did not notice what the new technology was for - freeing up their time.

Simplifying each department's main procedures also helped determine where points of inspection or verification were really required, how relevant certain documents and forms were and the actual records that should be retained. Coinciding with redundant tasks were irrelevant forms. It became very obvious - very quickly - how much unnecessary paperwork was generated from departments that carried on without a control or focused audit.

Based on the multitude of diagrams and reams of notes, I began to document our true and effective procedures. These documents became our Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) and we set out to implement them into a real production environment. We set quality objectives. They were simple, measurable, and accurate. As the company continues to change and improve so will our quality objectives.

A critical aspect of implementing a quality system for ISO registration is sticking to a plan of action with deadlines. Major deadlines, such as the actual day chosen to audit for registration, creep up without warning. The rule of thumb seems to be to take the time an organization thinks it will need to implement an effective quality system and then add three to six more months depending on the scale of the team. There are always delays in the beginning of the process that catch up towards the end of the process.