Planning for Improvement
No area of quality can motivate people as much as improvement. When improvement processes are well planned and executed, people get motivated. On the other hand, if this part of the quality management system (QMS) is given little planning attention, negative results and frustration often follow.
Subclause 8.1 of ISO 9001 requires that organizations plan their processes to demonstrate product conformity, ensure QMS conformity, and continually improve QMS effectiveness. The first two of these are obvious and have been ISO 9001 requirements from the beginning. However, the third--planning for continual improvement--is a concept that was added to ISO 9001 in the 2000 version. In my view, this addition, coupled with adopting the process approach, constituted the most significant improvements ever made to ISO 9001. The requirement for planning improvement starts with subclause 4.1, which requires the organization to “… establish, document, implement, and maintain a quality management system and continually improve its effectiveness.” Subclause 4.1 also requires that the organization “… identify the processes needed for the quality management system and their application throughout the organization” and “… implement actions necessary to achieve planned results and continual improvement of these processes.”
Subclause 5.4.2 on QMS planning requires an organization’s top management to “ensure that… the planning of the quality management system is carried out in order to meet the requirements given in subclause 4.1, as well as the quality objectives.” In other words, there are links among the various clauses of ISO 9001 relating to improvement planning. The overall QMS planning needs to identify how improvement will be achieved, and how the system is improved by improving the processes.
Good improvement processes generally start with collection and data analysis. This means all types of data, such as measurements of process variables, customer feedback and satisfaction, measures of product or service parameters, and audit results. Often I see systems in which the improvement process relies primarily on two system elements: the corrective action process and internal audits. Sometimes this even leads to a situation where two improvement programs exist: the formal one for ISO certification (the one that doesn’t work), and the real one that has top management support and achieves results. Successful QMS improvement planning has several characteristics:
• Top management is fully engaged. Top managers are directly involved through serious decision-making discussions during management reviews. Projects for improving the system and its results are championed by the organization’s leaders.
• There’s one integrated improvement strategy. Tools, techniques, and strategies used for improvement are integrated. There are no “improvement turf wars.”
• The improvement processes are data-rich. Data on products, processes, and customers (including customer satisfaction data, sales, and market data) are aggregated, summarized, and presented in an integrated manner. Appropriate data are presented in the language of top management--i.e., money. This enables top leaders to see the relationship between internal quality measures and customer behaviors.
• The corrective action program focuses on making improvements that are important to customers and to achieving the organization’s own objectives . There’s a focus on issues that are important and a bias against expending resources on the trivia that clog some corrective action processes.
• Improvement strategies involve active use of the tools of prevention, such as failure mode and effects analysis, and risk analysis . Every time there’s a change to a system process, the organization automatically asks appropriate “what if” questions to identify potential process failures.
• The audit program is used to identify potential improvements that will both improve customer satisfaction and reduce risk . Just as informal audits are required to maintain continued conformance to the QMS, so too should identification of these opportunities for improvement be a mandatory, planned part of the audit program.
• The improvement process is simple and easy for everyone to understand.
Developing a workable and successful plan for data analysis and improvement requires a great deal of thought. Grand plans for improvement processes are useless if they can’t be implemented. Organizations need to ask themselves if they have the resources (e.g., talented people and analytical tools) to accomplish this in a realistic and useful manner. If you don’t have the resources to be fancy, start small, work smart, and focus on achieving real results.
John E. (Jack) West is a consultant, business advisor and author with more than 30 years of experience in a wide variety of industries. From 1997 through 2005, he was chair of the U.S. TAG to ISO/TC 176 and lead delegate for the United States to the International Organization for Standardization committee responsible for the ISO 9000 series of quality management standards. He remains active in TC 176 and is chair of the ASQ Standards Group.
|
