Management systems are needed in all areas, whether large or small businesses, manufacturing, service or public sector. A Quality Management System (QMS) is a formalized system that documents processes, procedures, and responsibilities for achieving company quality policies and objectives. A QMS helps coordinate and direct an organization’s activities to meet customer and regulatory requirements and improve its effectiveness and efficiency on a continuous basis. The term ‘Quality’ here does not imply ‘Quality Function’. In a business context, we can easily replace the word ‘Quality’ with ‘Business’, because this management system supports the business in meeting and exceeding its objectives (e.g. Revenue, Profitability, Customer Satisfaction etc.). Such a formal system can enable both short-term and long-term success.
Two overarching benefits of the design and implementation of a formal QMS include:
- Fulfilling the customer’s requirements, which helps to instill confidence in the organization, in turn leading to more customers, more revenue, and more repeat business.
- Satisfying the organization’s requirements, which ensures compliance with regulations and the provision of products and services in the most cost- and resource-efficient manner, creating room for expansion, growth, and profit.
There are conflicting views on the benefits of a QMS and also its certification to internationally recognized standards, such as ISO9001:2015. As a quality professional, I fully respect these views. Today, I want to share my experience, having led the effective implementation of a robust QMS and ascertained the exponential benefits it provided to businesses. There is no doubt that like every other quality tool and approach, there is a negative perception about a formal QMS and the impact it can have when implemented. In my experience, this is mainly the result of minimal compliance with the standards because some businesses do not realize the major advantages of exceeding the minimums set by the standards. This is, in some instances, exacerbated by the lack of value added by both internal and external auditors during certification and surveillance audits. No business is perfect; but when year after year, an audit finds no areas needing improvement, it’s natural for a business to raise questions about the purpose of a certification.
Such questions are not unfair. Rather, they demonstrate a gap in the process, and the inability of quality professionals to demonstrate the value of a robust QMS, and more specifically, in a language understood by business leaders. Typically, the well-understood and appreciated indicators of business success are money ($$)-achieved through cost saving and cost avoidance; reduction of non-quality cost; product quality- AFR/FFR/SQI; and customer experience (Cx)-measured in part through CSAT and or CNPS. An effectively implemented QMS enables a business to achieve these results. In addition, there are many intangible benefits, such as better alignment of employees at all levels with the business goals and strategies, elimination of many potential future risks, significantly improved efficiency and effectiveness, becoming easy to do business with, continually improving the business, etc. This also boosts employee morale and engagement due to better role clarity, improved efficiency, and empowerment.
The COVID-19 1pandemic has significantly affected the manufacturing industry across many sectors. There is considerable instability whether in customer demand, resource availability, or the unpredictable supply chain owing to local operational shutdowns, interruptions, and transportation delays. This can significantly impact quality, both at the process level as well as the product and service-levels. Many leaders, including quality professionals, were neither trained nor prepared for these challenges. To add to this, the pandemic has forced us to embrace remote working. This has added another level of complexity, as we now need to address potential data privacy and security risks, with many employees working from home. This unprecedented situation has resulted in higher stress for employees, affecting morale at many levels, and potentially impacting engagement.
For the foreseeable future, businesses are going to be short on resources, so a robust QMS whether certified or not, will allow business leaders to focus on stabilizing and growing the business. They would have time to focus on the business, rather than spending effort on resolving internal issues and challenges experienced due to the lack of a formal documented (not necessarily physical!) system. As shared above, an effectively implemented QMS drives many benefits, enabling better business outcomes.
I have been involved in multiple business turn-around projects with very high levels of uncertainty and volatility, where the implementation of a robust QMS became a strong foundation which enabled many solid business outcomes like best-in-class product quality, continuously improving Cx, higher employee engagement and business wide meaningful continual improvement. I strongly believe that whether a start-up, a scale-up or an established business, all can immensely benefit by implementing a pragmatic QMS going beyond minimal standard compliance. If you are not in a regulated industry or where customers don’t demand it, it is not mandatory to certify to the standard, but you can still achieve predictability, scalability, proactively manage risks and drive continual improvement with measurable benefits by effectively implementing QMS. At a later date, you can decide whether to seek certification to provide customers an assurance in your QMS. Remember to only formalize the critical and important processes and activities preventing bureaucracy, which can affect agility.
Please reach out to a trusted quality professional who can support you in implementing a robust and pragmatic QMS. I promise you won’t regret it!