expertanswe
Checking in
Q: Is there a checklist that can be used to
determine how to get a quality manage-
ment system (QMS) off the ground?
A: There are many practical items to
consider in a checklist that will help you
establish a QMS. For example:
• Do you have senior management sup-
port and commitment to the QMS?
• Is senior management personally in-
volved to the extent it takes actions and
participates in QMS planning?
• Have you established a steering commit-
tee with senior management participa-
tion?
• Have you done a baseline gap assess-
ment between current processes, ISO
9001 requirements and organizational
requirements?
• Is there a comprehensive project plan
with resources, milestones and critical
success factors?
• Are the process owners committed and
actively involved in designing and devel-
oping the QMS?
• Are the QMS results tied to organiza-
tional incentive plans?
This list can go on with more technical
items that are required for a QMS. Develop-
ing this list is relatively an easier task. This
is just the “what” and “how” of an effective
QMS. Most important is to understand why
it is or why it will be difficult to get this
initiative off the ground.
An initial assessment of the organiza-
tion may be necessary before a checklist or
action plan can be created to help establish
your QMS. You should know the culture and
history of the organization, current events
and strategic direction—past, present and
future—before putting together a checklist
or action plan that is likely to succeed.
8 QP • www.qualityprogress.com
The
organiza-
tion’s culture
is important
to understand
whether the
necessary fundamen-
tals are present. For
example, if the organiza-
tion rewards firefighters;
chases revenue from quarter
to quarter; doesn’t conduct
long-term planning; is without di-
rection for investing in people, process and
infrastructure; and disregards customer
satisfaction, then you have a foundational
issue that needs to be resolved first.
As far as the history of the organiza-
tion, I would suggest talking to some of
the longer-term employees to figure out
whether there were any previous attempts
to establish a QMS. If so, it’s important to
collect information regarding the outcome
of those efforts and lessons learned. If
there were some false starts before, bad
precedence can leave bitter experiences
and make your attempts to revive the QMS
futile.
You will need to establish a need and
urgency to bring attention to your efforts.
What is currently happening in the orga-
nization? This may be an opportunity to
make a connection and get attention.
Major design or contract wins, safety ac-
cidents, major process excursions, product
recalls, losses of major customers and low
gross margin are some events and oppor-
tunities that can help make a strong case
for establishing a QMS. People react posi-
tively if they can relate to an opportunity.
Everyone knows that without quality, a
product or service is not marketable. The
difficulty is translating that understanding
into QMS language so employees at all
levels—specifically senior management—
sense the need and urgency to support the
implementation.
As for the strategic direction, find out
whether the organization is positioning it-
self for potential acquisition or investment,
entering a new market segment, introduc-
ing a new product or service, restructur-
ing business models or outsourcing your
business processes. This information can
be used to address the need for a QMS. In
addition, putting together a cost-of-poor-
quality metric at a high level can help make
an economic case for a QMS.
Find out whether there has been any
change in senior management since
the last attempt. Leverage leaders who
have worked for organizations that had a
full-fledged QMS implementation. These
rs
The job is not done by merely getting a QMS off
the ground. You need to see the obstacles ahead of
you to be able to steer past them.
individuals can be your biggest supporters Think about this from an organization’s
during the planning stages. point of view. An organization develops
Remember, it is equally important to strategies so it can achieve its goals and
sustain the momentum for a QMS. The objectives. Strategies often decompose
job is not done by merely getting it off the into tactical plans and further into opera-
ground. You need to see the obstacles tional plans—also known as action plans.
ahead of you to be able to steer past them. It is at this lowest planning level that
Govind Ramu projects can be defined. If this decompo-
Senior manager, quality systems sition is completed in a systematic and
SunPower Corp. logical manner, line of sight is maintained
San Jose, CA from projects to strategies. So, first and
foremost, a Six Sigma project must be
For More Information linked to strategies.
Orthaber, John, “Get Your Ducks in a Row,” Quality Progress,
October 2010, pp. 40-46. In addition to the strategic link, projects
must have well-defined charters. The
Six Sigma selection charter document should include, at a
Q: What are the triggers to watch for when minimum:
selecting a Six Sigma project? In other • The business case that identifies the
words, how do you identify a good candi- dollars to be saved and establishes how
date for a Six Sigma project? the project aligns to the organization’s
Bhaskar Jha strategies.
Noida, India • The problem statement that identi-
fies what is working or not working, or
A: You have asked a critical question that where the pain point lies.
is often given less consideration than the • A specific, measurable, attainable, real-
subject deserves. If you have the oppor- istic and timely (SMART) goal statement
tunity, take the time to review the Master that identifies the project’s targets and
Black Belt certification body of knowledge how the success of the project will be
that was issued last year. A key recurring measured.
theme is that Six Sigma projects be linked • The project scope that specifies the
to an organization’s strategies. boundaries of the projects.
Asked and Answered
For some situations, two heads are better than one—especially if one of the heads
belongs to a QP subject matter expert. If you’re struggling with a problem, submit
it at www.qualityprogress.com or send it to editor@asq.org, and we can help.
• The project plan, which includes the
estimated project duration.
• An identified list of preferred team
members.
Of course, the project sponsor or Cham-
pion should sign the charter. If any of the
aforementioned six areas are omitted or
otherwise incomplete, don’t consider the
project worthy of selection as a Six Sigma
project. Also, if there is no sponsor, there is
no project.
Some people may argue that criteria
are strong or unfair. I use this approach to
qualify a project for entry into the selection
process.
Many organizations accept minimally or
vaguely defined projects and wonder why
they fail. Doing a lot of the legwork prior to
project selection helps ensure projects get
off to better starts and have higher success
rates. Also, this approach minimizes project
stalls and terminations.
The Certified Six Sigma Master Black
Belt Handbook that is scheduled to be
released later this year addresses all of the
aforementioned requirements within the
context of a complete pipeline creation and
management system. The system considers
project identification, qualification, selec-
tion, prioritization, assignment and closure.
With those criteria at your disposal, you
should have no problem selecting projects.
T.M. Kubiak
President
Performance Improvement Solutions
Weddington, NC
October 2011 • QP 9