Potemkin Quality Systems

Have you heard of Potemkin Quality System?

Earlies in the week, I had a discussion with some other Quality professionals. During this discussion, some one dropped this name.

Potemkin was a Russian minister / military leader and he build store front villages back in the days to impress his empress Catherine. He wanted to show off his accomplishments and increase his standing with her after he conquered the Crimea. The name Potemin Village was created.
In later years, the name Potemkin villages was also used to joke about the Soviet Union and their accomplishment (some of which were clearly for show only and the impress the west).

A company with a PQS is a company with a quality system as a storefront only. The quality system is designed to impress the customer and the external auditor. In actuality, the quality system is not bringing any benefit / added value to the company. It is a store front only. Without the customer demanding it, there would be no quality system, back to business as usual.

Quality Management system can be value added, drive continuous improvement, used to bring company weaknesses to the surface and so on.

If you think your company' quality system is a Potemkin Village, it is time to take action and start building some real bricks to build an effective quality system.

Does your company have a PQS?

Outsourced / External management of your quality systems

Are you dealing with these kind of problems?

- audits are not viewed as an improvement tool (we do it, because the standard requires it)
- your internal auditors cancel audit at the last minute (more important things to do)
- difficult for your internal auditors to keep informed about standard changes and interpretations
- high turnover in your internal auditor ranks (attrition, reassigned)
- retraining auditors all the time in standards and core tools
- problems never get really fixed (poor root cause analysis, corrective actions are not effective)
- follow-up does not exist

Think about this as an alternative:

- bring in experienced professional auditors
- get benchmarking information
- get recommendations for improvement.
- optionally guide and train your internal auditor, if necessary
- independent from any one in your organization
- auditors who understand customer satisfaction
- auditors are up to date with latest requirements
- help you get ready for certification or surveillance audit

You can get all these things if you bring in an outside internal auditor. Your "audit pain" will be gone in no time.

Contact me if you are in need of this alternative. Click here

Sharing files and blogging

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Dilbert

See if it works.

Gemba / What is reality?

This is an interesting topic. On many occasions I have seen engineers and managers making decision without knowing what is going outside their office. They are afraid to leave their private space.

One great tool is what the Japanese call "Gemba" and Larry Bossidy calls "what is reality". Leave your office or cubicle and wander out and see what real life is in your building, on a different floor or on the shopfloor. Talk to the people that do the actual work. This applies to manufacturing, service organizations, hospitals, schools and universities.

I recommend the 5W2H and 4P approach. (5W = what, when..., 4P = people, process, product and procedures). More about this later.

Manage the Change / Risk management

Managing changes is an important responsibility for any quality management system. There are inherent risks involved with change. Proper planning, implementation and validation must be part of the manage the change process. It depends on the change, how much effort is needed. You have to manage the risk, of course.

If your customers do not require their approval or notification, there are still risks. A failed change can become very expensive. Risks of change include loss of business, losing your customers, bad press (including newspaper, review sites, etc). A change should start with justifying the business case and a Process FMEA (your risk analysis of the change).

A manage the change checklist must be developed and become part of your quality management systems. You should audit if the change process is followed and needs improvement.

For example Ford Motor Company has a process called SREA (supplier request for engineering approval). This is a good start if you are looking for a manage the change process.

See me a note if I can help you out.

Management by Walking around (MBWA)

MBWA is a tool that managers, engineers and also executives should use to keep in touch with what is going on outside their office. Leave your office (your "secure zone") and spend time with associates in the office or on the shopfloor. You will be amazed how much you will learn first hand. I have been tempted in the past to "run" my responsibilities from my office and by email.

In general I would say, that there is not enough MBWA. Some of my clients have the management office far away from the shop floor. The first time I heard the term MBWA was around 1986. The managing director of the research centre I was working for back then used the term and was an active believer in it (thank you, Ian).

What will you be reading in this blog?

My intention is to publish my thoughts on the world of management systems and quality tools. Management systems includes the quality management standards (ISO 9001, TS 16949), enviromental standards (ISO 14001), health and safety standards (such as ANSI Z10). Quality tools include the 7 basic quality tools, automotive core tools (APQP, FMEA, PPAP, MSA, SPC) and Layered Process Auditing (LPA). Other topics include internal auditing (ISO 19011), root cause analysis, 5 Why, 5P, lean manufacturing, six sigma and Demings PDCA cycle. There will some information about specific topics such as IMDS (international material data system, http://www.mdsystem.com/) and REACH (European materials regulation).

There are too many topics to list here.

You will be able to download tools or presentations that are referenced in my blog, such as SPC using excel spreadsheet.