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?