Introduction
Before we dig into the Quality Management system, and its journey of implementation, it is really important to get an idea about how it could be defined and understood.
The term of quality could be applied in any field whether it is educational department, IT service industry or health services. This term has a broad spectrum of explanation
The definition of quality is stated by one of the writers, Kaoru Ishikawa, in his book,
What is Total Quality Control? – The Japanese Way:
‘quality means quality of work, quality of service, quality of information, quality of process, quality of division, quality of people, including workers, engineers, managers and executives, quality of company, quality of objectives.’
According to Mark Eydman, who is the founder and Managing Director of Six Pillars Consulting, quality has the potential to be the most interesting business function
Quality Management System
A quality management system is a set of organized and controlled guidelines that ascertains the steps on continuous improvement of quality to meet customers’ needs and requirements. It is a preventive measure to build a successive and competitive environment for your business in a timely manner. The QMS cannot be achieved until it is managed properly and espoused by the organizations.
How to Gauge your QMS
The journey to a fully operational QMS consists of several steps. You need to gauge your current maturity, this could include your company’s approach to risks, what are your business’s strengths and weaknesses and what kind of tech and tools are used by your organization. Taking careful consideration could be really helpful for your business and it is a long-term assessment. The maturity assessment quiz would help you to identify risks and opportunities in your management system.
How to build your QMS
Implementing a QMS in your business is not a quick and easy task. It is a challenging decision for the small organization to implement QMS due to low budget. Sometimes due to lack of awareness and unskilled staff, it becomes an obstacle for the organization to build an effective QMS in your business. Every organization should be aware of some essential steps before the implementation. It is advised to take up quality management certifications like six sigma trainings to gain skills in this domain.
Here are some essential steps that should be a part of every organization before the implementation of QMS:
- Eight principles of QMS
The quality management system consists of the eight principles. These eight principles would help an organization to identify the customer’s needs and expectations, the approaches involved in collection of the data and measurement of the progress towards the achieving the goals.
- Customer focus
- Leadership
- Involvement of people
- Process approach
- System approach to management
- Continual improvement
- Factual decision making
- Mutually beneficial supplier relationships
- Employee Awareness Training
This is an important step before the implementation of this QMS. You need to introduce training programs in your company to cover basic concepts of quality and the standards and how it would have an overall impact on your company and the goals that you set to achieve.
- Perform a Gap Assessment
You need to compare your existing requirement with the requirement of QMS. You need to follow steps in determining your existing requirement and what kind of modifications you need to be made. You have to ensure that your staff must have the required skills to perform this kind of job and consider getting your staff enrolled in quality management training from a trusted training provider to meet this requirement.
- Documentation of quality manual
- Quality manual is a high level document that includes justification for any exclusion, scope, quality policy and objectives of a company and process interaction procedures.
- Procedures are high-level documents that include what kind of process is carried out by an organization and how it could be controlled.
- Work instructions are detailed instructions and procedures for the specific performance.
- Quality records can be data records on forms and documents to support the processes that fulfill the requirement of a quality system.
- Internal Audit and Registration Audit
It is a really important step to audit the whole system when the QMS is placed in your business. You need to make sure if you could meet the company’s standards and regulations. Internal audit is important before the registration audit. Quality management can be enhanced through customer feedback and suggestions.
Conclusion
The training and awareness is essential for implementing the QMS. The goals should be set in a business for the evaluation of performance. The QMS cannot be implemented without a planning phase. Team engagement and well-planned steps are really important for the effective QMS.