Hello everyone,
I am not quite sure if this forum is the best place to open this thread so if a moderator wishes to move please do so.

Our company is in process of strategic planning. Thats good. However we have had much difficulty in achieveing and maintaining compliance with ISO 9001-2000. We are certified but struggling.

My question is - What are the recommendations toward strategic planning and the quality management system? Should the QMS be part of strategic planning or strategic planning be part of the QMS? Kind of a which comes first the chicken or the egg question.

My take is, and guide me if I am off base, that the QMS criteria should serve as a guideline during strategic planning. Use it like a gap analysis to determine the next strategies.

Falco:

My organization applies strategic planning for the organization and it is tied into concepts such as the Balanced Scorecard and our Company Vision and Mission.

There are some items on our strategic plan that show a strong link towards focusing on our customer (e.g., Recognized as the supplier of choice, etc.).

From there, our sites have objectives and metrics that support the company's plan. This helps to show that we are all moving in the same direction.

To answer your question, our strategic plan is for the overall success of the company. From there, we filter down the QMS items to help set objectives, metrics, etc...we do the same for safety, environment, morale, and so on.

I am going to refer you to the Baldrige Award site's explanation of the 2006 criteria for Strategic Planning (http://www.baldrige21.com/BALDRIGE%20CRITERIA-ALL%20YEARS/CATEGORY%20DESCRIPTIONS/2006%20CATEGORY%20DESCRIPTIONS/06%20CATEGORY%202.0%20Strategic%20Planning.html), not because you have to do all of this, but because I hope you will find the insights helpful.

Please also see the links near the bottom of the page I am sending you to:

2.1 Strategy Development

2.2 Strategy Deployment

Strategic Planning?

Just study Toyota (or most any Japanese industry) from 1946 until the present (set aside the current financial issues)

Strategic Planning?

Just study Toyota (or most any Japanese industry) from 1946 until the present (set aside the current financial issues)

To get me started, were they generally pro strategic planning, against, or ?.

When ISO named ISO 9001, Quality Management System, they failed us all:mad:. The title should be Business Management System:bonk:. ISO 9001 is a guideline on how to run your business to ensure you are conforming to a minimum level. By being at that minimum level (or beyond), you provide your customers with a certain level of comfort.

In order to be a successful business, you must have a strategic plan. That strategic plan must support the vision and mission of the organization. The vision, mission and strategic plan must be supported by quality policy and objectives. In short, the strategic planning exercise is a part of the QMS.

One must avoid top management's desire to put the ISO requirements on QA and allow them to totally disengage. If top management is not driving the QMS, you should look for a new employer!

Thank you for the reply. The mission I am on is just as you have responded. Sounds funny but may just be the title to my book - Taking "Quality" Out of The Quality Managment System. And I think this is what Randy has suggested as well. The example you mentioned is exactly wha is happening, the business management is being dropped in the lap of QA while top management works on the assembly line and fights fires.

My opportunity lies in the reversal of that behavior. That's what I do. I think for the most part our leaders are opening up to the idea but years of culture are hard to change.

When ISO named ISO 9001, Quality Management System, they failed us all:mad:. The title should be Business Management System:bonk:. ISO 9001 is a guideline on how to run your business to ensure you are conforming to a minimum level. By being at that minimum level (or beyond), you provide your customers with a certain level of comfort.

In order to be a successful business, you must have a strategic plan. That strategic plan must support the vision and mission of the organization. The vision, mission and strategic plan must be supported by quality policy and objectives. In short, the strategic planning exercise is a part of the QMS.

One must avoid top management's desire to put the ISO requirements on QA and allow them to totally disengage. If top management is not driving the QMS, you should look for a new employer!

So, if I am reading the responses correctly so far your responses confirm my belief. It is important that strategic planning become part of the overall business management system.

To get me started, were they generally pro strategic planning, against, or ?.

Very "pro". Depending the level at which the planning would occur, it might span several decades. As a case in point, Toyota had as part of their strategic plan that they would become #1 in the auto industry. Of course, it happened sooner than they intended and this has probably spurred as much questioning as if they didn't achieve their goal by the target date. Another key difference with Toyota versus many other organizations, is once they had a plan, they followed through with a vengeance.

Strategic planning needs to be all encompassing for an organization, and it needs to be reviewed periodically in order to make course corrections as changes in the environment, marketplace or technology occurs.

Wayne

I like your comment regarding following through. That is another challenge for us. We tend to weather vane a bunch. Maybe our goal is set too close in time. Good thoughts indeed this morning. Just what I needed to get the brain in gear on a Monday.

We just went through our strategic planning excercise. This time we brought in a facilitator which really enabled us to break new ground. My job now is to keep us working together through the use of our "business" management system.

It seems that every time we face a challenge we ditch the plan and run in various directions.

To get me started, were they generally pro strategic planning, against, or ?.

They set a Strategic goal to be #1 in the world with automotive manufacturing and developed the Strategic plan to do so. In 1945 Toyota had been bombed nearly back to the Stone-Age....where is Toyota now?

They didn't plan next-week, next-quarter, next-year, they planned 10 yrs, 20 years, 50 years.........

So, if I am reading the responses correctly so far your responses confirm my belief. It is important that strategic planning become part of the overall business management system.

There is an old saying "Fail to plan? Then plan to fail"

I would add that a very disciplined no nonsense approach led to the success of Toyota's plan. This could change the point of this discusion. None the less, what I have gathered thus far is that Strategy should include a framework. The framework then supports and drives the strategy. Committment will determine success.

Sound's like you're trying to either re-invent the wheel or circumvent common sense in business . Just look at the Introduction to ISO 9001:2008

Introduction
0.1 General

The adoption of a quality management system should be a strategic decision of an organization.

That says it right there. Problem is, many companies think Strategic is tomorrow or short term, and that's when they start becoming a loser.

That's funny Randy, I have it right in front of me and am working it into my argument to use the requirements of the standard as our framework instead of reinventing the wheel. It is very reassuring to know that I am on the right track.

Absolutely...........Strategic Planning is not new.......Ceasar used it in Gaul and Britain, we used it in the Pacific in the 1940's, NASA used it to get to the moon, I used it to get my wife:lol:

Absolutely...........Strategic Planning is not new.......Ceasar used it in Gaul and Britain, we used it in the Pacific in the 1940's, NASA used it to get to the moon, I used it to get my wife:lol:

So how is that whole continual improvement thing working out with the wife????? Sorry. Could not resist. :o

That's funny Randy, I have it right in front of me and am working it into my argument to use the requirements of the standard as our framework instead of reinventing the wheel. It is very reassuring to know that I am on the right track.

what about argueing that "quality" is describing the "management system" not the other way round

ie Management System Quality

Yup, thats why I eluded to the chicken or the egg in an earlier post. It really is a mindset to establish. Do you use the management system to achieve quality or the quality system to achive business? Not sure that is really matters as long as we achieve the objectives?

In order to be a successful business, you must have a strategic plan. That strategic plan must support the vision and mission of the organization. The vision, mission and strategic plan must be supported by quality policy and objectives. In short, the strategic planning exercise is a part of the QMS.

One must avoid top management's desire to put the ISO requirements on QA and allow them to totally disengage. If top management is not driving the QMS, you should look for a new employer!

Excellent advice, although personally I might try to change things first, before seeking alternative employment (especially right now).

The example you mentioned is exactly wha is happening, the business management is being dropped in the lap of QA while top management works on the assembly line and fights fires.

Well, that isn't a quality management system, and it sure as hell doesn't reflect any kind of strategic planning!

we have had much difficulty in achieveing and maintaining compliance with ISO 9001-2000. We are certified but struggling.
Without having some kind of strategic plan - and then actually using that plan to manage the business (not just dumping it on the shelf and racing off to fight more fires), you will continue to struggle. I would have a really good look at the PDSA /PDCA cycle (Plan, Do, Study, Act) because that's an essential improvement tool underlying the Standard, and sounds like something that isn't understood/only poorly, and not actually applied.

... My take is, and guide me if I am off base, that the QMS criteria should serve as a guideline during strategic planning. Use it like a gap analysis to determine the next strategies.

Um... not quite sure what you mean by 'QMS criteria to serve as a guideline?'

Yup, thats why I eluded to the chicken or the egg in an earlier post. It really is a mindset to establish. Do you use the management system to achieve quality or the quality system to achive business? Not sure that is really matters as long as we achieve the objectives?

Planning comes first. You plan for what you want to achieve. The 'management system' and the 'quality system' are NOT separate things: it's a quality management system you are aiming for & required to have, not a 'management "system"' with a bit of QA tacked on the side.

So how is that whole continual improvement thing working out with the wife????? Sorry. Could not resist. :o

:topic:

She says that I've come along pretty well after all these years:lol:

:topic:

She says that I've come along pretty well after all these years:lol:

:topic:
Please pass along my congratulations to top management!! :lol: