Ideas or Suggestions to Improve Quality Awareness Campaign?

Hello Covers,

I am seeking your ideas / suggestions on how to increase awareness of QMS within our company. The QMS department (me) holds QMS training for newbies and refresher training annually for existing employees. This training introduces them to the concept of QMS and the standards that we follow as a manufacturer of medical devices (ISO 13485, FDA, MDD). What I want to do, is have a multi-day campaign to make people more aware of the presence of QMS.

I know certain industries have entire weeks devoted to their cause (i.e. Customer service week), but I was wondering if any such a thing existed for Quality (Quality week?). It doesn't necessarily have to last a week, but I was looking for ideas that I could use to attract attention to our cause. I plan on sending out a quality newsletter, but I would like to include some games and prizes to encourage participation (i.e. spot the non-conformity...).

I was also wondering if there were any sites or stores out there that have Quality or QMS type merchandise (posters, t-shirts, sticky notes, trinkets, gadjets, mouse pads, etc...) with a quality theme.

Any input/suggestions are welcome.

Thanks again.

MtlGuy

Re: Quality Awareness Campaign



I would be a proponent of a stealth approach. QMS should be part of every day life at any company. This is how we do it here and it makes us a better company.

Re: Quality Awareness Campaign

MtlGuy said:

Any input/suggestions are welcome.

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Check the How can I make the QMS (Quality Management System) interesting to employees? , Keeping the Passion of ISO9001:2000 System - How to promote your QMS and Interview Question: Asked what I would do to 'Reinvigorate' the QMS threads.

If your employees need shining gizmos and gadgets to pay attention to quality, the problem is very deep. Quality awareness comes from a culture that promotes quality with constancy. Employees observe the message and actions emanating from the top. If the talk is not followed by the walk, no awareness campaign will ever succeed. If the talk is followed by the walk, you don't need a campaign, imho.

Re: Quality Awareness Campaign

Guy, I feel your predicament but as others have wisely said don't attempt to split out the QMS (and put it on a pedestal). On the contrary you need to bury it deep within your operations - so it becomes second nature and the only acceptable way to get things done.
It's so important in medical device manufacturing that it has to be this way. Sooner or later you will come across examples where the QMS has saved your ass, and by not following it, has caused the company grief. Use those instances to strengthen the awareness.

Re: Quality Awareness Campaign

FWIW:
Deming (and now I, too) makes the point that slogans and the other "rah rah" stuff, including posters, handouts, T-shirts, coffee mugs, logo pens, and other toys, have little to no impact on the actual implementation of a Quality Management System (QMS), whereas his SoPK (System of Profound Knowledge) DID help managers and employees become more mindful and aware of the positive impact a good QMS had on the organization and its employees, suppliers, and customers.

Use both "SoPK" and "System of Profound Knowledge" as search terms both here in the Cove and on the internet to learn more about the value of respecting employees enough to help them learn about the "big picture" of the organization and how each individual person and task within the organization contributes to the success of the organization as a whole and, in turn, to the success of the individuals within the organization. From there, it is only a short step to see how a quality performance of a task contributes to a quality product or service, bringing better value to the customer and, consequently, more sales and profit to the organization.

Re: Quality Awareness Campaign

Thanks all for the feedback.

Sidney Vianna said:

If your employees need shining gizmos and gadgets to pay attention to quality, the problem is very deep. Quality awareness comes from a culture that promotes quality with constancy. Employees observe the message and actions emanating from the top. If the talk is not followed by the walk, no awareness campaign will ever succeed. If the talk is followed by the walk, you don't need a campaign, imho.

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As Sidney mentioned in the post above, the problem is indeed very deep. The previous QMS manager left due to frustration at the the lack of commitment or interest from the top. Now it is my turn to try and make them see the light.

(Ok, venting now)

Even after multiple meetings, presentations, consultants, etc. the top management does not talk the talk or walk the walk. The walking and talking are done by me (the new/frustrated QMS manager) and my immediate manager. Top management only cares that we have a QMS in place to satisfy the regulatory bodies, other benefits seem lost on them.

Processes are followed for the most part, but any Quality talk is met with a roll of the eyes, both by the top managers and employees. It isn't unusual for members of top management to doze off during our management meeting (that's if I can get them to attend).

I agree that quality should be part of everything we do here, without the need for banners and gizmos, but my boss feels that some tangible gadget sitting on people's desks will serve as a reminder.

Thanks again for your feedback.

MtlGuy

Re: Quality Awareness Campaign

We have the same problems here in the brazilian medical device industry. Quality, safety and regulatory requirements in general are seem as a burden, more than so by top management. I´m also trying to raise awareness, and the only thing taht i think can make some effect to top management is to link quality and regulatory issues to money, either gained or lost. Maybe some ROI findings, i i´m still not sure what is the best approach.

Re: Quality Awareness Campaign

You will never get ahead or help to achieve the "quality message" in a company where the top management does not support it. Finally, after 7 years where I work, the top management is starting to "get it". We are currently undergoing a quality "shake up" of sorts. The "top" finally "gets it" and they are making themselves and the managers alike responsible. Otherwise, who is really running the company?

Re: Quality Awareness Campaign

Wes Bucey said:

FWIW:
Deming (and now I, too) makes the point that slogans and the other "rah rah" stuff, including posters, handouts, T-shirts, coffee mugs, logo pens, and other toys, have little to no impact on the actual implementation of a Quality Management System (QMS), whereas his SoPK (System of Profound Knowledge) DID help managers and employees become more mindful and aware of the positive impact a good QMS had on the organization and its employees, suppliers, and customers.

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Thanks Wes.

Here is my

I also believe there is a misconception about the awareness process in industries. Awareness has become synonymous with giving trinkets and putting slogans. Unfortunately, I have not seen System of Profound Knowledge (SoPK) in operation. I have only read about it.

I am from the old school of quality; I believe if a company wants to start awareness, they should treat it as a process and not a token management. An awareness plan should be a formal process (like CAR/PAR or MR) and building awareness process should focus on:
¨Building the Communication Plan. (what- who- when- where- how)
oCompany Newsletter or news release
oEmployee BBs
oMeetings
¨Selecting Meaningful Topics:
oRole of individuals in success of QMS and Quality Objectives
oImprovement initiatives; recognition of team and individuals efforts
o QMS Performance analysis, Past—Present--Future
¨Timing Messages for maximum Effectiveness
oWeekly, monthly, quarterly meeting, or annual town hall meeting
¨Delivering Clear Messages
oAssess the effectiveness. Applying PDCA....

Awareness program should help in creation of a conductive environment for continual improvement. If done properly, awareness process adds to transparency of the operation.

Re: Quality Awareness Campaign

mmantunes said:

Quality, safety and regulatory requirements in general are seem as a burden, more than so by top management. I´m also trying to raise awareness, and the only thing taht i think can make some effect to top management is to link quality and regulatory issues to money, either gained or lost. Maybe some ROI findings, i i´m still not sure what is the best approach.

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I think you have hit the nail on the head mmantunes - if you want to communicate with senior management you must speak their language and, like it or not, that language is financial.

If you establish a simple Cost of Quality System: Juran et al. (AKA: COQ or cost of poor quality) you can start to quantify the benefits of good quality versus poor quality, not just in the obvious tangible deliverables like waste and rework, but also in expediting costs, customer (dis)satisfaction, loss of reputation etc.. Use these metrics to estimate a Return on Quality -i.e. for every dollar spent on quality, you get a return of X dollars. You will be stunned at how quickly you get senior management attention when you spell it out in dollars, particularly if you have high numbers of customer complaints and MDR's (external failures).

Be careful though - there are lots of very complex systems for capturing COQ data and I suggest that you avoid them initially. Go with the basic "traditional model" to get you started, this gives you a chance to assess the effectiveness of the system before plunging into the deep end with high cost systems solutions. There is quite a lot of published material out there. I attach a paper that I have used as an introduction to COQ in the past and have found very interesting - the references of the article are also worth a read.

If this is of interest to you I also have some presentation materials I have used in the past - just let me know.

Jim