What would you do in the first 90 days of a new job as the Quality Manager

[Jplatter]

I'm in month 5 of my new Quality Manager prosition and have to say it depends on what you are walking into the middle of. I came in replacing a manager that had given up and let everything slide so have spent 4 months establishing ground zero and rebuilding. But three things to do is
1) make sure what they are expecting of you
2) learn your quality manual and procedures
3) take a step back and assess how things are going and what is being done now from a complete fresh set of eye. Write down everything you observe both good and bad.
I found it helpful to assess everything first off because my view was not yet tainted by what everyone called "how we've always done it". How it's done may be right but without things ever being questioned things can never be improved.
Best of luck in your new position and when you need help feel free to ask. someone around may have a solution.

[kyoshin_man]

In Reply to Parent Post by Jplatter

I'm in month 5 of my new Quality Manager prosition and have to say it depends on what you are walking into the middle of. I came in replacing a manager that had given up and let everything slide so have spent 4 months establishing ground zero and rebuilding. But three things to do is
1) make sure what they are expecting of you
2) learn your quality manual and procedures
3) take a step back and assess how things are going and what is being done now from a complete fresh set of eye. Write down everything you observe both good and bad.
I found it helpful to assess everything first off because my view was not yet tainted by what everyone called "how we've always done it". How it's done may be right but without things ever being questioned things can never be improved.
Best of luck in your new position and when you need help feel free to ask. someone around may have a solution.

Hi,

Thanks for the input and advice, I understand how important it is to assess the current situation with a fresh pair of eyes approach. These are excellent items to review and have done or started those areas up to this point. Everyone has given excellent input here and appreciate the support.

I wish everyone success as well in what you do as experts and will give some feedback after more time on the job of this new position.

Thanks

[oldcodger]

I would explain to the owners and management that having an effective Quality System can be an excellent sales tool for a company.

[Wes Bucey]

In Reply to Parent Post by oldcodger

I would explain to the owners and management that having an effective Quality System can be an excellent sales tool for a company.

Yes! First day and EVERY day - reinforce the message! Maybe give some tips on how to incorporate MEANINGFUL quality messages in marketing materials. Emphasize the idea of "helping everyone to learn that QUALITY IS EVERYONE'S BUSINESS."

[silentrunning]

In Reply to Parent Post by oldcodger

I would explain to the owners and management that having an effective Quality System can be an excellent sales tool for a company.

And on the other hand, having a weak Quality System can be the biggest sales killer of all.

[Murphys Law]

In order to lead in a direction, you first need to know where you are !

Suggest you arrange formal 1:1 interviews with any of your staff what their job involves, what they work on and "what they would do in my shoes". Also do 1:1 with an equivalent functional managers on what they think of quality and any recommendations.

I don't know about your organization as "QA manager" but if it is part of your role, don't forget your customers or key suppliers. They can tell you some info

Initial few weeks is a new role is listen and shut your trap. Don't be a smart ass in how you are going to change everything.

For your 1st 90 days + TS, you need to plan your 1st TS management review. Most companies do it at least quarterly. Reading previous mgt reviews and supporting document should be a good start for your own assessment of what the issues are.

Longer term, find out in your company, the influencers. Seek their inputs on what they think about quality and any improvements. Careful though, not to step on any of your boss's toes.

If you parent company is in Germany, find an excuse to get out and visit corporate or sister sites. I hear Munich in late September is a good time to visit [ cough..]

[gadez]

Find out the status vs target of customer complaints, internal non conformances, reject rates, rework rates, and audit results. What are the 5 things that needs to be urgently improved upon? If for example a specific production line has a high rejection rate then do a project or lead a team that will deal with it. If a major customer wants to pull out due to numerous customer complaints then resolve the issue. If the company is in danger of losing a certification then make that a priority. At the end of 3 months you should be able to present significant accomplishments to upper management. Say you've reduced NCRs by X% or you've saved the company $X by improving blah blah blah.First impressions are usually hard to overcome and you need to make an outstanding one for the first three months.

[TPMB4]

I wonder how the OP (Kyoshin Man) has got on. He hasn't posted since July last year (not long after I got into a Quality role).

Late now but here is my tuppeneth-worth. I looked first at the Quality manuals, procedures, etc. This was interspersed with actually walking around the site making mental notes of what is actually done. I also looked at the management reviews and audit reports from the CB. Then I went into a surveillance inspection by the CB a couple of weeks in. I guess that kind of did a bit of gap analysis for me.#

Anyway, I have read a lot of the previous advice and still have a few pages left to read. I think it is still relevant to me despite a little time passing since I made my first proper steps into the quality arena.

But if the OP does come back I for one would like know what he did and how he got on.