Pro-active Quality Culture Improvements - Suggestions, Tools and Techniques

Guys,

Looking for open suggestions / tools and techniques to improve the pro-active culture mindset within our organisation.

We are adopting techniques like FMEA and Critical to Quality flowdown which seems to be working and in early phase and trying to adopt new risk management techniques too.

However would like suggestions outwith our industry (Oil and Gas) to help improve the pro-active side of quality and how this can be measured.

Please let me know your thoughts.

Thanks

Welcome to the Cove!

I'm afraid there is no tool kit I can offer for reworking culture. That is a leadership-driven process that can take time.

It occurs to me that procedures and processes are likely already in place, if not through ISO then through national and local regulations. If that is the case, what remains is for management to make clear that it places value and emphasis on doing the right thing the first time versus taking dangerous or shortsighted short cuts. This clarity could be communicated in traditional ways, but would also need to be exhibited by rewarding according to that message - doing away with rewards based on numerical goals that are in conflict with doing things right the first time.

Does this make sense?

Proactive measures are many in every industry but definitely depends on the system which you have adapted in your organisation :
Audits and inspection
Training and awareness
Trend analysis, with appropriate cut offs for forced actions
Actions to reduce potential (& actual) quality costs
Interaction with workers to reduce potential rework, fatigue and rejects
Activate employee suggestion schemes to eliminate or reduce quality issues

Critical to quality flowdown and FMEA, if available, the job is easier - you try and reduce the quality risks continually.

I have found that in order to change a culture, you need to change a mindset from the top. PowerPoint slides and data usually do not work. I find that creating an interactive "game" based on solid principles can spark that "aha" moment that starts to clear the cultural interference. Pick the point you wish to make and then design an activity around it that shows the principle is the current state (chaos) and what the same activity would look like with standardization (order). Sometimes that, with a clear plan on resources requirement and timing will enable you to proceed with limited obstacles. Good Luck!