Machine Operator turned Quality Manager Needs Help!!

[DJCRAI]

WOW....Glad to know I am not alone. Thanks to Quality Goddess for the Cost of Poor Quality info. I would love to see more examples. My company is scheduled for a re-registration audit in July. I am quite nervous about it, but I think we should be OK. As I stated before, we have a well written quality system, we just need to focus on maintaining it. My most pressing issue at the moment is our Non-conforming product process, along with corrective action.
Getting feedback from anyone here is quite a challenge, and I wish I could take pictures of the expressions on peoples faces when I send a corrective action report back because it is bull****!! It is better, though. When I took over as QM, not only was I issuing C/A requests, but I ended up completing them as well. That doesn't happen so much anymore. On another note, Top management here does not believe in meetings. I know that ISO does not require a management review "meeting". Any suggestions how I can meet the intent of the standard without having a meeting? Keep the info flowing, people.

 

[QCAce]

... I am taking some online certification courses through ASQ, but my "real" problem lies with Executive Management and the culture that they create here. If I had a dollar for every time I heard the Director of Operations use the expression "putting out fires".......Any feedback from the real professionals here would be appreciated.
Craig Hanson

I am a quality engineer but I am with my fourth company now, and it is the third one I am helping develop a QMS in accordance with ISO9000. I've helped the first one register to the 1994 version, and the second one was registered to the 2000 version. My current company wants their system developed around the 2000 version, but they are not interested in the official registration at this time. I've learned a lot of helpful tips along the way and I'll try to pass a few of them along to you here:

1) A list of key business metrics is important.
As you are asking questions during the gap analysis, also try to find out what measurement is MOST important to each department. Try not to have more than two metrics for each department, and not more than 15 for the company (or plant location). Compile your list, and try to also help everyone understand that one of the purposes of the QMS is to help drive improvement in those metrics. You want everyone to know that the QMS is there to help the company, and not just there to document who is not doing what. Use your metrics and data to determine (Pareto) what the highest $ or highest volume problems are and write your corrective actions against those item.

2) Avoid attempts to "flowchart" the whole business.
I speak from experience here. This will embark you on a long journey of many wasted months, with an end product that will not match the current processes because they will change before you are done. Instead, allow flexibility in each department for them to document their own processes. If flowcharts make sense to them, great, if words make sense, that's fine too. The important thing is that they are THEIR processes, and they need to own them. Try to keep the procedures at a high level. By a high level I mean have them only document what they do at a level similar to what they would describe to a relative, or someone outside the company. There's no need to document every "nook and crany" of activity. Also remember not to spend too much time on procedure/work instruction writing, they don't have to be perfect and they will change anyway. Keep the focus on the metrics.

3) Audit around Plan-Do-Check-Act.
Develop you internal audit checklists and Gap questions around PDCA. Plan - do they have a plan? (procedures, work instructions, key metric), Do - are they following what is written? (and is the metric improving?), Check - do they have a key metric? how do they know what they are doing is good for the company?, Act - do they take corrective actions when the metric shows a negative trend? or when repeated/significant nonconformances occur?

I've found asking the questions this way helped me better organize the QMS.

Good luck.

 

[qualitygoddess - 2010]

WOW....On another note, Top management here does not believe in meetings. I know that ISO does not require a management review "meeting". Any suggestions how I can meet the intent of the standard without having a meeting? Keep the info flowing, people.

I have seen this work -- the 2x/year agenda is sent out as a request for the various process owners to update their process metrics (even though most metrics were updated monthly and posted at the individual facilities, this was an update 2x per year). Then top management is given a deadline to review the updated stuff. They rendered a decision -- continue as is, or make something better. Then the Mgt Rep delivered the 'management review report', and assigned action items or corrective/preventive action requests. It was designed to work for a company that had two facilities in two countries. It worked, but put a lot on the mgt rep (me).

 

[Hoeyster]

Hoeyster QM

Hi all, new QM here also lol. I was hired in as, well, I'm not really sure lol. They told me they need a leader for the quality department as the guy that is currently in that position isn't doing the job. Anyway my first day I was told that I would be in the Quality Department for a short time to learn the ropes then I would be made the Quality Supervisor. Then the VP of the company told me that at the end of the month it would be announced that I am the new Quality Manager. Well this isn't setting well with the buy who is currently directing the quality department.

To get to the meat of this post, I believe that I have the backing of the VP of this company. He is a forward thinking man and was to get ISO9000-2000 and AS9100 certified before our customer flows down the requirements to us. He and I have have discussions about what path we will take. I gave him some ideas and he tells me "I LKE IT" you sound like somebody we can work with.

Well, I have been there a month now and the announcement about my status hasn't been made yet, and I also have the current director of Quality trying to undermine me.

HELP, WHAT DO I DO ABOUT THIS GUY?

 

[Jim Wynne]

HELP, WHAT DO I DO ABOUT THIS GUY?

You need to go to the VP and ask him about it. He made a statement, and you're within your rights to expect him to be true to his word.
It's difficult to give advice on the basis of limited information, but there are a couple of possibilities. He might be just putting it off because he's busy and doesn't feel like dealing with it right now, or he might have had second thoughts. In either case, the longer you wait, the less likely it is that this will have a happy ending for you.
A word to the wise: It was not very smart for the VP to make a promise like that; if he intended to promote you he should have waited for the right time and just done it. You might be dealing with a boss who shoots while the gun is still in the holster, in which case you can expect more of the same in the future. Just because he talks a good game doesn't mean he actually knows how to play it.

 

[Wes Bucey]

You need to go to the VP and ask him about it. He made a statement, and you're within your rights to expect him to be true to his word.
It's difficult to give advice on the basis of limited information, but there are a couple of possibilities. He might be just putting it off because he's busy and doesn't feel like dealing with it right now, or he might have had second thoughts. In either case, the longer you wait, the less likely it is that this will have a happy ending for you.
A word to the wise: It was not very smart for the VP to make a promise like that; if he intended to promote you he should have waited for the right time and just done it. You might be dealing with a boss who shoots while the gun is still in the holster, in which case you can expect more of the same in the future. Just because he talks a good game doesn't mean he actually knows how to play it.

Good advice. Let me add only, "Be diplomatic in how you ask!"

If you frame the question as an ultimatum such as "You said I was going to be QM. Why haven't you followed through?" you are merely asking to be fired on the spot. Almost every executive I've ever met operates on one philosophy,
"If you ever hold a gun on me, you had better kill me, because I definitely will kill you!"

If you frame the question as
"What is your target date for announcing my promotion to Quality Manager?"
you will have kept emotion out of the equation. You won't introduce your "suspicion" that he might not follow through or has forgotten his promise. You won't be whining about the lame duck undermining you.

Based on his response to the question, you can have a variety of follow-up material.

IF he says, "Why do you ask?" you can respond "To make plans for an orderly transition from John Doe to me."

If the tone of voice he has indicates nervousness or a "What's it to you?" attitude, you obviously need to back away and regroup.

If he seems genuinely ready to go forward and gives a firm date, then ask, "What do you need from me at this point?"

Under no circumstances should you raise the topic of John Doe and his undermining until you have the job title and salary!

 

[QCAce]

Hi all, new QM here also lol. I was hired in as, well, I'm not really sure lol. They told me they need a leader for the quality department as the guy that is currently in that position isn't doing the job. Anyway my first day I was told ...

I'm curious to know your thoughts on why they felt he was not doing his job, and/or what are the expectations of the QM?

 

[Jim Wynne]

Good advice. Let me add only, "Be diplomatic in how you ask!"

If you frame the question as an ultimatum such as "You said I was going to be QM. Why haven't you followed through?" you are merely asking to be fired on the spot. Almost every executive I've ever met operates on one philosophy,
"If you ever hold a gun on me, you had better kill me, because I definitely will kill you!"

If you frame the question as
"What is your target date for announcing my promotion to Quality Manager?"
you will have kept emotion out of the equation. You won't introduce your "suspicion" that he might not follow through or has forgotten his promise. You won't be whining about the lame duck undermining you.

Based on his response to the question, you can have a variety of follow-up material.

IF he says, "Why do you ask?" you can respond "To make plans for an orderly transition from John Doe to me."

If the tone of voice he has indicates nervousness or a "What's it to you?" attitude, you obviously need to back away and regroup.

If he seems genuinely ready to go forward and gives a firm date, then ask, "What do you need from me at this point?"

Under no circumstances should you raise the topic of John Doe and his undermining until you have the job title and salary!

Very good advice. In fact, the angle on "orderly transition" is highly recommended because it shows that A) you are proceeding under the assumption that the VP is as good as his word and B) you're taking some initiative in the situation without making the VP look like a clumsy oaf. Clumsy oafs appreciate that.