Quality Objectives - Where to start defining Quality Objectives?

[Glen D]

My company is looking to get ISO9001 certification. Part of that is obviously to set company objectives.

At Director level with myself (Quality Manager) and 2 directors we have agreed a few basic objectives to start off with.

- Measure and reduce warranty call outs
- Measure and reduce site installation snagging
- Measure and improve OTIF (on time, in full) Deliveries
- Improve Training and Welfare knowledge and support

I am struggling to actually start the ball rolling with how/what to measure and who is to collect the data.

Any help and advise would be greatly appreciated.

Many thanks

Glen

 

[Colin]

Re: Quality Objectives - Where to start?

Hi Glen, it looks like you have a good understanding of the type of things that should be targeted for objectives - 3 out of the 4 objectives you list will be directly beneficial to the customer/client - as opposed to having objectives which are purely for internal benefit.

Would I be right in thinking that these are areas which you feel need to be improved? If so, you will probably have an idea of the current performance level in each area e.g. you probably know how many warranty call outs there have been in a given period (week, month or year).

This is your baseline - you now need to think about what is a reasonable performance improvement that you could expect to achieve and also a strategy to achieve it.

Probably the best place to start is to investigate why there are too many call outs - do a root cause analysis to discover the underlying problems. Then you can set a realistic target for improvement.

You should then be able to come up with an objective such as 'reduce warranty call outs by 5% by August 2012.

Some time ago I posted an article on objectives but I don't know precisely where it is in the listings so here is a link to it on my website http://www.cpatraining.co.uk/uploads/files/Setting_Quality_Objectives.pdf

 

[JJ777]

The Objectives would be what do you want to achieve, do not list everything at once list the things that will have the greatest impact. Agree with Colin on warranty issue find the cause of all the warranty claims and then maybe make it an objective.

Improve Training and Welfare knowledge and support

Think on how will you be measuring this, also the first two may very well be hand in hand, because of faulty installs it has now become a warranty issue. I would remove the measuring part in the other objectives; the auditor will want to see how it was measured because this would be an input to your objective.

 

[Dan Johnson]

I am struggling to actually start the ball rolling with how/what to measure and who is to collect the data.
Glen

- reduce warranty call outs: Who takes the calls? That's the person who should be recording the data. The data goes to the person best able to do a R/C analysis and come up with holistic solution.
- reduce site installation snagging: Some things are better monitored rather then measured. If monitoring shows a recurring or increasing problem, initiate an internal CAR and address it through better training.
- improve OTIF (on time, in full) Deliveries: Customer feedback (data) can give you good data here. You can initiate a simple form filled out at the time of delivery and follow it up with a phone call or simple email form after delivery. I often found the best data a given period after product delivery, in our case, 30 days.
- Improve Training and Welfare knowledge and support: A ripe area for continuous improvement. Monitoring by both a floor level as well as senior supervisor can pay big benefits keeping you programs truly focused on improving your work force.

 

[howste]

Here's a link to a document I've posted before that may help. It shows the relationship between the policy, objectives, and process metrics. You need to ensure that the objectives correlate with the quality policy. As you can see, I tend to define quality objectives as very high level statements, which will rarely change. These objectives then should link to the monitoring/measurement of the various QMS processes (8.2.3) which may change frequently. I agree with what Colin said in his article about the SMART goals/targets.

 

[JaneB]

Good advice given already.

Expect to have a number of tries at this Glen, and to get better as you get more comfortable with it & learn how to make it work for you.

If you don't have any ways of measuring or monitoring now, and no data, you probably can't yet set good objectives. So you might start off with an initial objective or task to set up the system for gathering data.

 

[Glen D]

Hi Glen,

Would I be right in thinking that these are areas which you feel need to be improved? If so, you will probably have an idea of the current performance level in each area e.g. you probably know how many warranty call outs there have been in a given period (week, month or year).

Probably the best place to start is to investigate why there are too many call outs - do a root cause analysis to discover the underlying problems. Then you can set a realistic target for improvement.

Thanks Colin,
Myself and 2 directors highlighted these issues for our first set of objectives from areas where improvements can be made.
Thanks for the link btw

- reduce warranty call outs: Who takes the calls? That's the person who should be recording the data. The data goes to the person best able to do a R/C analysis and come up with holistic solution.
- reduce site installation snagging: Some things are better monitored rather then measured. If monitoring shows a recurring or increasing problem, initiate an internal CAR and address it through better training.
- improve OTIF (on time, in full) Deliveries: Customer feedback (data) can give you good data here. You can initiate a simple form filled out at the time of delivery and follow it up with a phone call or simple email form after delivery. I often found the best data a given period after product delivery, in our case, 30 days.

Thanks Dan,
I think this is the biggest problem - who will record the data? Currently there are 4-5 contacts within the business that deal with warranty issues within the area. It's not centralised. Then there are the managers within these areas that from previous audits, dont see the benifit of monitoring and measuring (I still dont understand thier objection even after lengthy explanations). I guess they just see the extra work it may entail!

Will certainly consider monitoring rather then measuring...

Here's a link to a document I've posted before that may help. It shows the relationship between the policy, objectives, and process metrics. You need to ensure that the objectives correlate with the quality policy. As you can see, I tend to define quality objectives as very high level statements, which will rarely change. These objectives then should link to the monitoring/measurement of the various QMS processes (8.2.3) which may change frequently. I agree with what Colin said in his article about the SMART goals/targets.

thanks howste,
I've seen that document before somewhere, probably on here, thanks!
I too agree with the SMART goals and targets.

Good advice given already.

Expect to have a number of tries at this Glen, and to get better as you get more comfortable with it & learn how to make it work for you.

If you don't have any ways of measuring or monitoring now, and no data, you probably can't yet set good objectives. So you might start off with an initial objective or task to set up the system for gathering data.

Thanks Jane,
Seems a few attempts may indeed be the case!
certain areas have limited monitoring and measurement other have nothing. As a said above there are 4-5 people who may get and deal wth warranty calls dependent on the account

 

[samsung]

Good responses so far. In addition, please do ensure that all product requirements or customer requirements have been considered while setting objectives and targets.

5.4.1 Top management shall ensure that quality objectives, including those needed to meet requirements for product are established at relevant functions and levels within the organization.

 

[Dan Johnson]

Then there are the managers within these areas that from previous audits, dont see the benifit of monitoring and measuring (I still dont understand thier objection even after lengthy explanations). I guess they just see the extra work it may entail!

Therein lies the rub: You have to achieve employee buy-in to the QMS before you will see real, sustained improvement. There's a lengthly list of fallacious arguments people will use as to why they can't or shouldn't employe ISO principals,the first of which is Customer Satisfaction. In this case, it appears you have multiple managers who handle the warranty work based on the system. Someone from outside those respective areas needs to be collecting data. Everyone within those areas are afraid that real data collection will point to one particular area as needing improvement and believe it will show a failure on their part. Instead of embracing the ISO principal of Continuous Improvemnent, they are involved with the age-old practice of CYA. 6-7 years into our program, we still have employees who view a CAR as a negative, instead of an opportunity for improvement, improve customer satisfaction and, in the end, improve the company's bottom line and everyone's job. This can, many times, be the biggest challenge you will face in your efforts to truly enact an effective QMS. Leading from the front will help with this. I show my employees how many CARs I, or someone within the Quality department, generate because I failed to do something, as well as my root-cause and corrective actions.

 

[Big Jim]

I see some concern about gathering the data too. Have those that have tasked you with administering this provided the support you need to get this data?

Assuming that you have or can obtain support for those that handle these areas, you can create an Excel spread sheet that each one has access to. Use the spread sheet to record all warranty activity. Determine what you need to know and draft the spread sheet around that. Try to keep it as basic as possible so it will be easy to obtain participation.

If you can't get the cooperation and support to get participation, you are on a doomed mission. If you are on a doomed mission, decide for yourself if you should stick around.

Back to the original question as show on the subject of this thread, one of the best sources for determining what to use for quality objectives is element 8.4 where it defines the requirements for analysis of data. As a company, you need to determine, collect, and analyze data that helps you monitor the health of your quality management system. The four topics that you must do this for include: customer satisfaction, product quality, process performance, and supplier performance. Look for sources that you either already have for data, or that can easily be obtained. Your quality objectives do not need to be aligned with this list, but if you have to do it anyway, why not?

The ones you have been tasked to track probably fit in here, however they are probably not easy to obtain data for from what you have described. Would management consider starting with easier ones until teamwork improves?