Practical example
Optimizing a Quality Management System in the Mobility Industry
Companies in the mobility industry often have organizational structures that have evolved over time and that stand in the way of delivering excellent product and service quality. Examples include a purely decentralized quality organization, with varying quality standards and levels across different production sites. Or a quality organization that must act as an advocate for the customer regarding product or service quality without having been formally mandated to do so. In this context, the question of the “right or best” organizational structure often arises.
Background
Based on our many years of project experience in the field of quality, there is no one-size-fits-all answer to this question; rather, the answer depends almost entirely on the specific requirements of each individual case. Unfortunately, as is so often the case, it “depends.”
For us, various issues related to quality assurance are relevant so that we can then develop improvement measures step by step:
- Is the current quality organization structured centrally or decentralized?
- To what extent and with what level of effectiveness are quality assurance measures implemented at the various stages of the value chain (e.g., development, production) for the respective product or service?
- Does the quality organization focus on preventive or reactive measures?
- How much will preventive and reactive quality assurance efforts cost me?
- What kind of customer feedback have I received regarding the quality of my products or services?
- To what extent is the quality organization's mandate accepted, well-established, and already being put into practice within the company?
- To what extent can the Q organization operate independently of the value-adding areas?
Specific task
After assessing and analyzing each client’s situation, we consistently encounter similar challenges in our client projects aimed at optimizing quality management systems:
- No explicitly defined or practiced Q roles
- No clear mandate for prioritizing quality-related tasks
- Lack of centralized management of quality measures and improvements
- Lack of action tracking and poor implementation of quality measures
Depending on the situation, different optimization measures are implemented.
KBC's Approach
In a client project in the mobility industry, the fundamental quality process analysis—conducted to identify process deficiencies in quality activities—was one of the key factors for success. One of the key findings was that the company’s core quality processes were not clearly defined and, as a result, were not being implemented effectively. In our client project, the process analysis also helped to use the resulting transparency to initiate the right quality optimization measures in the right areas, while at the same time ensuring that the existing quality organization was not overburdened.
Another key success factor was the establishment of a quality management system that combines centralized and decentralized components based on existing structures. In this context, we also made sure to include the relevant quality units in the operational value-added areas in order to establish a comprehensive and cohesive quality network within the company. This network serves as the foundation for future quality efforts aimed at further optimizing all key quality processes for our client.
