13 Steps to Effective Quality Management!

 

Why do we always have continuous quality issues? According to statistics, a certain company has had ≥150 after-sales quality issues and ≥200 internal quality issues over six years, averaging at least one quality problem or incident every week.

Accepting the inevitability of quality issues and turning the pursuit of solving quality problems into a hobby or enjoyment is the goal we should strive for! If a company has no quality issues, it is like a person who has never been unwell since childhood, which is absolutely impossible. A flawless body is divine; a company without quality issues is not a company, it is divine.

Many companies remain at the most basic stage of quality issue management. It's not that your quality problems cannot be solved, but that quality management work has not been thoroughly done! This article summarizes 12 steps to effective corporate quality management:

1. Do things right the first time.

 

Problems must be solved immediately; do not wait until the workers finish or until the final inspection to discover them, as that is too late.

 

If problems are not addressed immediately, it will ultimately lead to defective products, rework, customer returns, and significant factory losses. Implement and enforce strict incoming material inspection and in-process quality control at every stage or process. This includes the processing of every component and material on the production line. Note that third-party inspection companies will not catch many errors, and even if they do, it will be too late.

 

2. If you haven't seen the results with your own eyes, don't pretend.

 

Don't just tell your employees to do this or that. Some will listen, but most won't. You must constantly watch, inspect, correct, and guide. Don't just tell your employees how they should do things.

 

You should go deep into the frontline repeatedly to observe and check whether employees are operating according to your requirements. You must continuously guide and correct your employees, repeatedly, until the correct operation becomes their reflex and work habit. This cannot be accomplished overnight.

 

3. Don't assume that having molds and fixtures means no errors will occur.

 

If your molds or fixtures are wrong, then all products produced will be wrong. Find ways to design your molds and fixtures so that workers can only place the workpieces to be processed in the one correct way you designed, with no other options. Let the molds or fixtures control the workers' operations, not the other way around.

 

Because no matter how many times you tell workers how to do things, some will listen, but most won't. Make daily calibration of fixture inspection machines a mandatory task with an assigned responsible person, and as a department supervisor, personally check and keep records.

 

4. How do you know?

 

In daily management, no matter when or what questions you raise, you almost always get appropriate answers. However, in reality, no one truly knows the truth of the problem.

 

Don't simply accept the answers you get as correct. You must continuously train employees and personally witness that they are doing things correctly. Internal audits must be conducted, and a sound internal audit system established to ensure workers comply with the factory's standard operating procedures.

 

Laboratory testing within the factory must be scientific and reliable, and test records must be traceable by test date and batch number to parts and products on the production line. Otherwise, the lab test results are no different from sample tests. If they cannot reflect the quality level of mass production, the testing loses its meaning, and the quality of mass production is not guaranteed.

 

5. Never assume.

 

Don't casually answer, "We've never had any problems before, why worry..." Don't wait until problems occur to take action or think problems can't happen to you. Find ways to prevent potential problems.

 

Do not rely on "relationships" (i.e., people you know or are familiar with) to control the quality and stability of supplier parts and materials. Strictly implement incoming quality control (IQC). When necessary, some materials or parts require 100% inspection; some require sampling at specified ratios; others need laboratory testing. Lab tests must be traceable to specific incoming batches, batch numbers, and contract order numbers. If test results fail, that specific batch of parts or raw materials must be replaced or discontinued. Adhere to the "First In, First Out" (FIFO) material control principle.

 

6. Focus on the key points.

 

Characteristics of quality management:

Identify key processes and procedures affecting product quality through quality data statistics and process analysis;
Strengthen control of key processes and procedures by establishing "quality control points";
Actively carry out QC activities and conduct quality improvements following the PDCA cycle;
Have an independent quality assurance department, with product quality jointly managed by the quality assurance and production departments.

Application of quality and reliability technologies:

QC tools such as fishbone diagrams and Pareto charts are promoted and used on the production floor;
Statistical Process Control (SPC) and experimental design begin to be used in key processes and procedures;
Able to analyze multiple causes of quality instability during production and develop corresponding measures.

Quality performance levels:

Defect rates, scrap rates, and rework rates during production begin to decrease;
Capability index Cpk of key processes and procedures is approximately 1.33.

 

7. Create a stable and reasonable working environment to manage your employees and reduce human operational errors.

 

Do not expect workers to control the environment or to obey instructions. Use appropriate methods to make workers' tasks easier, thereby improving product quality, enhancing process stability, and reducing errors. Install padding on all workbenches, carts, shelves, etc., to minimize damage to parts and products during assembly and packaging on the line.

 

If padding is worn, it must be replaced promptly. All required areas must have protective padding; it cannot be present in some places but absent in others. Every required task must be done well and checked thoroughly. Provide workers with suitable, well-performing tools so they can do their jobs properly. Ensure workstations have good lighting so workers can clearly see their tasks.

 

8. Strictly implement on-site "5S" to keep all work areas clean and tidy.

 

Separate work areas prone to product dust from those that must be kept clean, requiring all workers to wash their hands after meals and after using the restroom before returning to their workstations.

Wear hairnets or work caps before starting work to prevent hair from falling on products. In certain specific processes, all workers, including management, are required to wear gloves and ensure that the work area is free of rodents and insects.

 

Before the end of each workday, allow workers 10-15 minutes to clean their own work areas (cleaning time is included in working hours and paid). This way, they can work in a clean environment the next day and develop good on-site cleanliness management habits.

 

9. Authorize and encourage your employees at all levels to identify and promptly report various problems encountered during work.

 

This means you should allow and encourage your workers to speak up, provide opinions, and point out problems. Do not let employees feel: "Only the boss can speak" or "The boss is always right."

 

Encourage and reward your employees for providing suggestions and advice to prevent problems rather than covering up or hiding issues when they arise. If employees help the factory reduce waste and rework labor losses, they should be materially rewarded to recognize and encourage them.

 

Do not use intimidation, hierarchical management, fines, abuse, or verbal insults—typical Chinese-style management methods. Doing so discourages speaking up and sharing opinions, allowing errors to continue and problems to persist. This open or non-open hierarchical management style must start from the top, and other management levels must also learn this style.

 

10. Pursuing quality regardless of cost is also "going to extremes."

Some financially strong and well-funded companies invest heavily in product quality, using the most advanced production processes, the most expensive equipment, the most automated control systems, and the world's best raw and auxiliary materials. This is certainly understandable—money can be willful!

 

However, everything should be done in moderation; there is always an optimal cost-performance ratio.

 

Think about how many of your daily "deviations" are due to inappropriate control strategies, overly high internal quality standards, or overly narrow process parameter control ranges, tying yourself up tightly with one restriction after another, making every move painful. What seems like strict management often results in huge losses or lax enforcement, ending in nothing.

 

Any quality control is based on quality risks and existing technical means. We certainly encourage innovation, but not blind or meaningless raising of standards. Does "emphasizing data integrity and implementing computer control with audit trail functions throughout production and inspection processes" really improve quality?

11. Ignoring "quality" and focusing only on "cost" is like "a moth to a flame."

 

The return on a project depends on whether the deliverables are of high quality, costs are low, schedules are short, and risks are acceptable! Under the same conditions, higher quality requirements mean higher costs, but high costs do not necessarily guarantee high quality.

 

There is a formula in project management:

 

 

Many companies emphasize both high-end quality and low cost, low investment, while also compressing time and rushing schedules, ultimately turning a perfectly good project into a mess. Ideals are rich, but reality is harsh!

 

The result of low-cost projects is poor quality deliverables, which affect product quality and fail to ensure reasonable operating costs.

 

For normally operating factories, everyone hopes for efficiency and profit. Where do efficiency and profit come from? Of course, from cost control. But cost control is not about blindly reducing raw material consumption or quality, not about reducing spare parts inventory and equipment maintenance costs, nor about reducing the number of workers, increasing working hours, or lowering wages.

 
Well-managed companies are overwhelmed with paperwork and meetings every day, with one deviation after another, one document after another being updated and trained on. The huge quality system is busy all day but unrelated to the production workshop, where workers still work hard day and night to increase output and reduce costs.

 

Many companies set "production, sales, cost, and profit" targets at the beginning of the year, even assigning "energy saving, consumption reduction, and cost lowering" targets to every department and every link.

 

If this continues, product quality will inevitably be compromised. Pursuing so-called low "cost" without "quality" is like "a moth to a flame," leading to self-destruction!

12. Emphasize prevention.

 

Characteristics of quality management:

Management recognizes that "design" is crucial to quality and invests significant manpower and resources in improving design quality during the development phase.
Not only production and procurement departments, but also design and development departments set high-quality standards.
Quality responsibilities are delegated to all functional areas, and the quality assurance department transforms into a quality consultant role.
All functional departments participate in the development process to solve quality issues at the source.

Application of quality and reliability technologies:

Extensive use of quality design methods such as Quality Function Deployment (QFD), Design of Experiments (DOE), and Failure Mode and Effects Analysis (FMEA).
Extensive application of preventive quality measures, such as mistake-proofing (Poka-Yoke).

Quality performance levels:

• Product defect rate, scrap rate, and rework rate have significantly decreased.
• Key processes and process capability index Cpk ≈ 1.33.

 

13. Set high standards.

 

Characteristics of quality management:

All departments related to quality have set high-quality goals.
Quality responsibilities of each department are clearly defined, and they actively participate in and carry out quality activities.
A relatively complete quality management system has been established. To ensure the effective operation of the system, all departments comply with relevant procedures and document requirements.
The main task of the quality assurance department is to act as a quality consultant.

Application of quality and reliability technologies:

Extensive use of quality design methods such as Quality Function Deployment (QFD), Design of Experiments (DOE), and Failure Mode and Effects Analysis (FMEA).
Extensive application of preventive quality measures, such as mistake-proofing (Poka-Yoke).

Quality performance levels:

Product defect rate, scrap rate, and rework rate have significantly decreased.
Production quality is stable, with key processes and process capability index Cpk ≈ 1.33.