Quality Management System, a powerful lever for your company

A company's performance depends largely on its ability to ensure a sustainable and relevant quality strategy at all levels of the organisation. A Quality Management System (QMS) is a valuable tool that allows the implementation, management and control of these quality objectives. Here we take a look at this frame of reference, its fundamental principles, and why it can be beneficial for companies.  

What is a Quality Management System?

A Quality Management System encompasses all the values, actions and strategies to be adopted to ensure the proper conduct of quality objectives within a company or any other organisation. These standards have been designed to be used by any organisation, regardless of its sector of activity, its client base, or the country in which it is located. Further to a rigorous application of this frame of reference, a  company should be able to sustainably improve its performance, productivity, value creation and profitability in the long run.  

The seven principles of the ISO 9000 / 9001 standard

Quality Management Systems are defined by the ISO 9000 / 9001 quality standard, which is based on the following seven major management principles:

1. Leadership

Any quality approach requires the development of a strategic orientation upstream: this is the role of the company's leaders. These leaders must ensure that the vision is communicated, and that the company's values and culture are shared with its employees. They must also create an environment that is conducive to achieving the desired objectives, and make the necessary resources available to employees. They should create a favourable climate and foster close and transparent communication, accompanied by strict, but helpful, follow-up.

2. Staff involvement

Employees lie at the heart of any transformation project. Their level of commitment will directly impact on their operational efficiency and thus the company's entire performance. It is therefore necessary to encourage, empower, raise awareness and involve teams on a daily basis. An engaged employee is one who understands the meaning of their actions, who adheres to a strong vision and who is aware of the importance of their involvement. Leaders and managers must consequently ensure that they value each individual, their role and the added value they bring to the company.

3. Customer orientation

Customer satisfaction is a sine qua non condition for the performance and perennity of a company.  All actions of a company must be centred around customers and their needs. With this in mind, you must identify customers’ current expectations, and anticipate their potential future expectations, in order to single out the actions and adjustments to be put in place to improve customer satisfaction levels. This starts with listening carefully to your customers. You must regularly give voice to your customers through satisfaction questionnaires, and rigorously pay attention to customer relations and service. Satisfied, happy and loyal customers are real catalysts for a company.

4. Continuous improvement

Adopting a continuous improvement process is essential to preserve or strengthen competitive advantage and performance levels. Part of a company’s DNA, continuous improvement must be present in each and every daily action and decision. This posture implies constantly questioning the opportunities for improvement. Continuous improvement can be activated using several tools and methods, listed in this article.

5. A process approach

According to this QMS principle, a company must consider its various activities as interdependent and correlated processes. This allows a company to harmonise its organisational model to achieve the desired results and to effectively pinpoint any corrective actions.

6. Stakeholder Relationship Management

This concept emphasises the importance of good communication and mutual understanding with a company's various external stakeholders: suppliers, service providers, shareholders, investors, business partners, etc. It is essential to pay attention to stakeholder communication in order to  identify their interests, and to ensure a good working relationship with these various partners.

7. Evidence-based decision making

This final principle insists on the importance of adopting a factual approach when making a decision. Indeed, corporate decision-making is often a source of uncertainty and hesitation, and can lead to unwise choices with serious consequences. To avoid mistakes, reduce uncertainty and optimise decision making, you should rely on objective and reliable data, such as KPI (Key Performance Indicators) that are analysed in a pragmatic way.  

Why should you obtain ISO 9001 certification?

Respecting these ISO standards allows companies to obtain ISO 9000 / 9001 certification. Being awarded ISO certification further to a strict internal audit by the certifier, presents a large number of advantages for the certified company. For example, this accreditation enables businesses to:

• Reassure customers about the level of quality provided, and deliver a real quality assurance.
• Access an international market: often a condition for the signature of certain contracts, the standard is recognised internationally.
• Reduce costs related to strategic errors.
• Increase the awareness, responsibility and involvement of employees to ensure that they meet quality requirements.
• Demonstrate transparency through clearly established and documented procedures, which allow for the rapid identification of malfunctions and areas for improvement.
• Ensure the sustainability of performance improvement.

Obtaining ISO certification also allows the development of a veritable quality-oriented corporate culture. In the long run, implementing a QMS can become a powerful lever for improving a company's performance.  

Why should you enlist the support of an expert to manage your QMS?

Ensuring a quality approach at each level of your company is a major challenge, often difficult to establish and uphold over time. Lack of perspective, resistance to change, or simply insufficient time, are obstacles that often discourage companies. Outsourcing the management of your QMS strategy to an expert can prove a very favourable alternative. If you are looking to adopt these quality principles and to improve the productivity and profitability of your company, an interim manager, a Quality expert, can be a key choice. This trusted partner will be able to help you turn your company around in a difficult context, or assist you at any time to implement a Quality Management System to develop your business. At WAYDEN, we provide you with experienced profiles, the know-how, interpersonal skills and the leadership necessary to drive such a project.