3 Function                           p

 

3.1 Mission

Mission, vision, goal, areas, function

3.1

A vision without action is a dream. Action without vision is a nightmare. Japanese proverb

If the vision is what we want to create, the vision of top management and staff must be shared.

True story 

The story of the three stonecutters conveys a great deal. When asked about their work: 

    -  the first replied that he is cutting stones for a living
    - the second that he tries to be the best stonemason in the country
    - while the third answered that he is building a cathedral

Hence the three main types of relationship to work: 

    - livelihood 
    - career
    - vocation

Quality manager: leader in the journey to excellence

The main mission of the quality manager is to contribute to the sustainable development of the company. For this the quality manager is not a technical expert but masters, maintains and improves the quality management systemset of processes allowing the achievement of the quality objectives (see also ISO 9000, 3.2.3). The quality manager actively supports:

This fundamental goal must be achieved through ordinary efforts by ordinary people.

The quality manager must also anticipate and lead change (see § 8.4).

Priority areas:

A few ways to fulfill your mission:

As "no one is supposed to ignore the law", no one is supposed to ignore the standard in a certified company. In the company, the quality manager is the person who translates the requirementsexplicit or implicit need or expectation (see also ISO 9000, 3.1.2) of the standard into simple terms.

To justify their function (and that of their department) the quality manager must also speak the language of top management: money.

By carrying out FMEAs upstream, which we will see in § 9.1, the quality manager can easily explain how many losses are avoided by:

By training all staff to make small, common-sense improvements on a daily basis, the quality manager will help ensure that objectives are met. The contribution of the Kaizen philosophy (see § 9.2) to the development of staff at work is decisive.

By setting up the COQcosts of obtaining quality approach (costs of obtaining quality), which we will see in § 9.3, the quality manager can easily demonstrate how much conformity and nonconformity cost and above all quantify the reduction in real costs or profits made.

By hunting down waste, the quality manager can easily quantify how much the waste that the Lean approach has helped to eliminate would have cost (see § 9.4).

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3.2 Position

Position, customer interests, company pyramids, communication, function

 3.2

 

It is not the employer who pays wages, it is the customer. Henry Ford

The quality manager constantly seeks (and often achieves) a reasonable balance between their position and that of the customer (see figure 3-1):

3-1

Figure 3-1. Position of the quality manager

It's no coincidence that the term "customer-king" is sometimes replaced by "customer-boss".

The quality manager is always and at the same time:

This position, of always preserving the balance (reaching an acceptable compromise) between the (often contradictory) expectations and needs of all stakeholders, is at the heart of the quality manager's job. Let's not forget that for our supplier we are their customeranyone who receives a product (see also ISO 9000, 3.3.5), and for the customeranyone who receives a product (see also ISO 9000, 3.3.5) we are their supplier. 

Examples of stakeholders:

When choosing between the interests of the customeranyone who receives a product (see also ISO 9000, 3.3.5) and those of the company is difficult, do not hesitate to ask top management to have the last word.

As the customeranyone who receives a product (see also ISO 9000, 3.3.5)'s ambassador in the company, the quality manager imports the customeranyone who receives a product (see also ISO 9000, 3.3.5)'s requirementsexplicit or implicit need or expectation (see also ISO 9000, 3.1.2) into each department. The quality manager constantly monitors their application and compliance.

A proof of the deep commitment of top management for the continual improvementpermanent process allowing the improvement of the global performance of the organization (see also ISO 9000, 3.2.13 and ISO 14 001, 3.2) of the performance of the company is the participation of the quality manager in the management committee.

The job of quality manager is exciting because their interlocutors are many and varied:

The communication of the quality manager (cf. paragraph 8.1) with all these people is:

The quality manager is also an internal balancing act because this role is in the middle of the company's pyramids, cf. figure 3-2:

3-2

Figure 3-2. Company pyramids

To the hierarchical pyramid (on the left) representing the number of people and the level of detail corresponds an inverted pyramid, showing the responsibilities and the relationship to time.

The quality manager is always between top management (who are not concerned with the details but who have great responsibilities and a distant view of time) and the staff (who are overwhelmed with details and have a fairly short time horizon).

The function of quality manager is transversal: the quality manager is present in all departments to support them in the quality processactivities which transform inputs into outputs (see also ISO 9000, 3.4.1). But it's up to the processactivities which transform inputs into outputs (see also ISO 9000, 3.4.1) owners to:

The quality manager must translate certain notions (concerns and problems) to top management (who must have their last word) but also to staff (such as strategy, long-term project) so that motivation is there.

It would be a waste of time to use management phrases like “improved working capital” on the shop floor. It is better to explain that a customeranyone who receives a product (see also ISO 9000, 3.3.5) may not return due to problems with our productsany outcome of a process or activity (see also ISO 9000, 3.4.2) or that any waste is expensive and it is blessed bread for competitors.

True story 

A team leader explains to the quality manager that we quickly need at least three new multimeters in the workshop so that the verification activities can be done in parallel (thus saving time).

The purchase validation procedure being what it is (four signatures), the young quality manager decides to go directly to see the director and asks him to sign an exceptional purchase authorization.

The director refuses and tells him that this is not the right method. He is the director for making decisions, managing conflicts, negotiating consensus and not for solving everyday problems.

The director explains to the quality manager that he should submit to him either the validation of a simplified purchasing procedure or a decision to allocate an annual sum to each team leader for this type of tool.

Maintaining the delicate balance at all times to satisfy everyone (the customeranyone who receives a product (see also ISO 9000, 3.3.5), the staff, top management) is an exercise that sometimes requires virtuoso qualities on the part of the quality manager, but often simple common sense is enough.

smileMinute of relaxation. Cf. joke "Golden contract"

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3.3 Role and responsibilities

Role, responsibilities, obligations, limits, rights

 3.3

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3.3.1 Role

The quality manager prepares, implements, maintains and improves the quality culture in the company on a daily basis. The quality manager is more:

The quality manager demonstrates, explains and teaches the use of quality approaches and tools. Sometimes the quality manager gets personally involved but does not forget that:

When a man is hungry, it is better to teach him to fish than to give him a fish. Lao Tzu

Sometimes the quality manager has to put out the fire, but the role is precisely to do everything to avoid the role of the firefighter because:

Prevention always costs less

The traditional role of a quality manager is to:

Some believe that the quality manager must also translate the customeranyone who receives a product (see also ISO 9000, 3.3.5)'s requirementsexplicit or implicit need or expectation (see also ISO 9000, 3.1.2) into internal requirementsexplicit or implicit need or expectation (see also ISO 9000, 3.1.2). The quality manager can and even must help the project manager in this activity, but it must remain within reasonable limits, it's like believing that the quality manager must write all the procedures of the company!

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3.3.2 Responsibilities

The quality manager has obligations (responsibilities) and rights (authorities), cf. annex 04. As the name of the function indicates, above all, the quality manager has responsibilities that are fully assumed.record

Example of a list of obligations of a quality manager:

Example of a list of rights of a quality manager:

gameMinute of relaxation. Cf. game: Responsibility

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