Moving from Compliance Focused to Product Focused
Moving from Compliance Focused to Product Focused
Let's begin with a quote from a recent issue of Quality Progress, the monthly publication of the American Society for Quality:
"Most organizations are using their QMS as a repository of quality data rather than as a tool for quality improvement and cost reductions." - Karim Lokas, vice president of marketing and product strategy for Camstar Systems Inc. in Charlotte, N.C.
Many of you may still be in the development and documentation stage of your quality system, however, you must go beyond the focus of FDA compliance and DAMAS certification in order to benefit from your quality system and improve your product.
During the first couple of years in the development of a quality system, the management representatives do have to focus on compliance; however, moving from simple documentation to making a positive impact on product quality is critical. All of the data being gathered must be used to facilitate effective root cause analysis to prevent quality issues from recurring.
When I asked Warren Rogers, CEO of Knight Dental Group, CDL, DAMAS, Oldsmar, Fla., recently what has been the greatest benefit derived from Knight's quality system, he stated:
"Our remake factors have been reduced remarkably, our internal remake or rework has been reduced remarkably, all resulting in higher annual technician output."
This indicates to me that the quality system at Knight has moved from simply documentation to a part of their culture to improve their business and relationship with their dental clients.
I want to challenge all of you management representatives and laboratory owners to move beyond the traditional documentation approach to a progressive approach. In the traditional approach, the focus is typically:
- Quality as a cost
- Compliance as the goal
- Documentation
- Improving procedural controls
The progressive approach focuses on product quality:
- Quality as value
- Compliance is a natural outcome
- Improves quality
- Improves process understanding
Here are a few of the improvements that result when you take the progressive approach:
- Technician errors are reduced.
- Non-conformances (internal and external remakes) are reduced.
- Customer complaints are reduced.
- Equipment repair costs are reduced.
- Net profit is increased.
- Volume capacity is increased.
- Final quality assurance is increased.
- The role of the management representative is viewed as an asset rather than an expense.
The November/December Journal of Dental Technology, soon to be in your mailbox, includes an article I wrote about some of the challenges that dental laboratory owners face with development of their quality system. A number of dental laboratory owners and management representatives are quoted in that article, so check it out to hear what your peers are experiencing and how they have moved their quality system from compliance focused (traditional) to product focused (progressive).
