In recent years there has been an increasing use by companies of external
services, primarily to reduce costs. Now that businesses are again
looking to expand, use of external services provides a stepping stone to
increase the labour force with less risk. Quality
Improvement Services Ltd (QIS), have now been operating their Shared
Quality Manager Scheme for nine years and this remains a popular solution
to cost effectively progressing quality improvements within small and medium
size organisations.
What
is a Shared Quality Manager Scheme?
The scheme allows companies to have a QIS person dedicated to progressing
quality, without the conflict from other responsibilities within the company
and without the costs of employing a full time Quality Manager.
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What do you mean
by shared?
The QIS person will work for several companies as their Quality Manager
and will therefore only be used, by any one company, on a part time basis.
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How
does the consultancy scheme work?
We do offer consultancy services but the Shared Quality Manager Scheme
does not come in this category. Consultants are normally employed to provide
advice and direction, the Shared Quality Manager Scheme is more intense
where the person used, will be responsible for implementing the actions
and solving problems, not just advising. Their responsibilities are
the same as you would expect from a full time employee.
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What sort
of tasks would QIS undertake?
This depends on the size of the organisation and the expertise already
employed. The aim is to add a missing link to the management team.
The work can involve any quality related subject such as obtaining and
maintaining quality approval, e.g. ISO 9000, dealing with quality problems
involving customers and suppliers, managing quality improvement programs,
product certification. Sometimes we work with full time quality and inspection
staff. We also have expertise in other related subjects such as design,
IT and production methodologies and we do offer help in these areas as
part of the service. What we offer is very customised to what the
company needs.
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Does the ISO
9000 quality system accept Shared Quality Managers?
Yes, in fact this was added into the current version of the standard and
is now being encouraged by the assessment bodies. They recognise
that the scheme includes ownership of the quality system and provides the
company with a higher level of quality skills and expertise than they could
have normally afforded.
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Is this just another
way of selling ISO 9000 to companies?
No, at a particular stage of any company's growth, the subjects covered
by ISO 9000 will need to be addressed and introduced in a way that is not
bureaucratic, but it is not the right starting point for all companies.
For some companies market pressure forces them to obtain approval and we
can only help to reduce the pain. Our first objective is to identify
where improving quality will have the maximum impact on the quality of
the product, or services and where operating costs can be reduced.
Quality must contribute to the overall profit of the business not be a
necessary evil.
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How does the scheme
work?
An annual fixed price contract is agreed covering a defined area of responsibility
and a monthly payment scheme. This is based upon our experience of
the amount of time that will be required. The Shared Quality Manager
is then required to allocate the time necessary to complete the tasks defined.
There will be routine visits and occasions where the Shared Quality Manager
will be needed to be available at short notice to deal with problems that
arise. Sometimes where there is a definable target such as obtaining ISO
9000 approval, part of the fee will be fixed as a bonus, payable when approval
is obtained.
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What sort of costs are
involved?
Our smallest current contract is £400 p.a., for a small organisation
where we established the system several years ago. The largest contract
would be in the region of 25% of the cost of a full time Quality Manager,
considering all the hidden employee costs of NI contribution, holidays,
sick pay, etc. Once our upper limit is reached, the scheme is no-longer
cost effective and we would look to better utilise full-time employees.
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