When creating a strategic Quality planning process, there are two things to keep in mind. While we do have to determine a strategic phase which would include all necessary steps of developing a strategic quality plan, there is another thing to consider. We have to consider the research phase of the process which would include everything that is required to collect and analyze data needed before the start of the strategic quality planning process. The research phase would include the following.

Reviewing the organizational strategic plan.

Every initiative for quality management should be tied to the key business performance procedures to have a sufficient impact on productivity and the bottom-line. The initial task of the strategic planning process is to identify and familiarize yourself with all identified corporate strategies for the process. Your company should ensure the quality strategies align with the corporate strategies of the process.

Identify organizational quality initiatives.

Time should be spent to analyze the various initiatives for quality that have been used in the past, and that can be used in the present.
A few examples of the questions that can be used include identifying:
• What technique was used for managing the costs of quality?
• What techniques were successful and unsuccessful in the quality function deployment?

Understand the customer factor.

Customer requirements is one of the main factors that would drive strategic quality plans. The strategies used in quality management should be able to address organizational needs as well as customer needs. The two elements should be aligned in the Strategic quality planning process.
The results of customer satisfaction can be used for identifying problems, as well as opportunities, along with measuring the performance of managers, employees, and overall organizational performance. The results would be able to help drive the right quality strategies which can further help drive new products, manufacturing quality, and competitive positioning of the company.

Engage employees through the right feedback.

Employees should be involved in the development of quality strategies. The employee input will, in turn, provide insight into the issues, concerns, challenges, and even opportunities that aren’t known. However, it is up to the managerial staff to ensure that employee involvement during the strategic implementation stage would be able to line the quality strategy into action plans.

Conduct benchmarking.

What is often missed in most companies is the ability and opportunity to move beyond what the organization knows and incorporate lessons about what others have learned during their development of quality strategies. Benchmarking is suggested since it is highly beneficial for providing ideas on how to improve the internal quality process, products, and structures.

A well thought of quality planning process would be able to take your organization successfully into the future. So, what better way to handle these procedures than to streamline and automate the tasks.
That’s where we, at Harrington Group International, step in. We have developed the perfect system for you to improve your quality planning process by offering a business software solution like no other – the total quality management system. To find out more about QMS software, contact us today!