Quality Management in the Manufacturing Industry: Learning from Defence
Posted on 25 January 2012 by Ruth Chrystie| Leave a comment
The manufacturing and engineering industries are changing rapidly as the current economic climate is forcing customers to critically examine their procurement budgets and the products and services they want are changing. This is particularly true of governments.
In the Defence Industry we are seeing a move away from high tech weapons systems towards security and information systems. Traditional quality management approaches are being developed for these new areas to ensure that the Defence Industry continues to deliver the dependable, complex systems its customers need.
A good example of quality management development is in the manufacture of the new F35 Lightning II Joint Strike Fighter (“the world’s foremost stealthy, supersonic, survivable, lethal, supportable and affordable multi-role fighter”), which is taking us to unprecedented rates of production for military aircraft, requiring the need for ‘right first time’ performance from the entire supply chain.
The Defence Supply Chain therefore is central to delivery of these complex products and services. The SC21 project, lead by the Trade Association ADS, is focused on supply chain improvement. Based on agreement to a single “Continuous Sustainable Improvement Plan” with key customers, SC21 supports companies to establish sound quality management through the adoption of the EN9100 standard, the deployment of “Lean” tools and the adoption of relationship management techniques. The focus on a single agreed plan is delivering real ownership of improvement and has enabled the Defence Industry to improve productivity. If replicated across manufacturing and engineering industries as a whole I believe it would have the same positive effect.
The close collaboration between the Defence Industry and its customers is also something that other industries might learn from. A number of joint forums and groups exist to ensure continuous improvement and to keep pace with change. For example, the Defence Industries Quality Forum ensures that the MoD and Industry maintain a close relationship on quality policies and process and the CQI’s Defence Industry Group provides Quality professionals in the Defence Industry with the opportunity to be informed about and involved in developments. The Defence Industry is also working closely with the CQI to embed its own unique requirements into the Quality Management Body of Knowledge and Competency Framework.
In the face of change and challenges, the UK Defence Industry continues to supply what it believes are excellent products and services to its customers. This is enabled by a robust approach to quality management that is strongly aligned to engineering capability and maintains a balance between traditional and modern techniques. In this way it can deal with change and maintain the high standards required. Perhaps the most significant thing other industries can learn from the Defence Industry therefore is that the quality of change management is just as important as managing the quality of products and services.
I will be speaking on this topic at the Southern Manufacturing 2012 event in Farnborough on 15 and 16 February. To attend and for more details visit:
Quality in Manfuacturing and Electronics