Why do we need a Quality Department?

One point of view: Why do we need a Quality Department?

(or Why Production Can't Without Quality)

In society, fire prevention is generally considered to be everyone's responsibility - and yet it cannot be done without professional firefighters.

Similarly in an organization, no matter how Lean it is and everyone's dedication to maintaining quality, we will have problems reported by customers. Some of the immediate questions are:

• To whom does the client address the complaint?
• Who reacts first to limit the effects on the client as urgently as possible?
• Who organizes and coordinates the whole process of solving the client's problem?

The answer is the Quality Department.

But if we got to this point, it's already too late, the client suffered and the reputation of our organization declined. And then we remember the eternal TV commercials "But wait, that's not all… 😊". The real responsibility of the Quality Department and the reason why we need them is not to have someone to solve the biggest problems and to ‘put out the biggest fire’. We need someone who understands the real needs and expectations of the clients and then to be the architects of the quality system that will lead to the fulfillment of those needs and expectations.

And those who fulfill this role are also those in the Quality Department.

The well-known and not at all constructive discussions between the Production Department and the Quality Department start from a poor understanding of the organization's systems and priorities, especially at the level of Top Management. The topic of discussions is always quantity vs. quality being the responsibility of the Top Management to find that middle line, it is really thin, in order to be able to balance between the two.

Obtaining and maintaining quality is an activity that never ends. There will always be new customers, processes or products that we start to say at 10% defects, then we decrease them to 3% and further to the 3ppm target. Regardless of the level of quality reached, it will have to be maintained, in the conditions in which the cars and equipment are aging and new people always appear in the production.

Even if all this is understood, we may still not like having a Quality Department. But we will need it as long as there is something to improve and this activity will be better done centrally and not delegated to all other departments.

Do not confuse this centralization of tasks, responsibilities or authorities with centralization or distribution in terms of reporting, direct or functional. In small organizations (where Top Management fits in a small conference room 😊) there is no problem of structure. In larger organizations modern approaches use a matrix to define the structure, that 'direct / solid' line to the Operations Department that will set tasks including priorities for each individual (Quality Engineer) and the 'functional / dotted' line to the Quality Department that will take care of by developing the knowledge and skills of that individual (Quality Engineer).

And so, whether we like it or not, we need the Quality Department again.