For anyone working in the manufacturing sector, improving quality control is essential for success at all levels. In addition to the fact that better quality control can increase profits and decrease dissatisfaction (both from workers and from customers), improving quality control is a proactive way to care for employees, customers and managers all at once.
If you're striving to improve quality control for manufacturing, minimize risk and enhance your organization, you know that a little assistance can go a long way.
Smart Ways to Improve Quality Control in Your Manufacturing Firm
A smart quality control strategy involves reducing risk, enhancing training, creating better processes, and making the workplace safer and cleaner for everyone who spends time within it. For a proven method of enhancing quality control and meeting these various objectives in your organization, follow these five key tips:
1. Build Proper Processes
Quality control starts with processes. Without great processes, it's impossible to have good quality control. The reason is simple: quality control is formulaic. While you can't prevent the occasional accident, you can prevent systemic oversights and mistakes by conducting a systematic evaluation of operations and processes, improving them where needed.
Ensure that the right processes are in place, so employees have no doubts about how to do their job. This upgrade may involve increasing training, enhancing employee guides and resources and regularly discussing the new standards and expectations. When the processes are in place to educate and motivate employees, quality control largely takes care of itself.
2. Keep a Clean Workspace
Failing to clean up can cause injury and increase the likelihood of errors. You should always make workplace cleanliness a priority. To do this, clearly post cleanliness standards where all employees can see them, delegate regularly scheduled cleaning tasks and bring in cleaning professionals, if needed, to keep the workspace up to par.
In addition to providing a better workspace for your employees, this clean environment will help enhance quality control and decrease risk. It will also contribute to making your entire workspace as safe, efficient and functional as possible.
Also see: 7 Tips for Better Delegation
3. Hold Unscheduled Equipment Use Tests
An unscheduled equipment use test is like a pop quiz for safety. During an unscheduled equipment use test, you'll select a group of employees at random and ask them about the utilization of all relevant machines. During the process, pay particularly close attention to their adherence to safety measures, since these areas are often the weakest and require the most improvement.
While this testing may seem like a nit-picky thing to do, it is essential for any workplace serious about improving its quality control measures and ensuring that all workers are safe and efficient on the job.
4. Identify Essential Spare Parts
One commonly overlooked aspect of quality control is ensuring that you have a sufficient supply of spare parts for the most essential machines in your business. In addition to being a smart business move (no more product delays while you wait for repair parts to come in), the initiative helps prevent injuries or accidents that result from worn-out parts, and it contributes to ensuring that your quality control is always top-notch.
Identify the spare parts your company most needs, build up a supply of parts, and be sure to keep them in a safe, appropriate place where they won't be damaged by improper storage. Once the stock has been built up, let key employees know where it is and what they'll need to do to access it in the event of a part failure. By helping employees understand that spare parts are available, and that they don't have to use machines with worn-out parts, you can get your workforce involved in the push for quality control as well.
5. Ensure Managers are Properly Trained
Ensure that managers have sufficient delegation, communication and leadership skills to build and implement these processes. The best starting point here is to make sure you have proper systems for management training and to verify that all managers are on the same page, with their focus and attention on quality control.
Good quality control starts with your managers. Regardless of other steps taken, if your leaders fail to properly manager their team, the quality control processes are not likely to be effective. Having an efficient and well-run company requires good managers that practice essential leadership skills.
Better Quality Control Creates a Better Workplace
While improving and enhancing quality control can be a time- and labor-intensive process, it is a critical component of running a successful manufacturing company. It can also mean the difference between a company that succeeds and one that doesn't.
What's more, a focus on quality control demonstrates respect and concern for employees and can help brand you as an employer that manufacturing specialists want to work for. This outcome, in turn, is fantastic for your brand reputation and can help you draw more qualified talent from around the country.
If you need help enhancing your organization's quality control, come explore our leadership essential skills course to get started on improving quality control today.
