The third stage of the Quality Journey is Expand, and you are ready to take this step. Organizations that reach this point in the journey have made a significant investment in quality and the systems needed to effectively manage all aspects. Notably, in this stage, suppliers take an increasingly important position as they have a significant impact on an organization’s overall quality. 

For the Expand stage of the Quality Journey, recommendations fall into three key areas: 

• Expansion of the QMS with more advanced capabilities 

• Expansion of how suppliers work within your quality requirements

First off, a QMS can provide powerful workflow and security. You want to make sure you have the ability to adjust workflows as your needs change. And make sure you have flexibility in setting up user security. You want to know that only the appropriate individuals can access the correct information. Being able to set up security based on user and roles is critical. But what about location? You want a system that understands that users in different locations need access to processes that apply to them – not to another location that might be in another part of the world. 

Another key area to explore is health and safety. Safety programs can directly impact the quality of your products and services. As you consider health and safety, make sure you capture this information in your risk register. And for internal reporting, audits and compliance, you will be able to produce documented incident reports. 

Now is a good time to think about expanding your QMS to include supplier quality management and collaboration as your suppliers are just as important to maintaining good quality as what you do internally. 

Being audit-ready takes on an expanded meaning when including suppliers. First, you need a way to track your supplier audits and any findings in your QMS. And when you are audited, your suppliers’ quality processes will be scrutinized. 

Therefore, if you haven’t already provided secure policy access for your suppliers, this is a step that will ensure best practices and improved supplier performance. Your suppliers need to be part of your processes; a full-featured QMS allows an integrated approach. Open the door to your suppliers and enable them to access pertinent information. 

Be prepared to hold suppliers accountable and have remedies in place for poor performance. Include them in workflows for supplier corrective actions. Working from the same basis can speed communications and let suppliers know what their responsibilities are. 

There are numerous processes where having suppliers involved can make you more efficient and able to address problems earlier in the product lifecycle: 

Analytics is important at every stage of the Quality Journey, and the Expand phase is no different. Now is the time to support your leadership with more in-depth analysis of how quality is making an impact on your organization. Allow the entire organization to see these metrics – it helps drive a culture of quality when everyone is on the same page. 

When you’ve reached the Expand phase, you will likely be able to measure the ROI of your QMS across multiple processes. Don’t be surprised if you are asked to take on even more based on your impressive results. Quality management system investments can have such a positive ROI that management will see the value of continued investment. For even greater returns you should be thinking about how to harmonize your quality processes across multiple divisions and locations. If your company is investing in Quality 4.0 initiatives such as IIOT, you should be in a position to add tremendous value to the quality planning, design and delivery of those programs.