Quality Objectives or KPI's?

I read posts and discussions centered on KPIs for the various processes of the Quality Management System. Indeed, I downloaded a 3 page listing of KPIs which was offered up by a CB auditor as "useful".

I'd offer to people that KPIs are NOT what's required. Quality Objectives Are. An organization should embrace two fundamental concepts and set objectives from there:

"Right First Time" and "On Time".

These are foundational and can be applied to any process:

Quoting, Order Entry, Supplier performance, Engineering Design, Manufacturing, Training, so on and so forth.

The application of KPIs (such as were listed on these 3 pages) - without reference back to these fundamentals - is of little value in determining the performance of a process.

Be careful what you select.

 

A term that my father applied when he was CEO for an aerospace company was OTIS - On Time. In Spec. This implies right the first time.

Any staff member - be they an operator on the shop floor or senior management - who would not embrace the idea of OTIS found him/herself looking for another position. In fact, he even terminated a senior manager who was a family member of the company's founding family (lots of family members on the company Board) because the senior manager thought OTIS didn't apply to him.

Every subsequent KPI developed had to have an impact on the company's ability to be OTIS. No connection? Then it wasn't a KEY performance indicator...it was just an indicator of something.

 

I like your Dad!

 

I rather expected you to say something like "Gee, now I know where you get it from."

When I tell colleagues that supper in my house, while growing up, involved process maps, development of standards, PDCA, financial statements, action plans, ROI calculations, risk assessments, metrics, etc., they slowly nod as if finally understanding why I am the way I am. *lol*

 

KPIs are often plucked out of thin air. They rarely related to what's important about a process's performance. They are measures for their own sake.

SMART objectives are usually directly relate to a process and its outcome. You understand the acronym "SMART"?

 

KPIs can be all manner of things which might seem to be about a process. Since we are in the ISO 9001:2015 forum, we can discuss two basic principles:

Right first Time
One time

Or, as Roxane's dad says, "OTIS"

Hence, objectives should be set based upon those two. KPIs should too, but rarely I have seen that happen. If your KPIs are, then you're good to go.

 

Of course, and on time delivery is a classic example. Every intermediate process can have an effect, which is why simply plucking KPIs out of the air isn't a good way to go.