World Quality Day 2019 celebrations

CQI London branch WQD event

Jonathan Bishop, CQP MCQI, Chair of the CQI London branch, said: “To support our preparations for World Quality Day, the London Branch were lucky to have Nina Abbassi, CQP FCQI, Owner and Director of Abbassi Ltd, energise us with her ideas for making everyday a quality day. Abbassi began by highlighting that quality issues are frequently a root cause of significant events across the world and that the ultimate cost of quality is often more than financial. Abbassi suggested we focus on three quality challenges.

“Firstly, we must manage non-conformities effectively to ensure lessons are not just identified, but genuinely learned. Blame cultures can develop where ineffective root cause analysis exists and it’s our role as quality professionals to guide our organisations away from these traps and towards techniques such as Poke Yoke and eliminating error by design.

“Secondly, Abbassi focused on commitment and buy-in and the importance of ensuring we keep the quality message simple, our systems de-cluttered and aligned with the organisation’s risk appetite. The importance of recognising where quality controls work and celebrating success is also a vital way of raising awareness of how management systems work by design.

Finally, Abbassi focused on the process approach and the importance of ownership in the management of our internal supply chains. This is fundamental to ensuring everyone understands what quality means to their work and the collective pride that comes from delivering successfully and consistently.

Abbassi’s wealth of knowledge and experience left us full of ideas for how to keep quality simple and focused on the everyday practical steps which can make the difference.”

University of Professional Studies, Ghana

On November 14, 89 Total Quality Management MBA students at the University of Professional Studies, Accra (UPSA) and CQI members in Accra-Ghana, joined the world to celebrate World Quality Day.

In groups of five, the quality professionals led a workshop and identified 13 SMEs and two big firms from the oil and gas, marketing, and manufacturing industries as areas that could benefit from quality management.

Having identified these areas, the groups designed training programmes to meet the needs of the SMEs using the numerous quality management methodologies, lean tools, quality management principles, and the teachings they gathered from quality gurus across the world.

Attending the event in their creatively designed WQD t-shirts, the groups engaged in interactive sessions while demonstrating their growing competencies in the field of quality management.  

Also participating in the day’s event were representatives of some SMEs from the food and beverage industry, water production, fashion, roofing sheets manufacturing, oil and gas marketing firms, and the healthcare industry.

With the desire to improve the competitiveness of Ghanaian-owned businesses, the students led discussions on 5S, quality control tools, quality management principles, and lean tools in ways that were easily relatable.

Primarily, the training session was aimed at creating quality awareness in order to enhance SME operational efficiency. For instance, activities for the food and beverage industry were aimed at food safety, hygiene, and service quality. Under food safety and hygiene, the overall goal was to join the government’s effort in eradicating cholera therefore, the HACCP pre-requisites were heavily highlighted. 

Akorfa Wuttor, Lecturer at UPSA and an internal quality auditor by training, said: “This year’s intriguing theme, 100 years of quality, allowed me to reflect on where Ghana is as a country on the quality management voyage. As a lecturer and quality advocate, I believe that my students and I have a huge responsibility to serve as quality ambassadors and spread the quality word to emerging and failing SMEs in Ghana.”

Larsen and Toubro, India

Larsen and Toubro, a technology, engineering, construction, manufacturing and financial services organisation, engaged with 6,000 employees across India, Sri Lanka and the Middle East to celebrate World Quality Day. Competitions took place on the day, allowing employees to take part in drawing, essay writing and creating slogans. Quality conscious employees were also rewarded during a ceremony involving customers and top management.

FDH JV, Kuwait

On World Quality Day, Fluor’s joint venture team selected by Kuwait Integrated Petroleum Industries Company (KIPIC) to work on the new Al-Zour Refinery project, signed a World Quality Day banner and pledged its support to quality.

Mark Hughes, CQP MCQI, Construction Quality Director at Fluor Corporation, is currently working as the site manager on this project and is managing a team of 65 multi-discipline quality assurance and quality control employees from India, China, Korea, Canada, Philippines, Pakistan and the UK. The joint venture team consists of Fluor, Daewoo and Hyundai Heavy Industries.

Hughes said discussions were held to engage project staff in improving how projects are executed and to show the relationship between quality and safety. Hughes said: “The Al-Zour project has just celebrated 30 million man-hours without a lost time incident, which I hope conveys the quality mindset that has been adopted on site. Getting together as a team to celebrate World Quality Day and having support from the project leadership team certainly lifts spirits and motivates the quality team.”