AMEC/ Robert Gordon University World Quality Day 2014

Yesterday I enjoyed facilitating the World Quality Day Seminar 2014 at Robert Gordon University with the support of my colleagues at RGU and AMEC.

Excellent presentations were delivered from both our guest speakers Steve Wright, CEO Benncon Limited and Dr Natalia Alvarez, CEO PhD Transition.

I am grateful for the support of Chartered Quality Institute members specifically Hilary Smith-Milne and Jessica Horne. 

To celebrate our 3rd year of our event, exclusive access to the AMEC/ Robert Gordon University World Quality Day 2014 presentations are now available by clicking the following link http://bit.ly/1sMIoDF

Quality Strategies for Business Autumn Seminar 2014

If you have missed the live streaming of our Quality Strategies for Business Autumn Seminar 2014.
Here is the event video podcast link: http://lnkd.in/dXZfpYW
For best viewing click the screen capture tab on the Panopto viewing page.

French Railway System - a case of going nowhere fast

As a quality professional I champion the value of customer satisfaction and listening to the voice of the customer… but is the customer always right?

Earlier in my career as a lab technician in the manufacturing sector I was trained to adopt the concept of the “Next operation as customer” (NOAC) principle that highlighted external customer satisfaction as being unachievable unless internal customers are engaged in the decision making and operational processes of productive activity.

The unfortunate scenario that emerged this year in France where the rail infrastructure company RFF provided the rail operator SNCF with incorrect specifications for the purchase of 2000 trains at a cost of $20 billion (£12.1 billion). The specifications were derived from measurements taken from train platforms built within the last 30 years. The result being the new trains are too wide to fit train platforms that were built 50 years earlier requiring  the unnecessary refit of over 1000 of the 8700 platforms mostly located in regional areas of which initial early repairs were reported to cost $40 million.

SNCF has accused the French government of not investing in its conventional rail network which is finally being upgraded after years of neglect. The strategic focus being rather on the development of a high speed network despite a 50% rise in passenger numbers within Paris and a 40% increase in regional travel within the past decade.

This separation of the network company from the rail operators, a management structure that is instantly recognisable to British readers is a contributing factor to the mistake – business critical decisions being made by social actors not directly affected or intimately concerned with the consequences or outcomes of the activity, as evident by the company statement "It's a bit like buying a Ferrari that you want to fit into your garage, but then realizing your garage isn't quite Ferrari-sized, because up until now you didn't own a Ferrari," an ill-fitting analogy that suggests quality and corporate social responsibility are for Renault owners, ordinary taxpayers and commuters.

In a nutshell decisions were not made as close to the source. Project schedules and cost may have been given priority over quality. Therefore the risk i.e. the likelihood or consequence of the train not being able to fit each platform was unaccounted or became unconsciously acceptable to senior management.  

The consequences of poor quality, an astronomical engineering refit cost which is estimated at $110 billion, 2000 trains going nowhere fast and reputational damage to one of Europe’s fastest train networks.
“The customer is always right”… 66 million Frenchmen can't be wrong - one size does not fit all even though your garage can fit a Ferrari.

To learn more about quality, safety and environmental management view our website www.sustainabilitycsr.com 

Here is the cover of my new book Sustainability Footprints in SMEs available in bookstores and online soon!

National Air Traffic Control Service - the need to pursue "Absolute Zero"

The National Air Traffic Control Service (NATS) traces its history back to the early days of commercial aviation in the United Kingdom in its pioneering role utilising a rudimentary form of air traffic control based on flag signals. Modern commercial aviation however demands both the use of complex information management systems and highly skilled human labour with the NATS employing just over 2000 air traffic controllers handling 2.2 million flights annually.  To meet this challenge the organisation is “committed to delivering exemplary service performance and, through consultation with our customers, identifying and implementing new standards in service quality”.

National Air Traffic Control Service £623M Swanwick site which serves as the nerve centre for the management of UK airspace has seen its share of teething problems at its inception and software issues during the summer but the 7^th December 2013 witnessed a catastrophic failure of its management systems which Eurocontrol, Europe’s air traffic control monitor, reported "Around 130,000 minutes of delay are currently expected with approximately 1,300 flights (almost 8% of the European traffic today) being severely delayed".

An investigation into the incident revealed that there was a breakdown in the IT systems with "more than a million lines of software" compromised significantly affecting the internal phone network that not only supports interaction between air traffic controllers within the same room but also with regional air traffic control authorities on the European continent. This seemingly straight forward technical issue was blamed on the "difficulty switching from night time to daytime operation" thereby making it impossible to reconfigure voice communication systems which is organised into sectors to cope with the demands of daytime UK airspace traffic.

The inability of NATS to meet its service plan objectives contributed to poor service performance levels with 20% of departures at Gatwick Airport hit by delays and 50% of flights at London City Airport faced disruption.

A cursory review of NATS 10 year business plan reveals a limited emphasis on contingency planning with quality issues shrouded by terms such as efficiency and innovation despite having a quality management system. Unfortunately there has not been a balanced strategic approach to the management of non-financial risk with effort being expounded on safety and emissions reduction to the detriment of the reliability of mission critical information management systems. This was compounded by a failure to test contingency measures or effectively mobilise contingency plans in the event of catastrophic failure.

Increasingly in our technological age firms and nation states are exposed to information risk either through limited access to information, loss of information and inaccurate information that affects not only competiveness but also safety and security. In essence sustainability is now a four legged stool consisting of the economic, ecological, social and information.  Sustainable organisations must combine the goals of "zero errors” and “zero emissions” into the pursuit of the strategic goal of "Absolute Zero" the point at which no more adverse risk can be removed from a system which is a benchmark upon which sustained customer satisfaction can be achieved.