If you’re like a lot of manufacturers, quality compliance is more of a paper chase than it is an operational strategy. But the truth is, by moving beyond minimum quality requirements, you can reach a higher level of efficiency that would not have been possible with manual, error-prone solutions. Given the chance to exceed customer expectations, why just be satisfied with the basic requirements?

Here are five steps to digitize and up-level your quality compliance for a competitive advantage:

1.    Create a single system of record.

For any compliance and quality management strategy to succeed, there must be a digital system of record driving quality objectives. That means consolidating all quality document control, process instructions, and policies into a single cloud-based repository.

2.    Free up your quality resources.

Think about how much time is wasted just going through paper quality documents scattered throughout your business. Not to mention the fact that these documents become dated quickly, causing re-work or waste.  When you digitize these documents your organization benefits from real-time information, freeing your teams up from simply collecting data to analyzing it and solving business problems.

3.    Develop a continual improvement mindset.

Take into account supplier quality levels and requirements, then create Corrective And Preventative Action (CAPA) workflows to create a cycle of continuous improvement and to manage complaints from customers, process variations, and production inconsistencies.

4.    Become data driven.

Compliance, quality control, and manufacturing operations should be aligned to your strategic objectives. Using clear performance metrics for quality control, and a series of manufacturing and operations metrics to track quality and collaboration can help you maintain this alignment.

5.    Track and record everything.

At a minimum, your QMS software needs to track and report variability reduction, cycle time reduction, and risk mitigation across each manufacturing plant or location.

Don’t allow compliance to be a burden. Take the opportunity to make quality compliance a competitive differentiator.