QualityMaster

Ultimate Guide for Quality and Compliance Management 2024

Anmol Pandit on January 4, 2024

Quality and Compliance are two pillars of a profitable business. How to ensure good quality of products and 100% compliance to norms? Take a dive to know.

Overview:

Quality and compliance, these are not just terms. For organisations these are mandates for existence. Although they have very little connection with each other on broad level, they are highly connected on a deeper level. They both impact the product as whole.

Consumers today are quality conscious. At the same time, they are equally concerned to know if the products they use follow the norms and standards or not. Therefore, these two attributes can make or break reputation of an organisation.

If quality and compliance are so important, then obviously, there must be some effective way to ensure that the organisation follow quality and compliance norms.

In this blog we will discuss quality and compliance at length. We will try to find out the possible Quality and Compliance Management Software which can help organisations to deliver quality product and yet remain compliant to the norms.

Stay on the page for full information.

What is Quality?

Quality refers to set of qualities expected out of a product or a service. It is a mixed effect of various factors like design, production, efficiency, safety, economy, timeliness and many more.

In other words, quality is a measure of how close it is to specific standards. It also stands for measure of how well a product or service meets its purpose.

What is Quality Management?

It is the process of overseeing the activities, tasks, and processes to produce each time a service or a product with set of expected quality. There are four components of it, namely:

  • Quality planning
  • Quality assurance
  • Quality control
  • Quality improvement

The process of implementing all four is called Total Quality Management (TQM).

What is Quality Management System (QMS)?

It is a system to document policies, processes, and procedures for achieving quality goals.

Since quality is a key differentiator in global market, implementing QMS is important to ensure that the processes run effectively and reduce cost for an organisation.

Benefits of Quality management system

Fundamentals of Modern Quality Management Systems:

Outdated QMS are complicated and have limited capabilities to cater to the present-day requirement.  Modern quality management systems are built on following fundamentals:

Unified application –

Fragmented and disconnected QMS system waste time and money. They put organisation at risk. Therefore, the QMS must have capabilities to unify all division of quality management, like document management, data analysis, training, and others.

One such QMS is QualityMaster. This is a unified application having all the modules integrated and well connected with each other. QualityMaster lets you:

  • Schedule training
  • Store and manage documents
  • Manage risk
  • Manage compliance and audits
  • Take corrective and preventive action

Visibility –

In the fast-moving business times, businesses must be aware of any significant risk right at the moment when they are happening, and not once the damage is done.

Modern QMS should include real-time visibility into all quality activities to eliminate delays in quality analysis.

QualityMaster gives you a deep visibility. It lets you manage risk effectively. It is a full featured product designed to deal with unforeseen risk and help businesses to acquire a systematic approach to stay prepared against risks.

Based on visibility it provides, it flags nonconformance and allows you to take corrective and preventive actions to lower down such nonconformance in future. This way it mitigates possibility of triggering risk and nonconformance in future.

Control – Keeping important and sensitive data unprotected and accessible to everyone leads to many concerns. It can harm reputation of organisation and can cause financial loss.

Modern QMS such as QualityMaster allows you to give conditional access to data, leaving away unauthorized access.  This way, it ensures data integrity.

Essential components of modern Quality Management Software Systems:

Essential components of quality management system

Modern QMS like QualityMaster consists of all the above said modules, providing organisations surety of quality.

Now, as we have discussed quality, quality management and quality management system at length, let us steer towards compliance, compliance management and compliance management software.

What is Compliance?

In general, compliance means following to the rule. It is the state of being as per the guidelines. Definition of compliance also encompasses industry regulations and government regulations.

Companies and organizations today are being more and more compliance aware, because of increasing industry compliance norms, governments laws and consumer awareness.

Overruling compliance might result in huge penalties, cost reputation of the brand and deflect customers to competitors.

What is Compliance Management System?

There are various software which help you manage compliance with various regulations, standards, and legal requirement.

The software automates, consolidates, and streamlines an organisation’s compliance meeting processes. These are called Compliance Management System.

A compliance management system:

  • Manages compliance obligations of an organisation.
  • Automates various tasks in organisation, such as managing contracts or providing auditing tool for internal controls including documentation, report generation, etc.

Aim of a compliance management software is to provide staff with better visibility of compliance requirements and minimize possibilities of your organisation to be penalized.

Benefits of Compliance Management System:

Compliance management system has multiple benefits, like:

  • saving time by automating various processes like data collection, communication
  • tracking changes in compliance requirements
  • integrating the changed or updated compliance with the whole system

An efficient compliance management system like QualityMaster (which is also an effective QMS) has many benefits, like:

  • Efficiently organise and manage information about regulatory environment of organisation. 
  • Easily identify which regulation apply to your organisation.
  • Automating repetitive tasks related to regulatory compliance across various departments of an organisation.
  • Saving from legal suites and penalties

QualityMaster: Quality Management System or Compliance Management System?

QualityMaster is a comprehensive Quality and Compliance management system. Loaded with the benefits of both, it is a Quality and Compliance software.

It is a modern software which makes sure that your products are good in quality and stick to the compliance.

By offering quality products, it helps attracting consumers and building brand image through its host of features like-

  • Supports food-related labelling and reporting requirements falling under FDA, FSMA, GMP, and such along with flagging of ingredients if their nutritional properties in formula exceed established industry standards.
  • Sticking to food labelling and reporting requirements, including GMP, FDA, GFSA requirements.
  • Supporting chemical related labelling and reporting including GMP, SARA Type III, REACH, HAZMAT, SDS, MSDS, INCI requirements.
  • Supporting special reporting of allergen and organic ingredients, as well as of Kosher and Halal products
  • Maintaining master batch records and other key audit records.
  • Graphical bi-directional lot traceability inquiries and recall reports.

On the other hand, by sticking to all the compliances, it is keeping penalties away from your organisation.

Thus, if you are a manufacturer and looking for a Quality and Compliance Management Software, QualityMaster is a perfect solution.

To explore how it can benefit your organisation, feel free to connect to our sales team or visit our website.

Types of Audits in Quality Management

Anmol Pandit on November 22, 2023

Quality audits assesses how well a product, design, process, or system meets specified standards or procedures. The auditors can perform quality audits both within the organization and externally, concentrating on particular processes, products, or systems.

Quality Audits have two Major Components:

  • The quality system audit, which evaluates the overall system’s effectiveness, and
  • The product or service quality audit, which assesses the products or the services offered

If you are a manufacturing company, seeking to improve your audit process and speed, then this blog is a must-read for you.

Table of Content:

Overview:

Quality Audit is like having a check-up for the quality of business aspects/entities. For example, Quality Audit in pharma industry is like a check-up for a pharmaceutical company’s quality system, making sure everything is working as per the norms defined by the industry and regulatory bodies.

This check-up is done by an audit team or an auditor. These people can be from inside the company or from third party. They examine and verify procedures, records, and activities to make sure they meet the required standards.

A quality audit is important for ensuring that a company follows the ISO 9001 quality system standard. It is also important to ensure that the company performs the correct operations to maintain good quality practices.

Definition of Quality Audit

A quality audit is a systematic, independent examination and evaluation of processes, products, or systems within an organization to determine their compliance with established quality standards, regulations, and best practices.

In simple words, quality audits assess if systems, processes, machines, and manpower are working well, and if in case of deviations, root causes are identified and fixed promptly.

Why Quality Audits are Important?

Regular quality audits are essential for companies to assess performance and formally document outcomes. Organizations regularly performing internal audits gain substantial benefits, pivotal for optimizing growth. These audits evaluate company efficacy and provide insights for effective strategy alignment.

The insights gained from quality audits can lead to more revenue and numerous benefits. With proper quality audits conducted, companies can:

  • Improve the quality of the system as well as the quality of the product
  • Assess the cost-effectiveness of quality systems
  • Measure the effectiveness of quality tactics 
  • Increase productivity by making product output more uniform, reducing mistakes, and cutting wastage of resources and manpower
  • Give employees the chance to report inadequacies in the interpretation of basic quality requirements.

In addition, quality audits identify the root causes too, so organizations can quickly take corrective action. Process, product, and system audits should be front and center of any quality management strategy.

Types of Quality Audits

Types of quality audits

The following is a list of commonly performed quality audit types:

Internal Quality System Audit:

Internal Quality System Audit refers to an evaluation conducted within an organization to evaluate and ensure the effectiveness, compliance, and continuous improvement of its internal quality management processes and procedures.

This audit is performed by internal auditors or quality assurance teams to identify areas for enhancement, confirm adherence to established quality standards, and promote overall operational excellence.

The team reviews work instructions to ensure they follow standard procedures and meet quality targets.

Example: The auditors in the company check documents, processes, and employee access to ensure everything is functioning properly. 

Supplier Audits:

Supplier audits includes a process of evaluation and collaboration aimed at ensuring both quality and accountability. By comprehensively analyzing multiple factors, companies secure the reliability of their suppliers while holding them responsible for any performance challenges.

The real-time transparency offered by these audits allows businesses and suppliers to jointly monitor purchase order activities and actively address any instances of non-conformities and errors.

For instance, the purchasing team can meticulously review suppliers based on key criteria such as lead time, product quality, cost–effectiveness, and certifications.

Production Team Audit:

Production Audit involves checking the work done by the production team. Companies often audit them for Operator Acceptance or Certified Operator programs, or when they need to requalify their skills.

Auditors review changes to their processes, training records, and past work to ensure everything is up to the required standards.

For example: Auditors check if the team followed procedures, and met quality criteria during pre-qualification.

Safety Audit:

During a Safety Audit, the team checks the plans and procedures in place that keep company employees safe. They review how an equipment is used and cross-check the organization’s safety steps.

The company must implement structured safety policies to prevent accidents and injuries, creating a safer and healthier environment for employees.

For example, a safety auditor can examine how employees use safety gear while operating machinery. Or, how hazardous materials are stored in a company’s warehouse.

Facilities Audit:

Facilities Audit checks the quality of a company’s assets, like buildings and equipment. The auditors should monitor systems like water tankers, ACs, HVAC (heating, ventilation, and air conditioning), manufacturing equipment, technology, etc.

This type of audit focuses on ways to improve safety and quality outcomes.

Example: During a facilities audit, the team inspects the fire extinguishing system to ensure it is approachable and works efficiently, creating a safer workplace for employees.

Environmental Audit:

Environmental audit helps companies make their workplaces greener and less polluted/toxic. It identifies potential risks and creates a plan to meet safety standards like OSHA, cGMP, etc. The audit team checks to see if employees follow these standards and use proper disposal techniques.

For example, the team inspects if hazardous waste are disposed of properly in the prescribed way and proper documents are maintained for it.

Risk Assessment Audit:

Risk Assessment Audit helps companies identify workplace risks. They categorize each risk and put measures in place to prevent accidents, quality issues, machine failures, natural disasters etc.

For example, during the audit, Auditors may identify that the slippery floors in the manufacturing area pose a risk of falls. To prevent accidents, they install non-slip mats and provide safety training to employees. This way, they reduce the chances of workplace injuries and avoid potential financial losses.

Design Control Audit:

Design Control Audit ensures that manufacturers follow a proper, compliant, and systematic method to produce safe and high-quality products that meet user needs.

The audit team solely reviews the design plan, inputs, and outputs to ensure they meet specific criteria and analyze potential risks before they occur.

For example, in the medical device industry, the audit team can check if the design of a new surgical instrument meets the required safety standards. And, if it effectively fulfills the needs of surgeons during procedures. If not, they can take appropriate actions to address and rectify the issues.

Regulatory Audit:

Regulatory Audit checks if a company follows specific rules and standards set by regulatory agencies. They review quality practices and gather crucial data to find grey areas where the company is not following the rules. 

For example, the auditors can verify if the aircraft manufacturer complies with FAA (Federal Aviation Administration) regulations to ensure the safety and quality of their aircraft.

Method Validation Audit:

Method Validation Audit is done by regulatory authorities like the FDA to check if the testing methods used in manufacturing are standardized, consistent, and well-documented. It ensures that products made for human use are reliable and accurate.

For example, in pharmaceutical manufacturing, a method validation audit can verify the testing procedures used to check the potency and purity of medicines, making sure it is effective in curing the disease for which it is made.

However, managing all these types of audits together can be a cumbersome task. But, with comprehensive audit management software in place, audits can become as simple as ABC.

It effectively manages all types of quality audits while streamlining the entire audit process. From planning to reporting, the software ensures that the audits conducted are effective, consistent, and accurate.

QualityMaster is the next-gen QMS software with a feature-rich audit management solution. It can automate audit tasks, provide a central repository for documentation, enhance communication, track progress, and provide indepth insights. 

This audit management software makes audits easier by ensuring they are done consistently, efficiently, and effectively. It automates audit scheduling, generates checklists, stores evidence, creates reports, and tracks corrective actions.

Using this audit management solution, audits occur effortlessly, cover all important areas, keep the proofs safe, share results with management and stakeholders, and implement fixes on time. It simplifies  

Key Features of QualityMaster: an Audit Management Software can

  • Manage and submit quality management system audit checklist
  • Define different types of audits and specify whether the audit requires approval or not
  • Define different audit categories, like Departmental Audit, Documents Audit, Financial Audit, Organizational Audit, etc.
  • Define different audit classes like Internal, External, Remote, etc.
  • Manage and store all the points that make up an audit checklist
  • Specify the different requirements that make up an audit checklist
  • Perform follow up audit to ensure that the corrective actions put in place were effective
  • Audit module is connected with CAPA, any NC encountered during Audit can be escalated for root cause analysis and CAPA, and this NC, upon resolution can again be sent for follow up audit ensuring 100% rectification.

To explore more on how it can benefit your organization, feel free to connect  our sales team or visit our website!!

Best Practices of Quality Management for Electronic Industry

Anmol Pandit on June 30, 2023

QMS system for electronic industries

The rapid growth of the electronic market encompasses a vast array of products and components for diverse applications, including consumer electronics, aerospace, automotive, and medical devices.

In this ever-expanding industry, electronic manufacturers face constant pressure to deliver high-performance and reliable products.

To address these challenges and optimize their quality processes, implementing an advanced Quality Management System (QMS) can prove invaluable.

This system offers electronic manufacturers the means to address their concerns effectively and streamline their quality processes.

In the following sections, this blog will delve into the best practices of quality management specifically tailored for the electronics industry.

So, read on to discover how these practices can help electronic manufacturers navigate the evolving landscape successfully.

Overview-

The electronic industry is known for its rapid technological advancements, shorter product lifecycles, and high consumer expectations. In such a competitive landscape, maintaining high-quality standards and being cost-effective is crucial and can never be overlooked.

Even a well-reputed brand like Samsung was unable to maintain high-quality product standards. In the year 2016, it faced a widely publicized issue with its cellphone device – Galaxy Note 7 model.

The consumers experienced battery defects that caused the phone to overheat and, in some cases, caught fire. The company faced a lot of criticism and their brand value at that time degraded, leaving a bad impression on the loyal customers.

But wait, this isn’t just Samsung, we can list several other electronic companies that have earlier faced some or the other quality issues that made them experience brand defamation.

The only surefire way to stay out of situations like these is consistently delivering the best quality products in the market.

Products that comply with all the ever-changing norms and fulfill the customer’s demand. Because when their needs are met, they will be more satisfied with the products and unquestionably become brand loyal.

Implementing an efficient quality management solution and adopting its best practices simplifies maintaining excellent quality at all production stages for electronic device manufacturers.

What happens when the product’s quality is always at par?

When a product’s quality consistently meets or exceeds expectations, several positive outcomes can be observed:

Quality management benefits

Increased Customer Satisfaction:

When a product consistently lives up to its quality promises, customers are more likely to be happy.

As a result, there is an increase in client loyalty, good word-of-mouth advertising, and the possibility of repeat business.

For example, when a smartphone consistently delivers excellent performance, meets user expectations, and provides a seamless user experience, customers are more likely to be satisfied.

They will appreciate the reliability, durability, and functionality of the product, leading to a positive overall experience, and thus a satisfied customer.

Strong Brand Reputation:

Consistently high-quality products contribute to building a strong brand reputation. A brand known for its superior quality gains trust and credibility among customers, leading to a competitive advantage in the market.

Apple is known for its high-quality products, and its brand reputation is built on delivering reliable and innovative devices. This reputation contributes to its strong loyal customer base, who are ready to never switch to android.

Reduced Costs:

Maintaining high product quality can result in substantial cost savings for the organization’s expenses in the long run. By minimizing defects, rework, and returns, they can avoid the expenses associated with fixing or replacing faulty products.

For example, an effective QMS system can help car manufacturers maintain strict quality control processes that can avoid costly recalls due to manufacturing defects, saving significant expenses on repairs and replacements.

Enhanced Efficiency:

Higher product quality means lesser customer complaints, reduced refund tickets, and repairs. Because of this, organizations can concentrate on other aspects such as innovation and growth, to improve the overall effectiveness of the business.

For example, a technology company can reduce the time and resources devoted to handling customer complaints and product issues by regularly delivering high-quality software updates and rapidly fixing security vulnerabilities.

Competitive Advantage:

Continuous delivery of excellent quality sets a brand apart from its competitors. It can have the capability to attract new customers who value reliability and performance and can also help in winning bids or securing partnerships in business-to-business relationships.

In a nutshell, when a product’s quality is maintained at a high level, both the company and its consumers benefit.

Best Practices of Quality Management for Electronic Industry

Best practices of QMS system for electronic industry

That said, electronic manufacturers must ensure following certain best practices that act as gateway to high quality. Here are some best practices that businesses should adopt to churn out the most from their business process and take their quality game to the next level:

Defining & Setting realistic quality goals –

To ensure consistent quality in electronic manufacturing, it is crucial to define and set realistic quality goals.

These goals should be documented, covering all production stages from component sourcing to final product testing. They should be measurable, achievable, and aligned with customer expectations and industry regulations.

Incorporating customer feedback and complying with relevant standards helps in refining and adapting the goals, while establishing measurable metrics enables progress tracking and performance evaluation.

Example: A company manufacturing smartphones may set a quality goal of producing mobile phones that have less than a 2% defect rate in their final products.

For this, they need to document the entire production cycle, determine the non-conformance and define actions to mitigate them.

Implementing Quality Control Measures:

To ensure that products fulfill the established quality standards, quality control measures should be implemented at every stage of the production process.

This comprises audits, multiple tests, and inspections at various phases, such as receiving raw materials, during manufacturing, and when they are being dispatched.

Continuous Improvement – An ongoing task:

To boost product quality and efficiency, regular activities such as evaluating processes, identifying areas for improvement, and implementing corrective and preventive actions should be done without fail.

Example: To find and address any flaws in their manufacturing process, a circuit board assembly company can regularly audit their processes and participate in ongoing training courses.

Implementing a quality management system (QMS)

A tailor-made QMS system for the electronic industry will ensure that quality standards are consistently supported and the entire quality management process from start to finish is streamlined.

Modules like document management, process control, non-conformance management, and data analysis come under its umbrella.

Not only this, but it will also help in rectifying issues and fixing them to avoid future occurrences along with staying compliant with the norms. This way, the product’s quality becomes superior, and penalties or fines can be avoided.

A QMS software solution, for instance, can help the electronic manufacturing sector to centralize its quality-related documents, monitor quality KPIs, and automate workflows for increased productivity and compliance.

Supplier Quality Management:

Maintaining product quality depends on working with verified and reliable suppliers. It will be good practice for businesses to make sure that the components and materials they receive from suppliers meet the requirements.

This could be analyzed by conducting supplier audits and performance reviews. An electronics company, for instance, can periodically evaluate its suppliers based on factors including product quality, delivery effectiveness, and adherence to legal standards.

Continuous Training and Skill Development:

It’s important to provide employees with the chance to enhance their skills to maintain quality standards. Training in quality control methods, process improvement approaches, and maintaining up-to-date knowledge of industry rules are all part of this.

For example, a factory operator at an electronics company would benefit from training in quality standards, inspection methods, and the safe handling of delicate electronic components.

Summarizing thoughts on this,

Implementing effective quality management practices is essential for success in the fast-paced and cutthroat electronic sector.

Electronic manufacturers and suppliers can uphold high-quality standards, increase customer satisfaction, and build a strong brand reputation in the market by following regulatory requirements, managing suppliers effectively, implementing total quality management, controlling manufacturing processes, conducting extensive testing and validation, encouraging continuous improvement, engaging employees, and maintaining thorough documentation.

Adopting these best practices will aid the electronic industry’s long-term success and expansion. One quality expert that can help you in adhering to all of it is QualityMaster.

This powerful, scalable, and robust TQMS software can help you instill a quality culture in your organization. So, get in touch with our experts now.

Top 10 Quality Management System Trends to Watch in 2024

Anmol Pandit on June 2, 2023

According to a report, the global quality management software market size was valued at USD 9.37 billion in 2022 and is expected to record a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 10.6% from 2023 to 2030.

The figures clearly indicate that due to the growing consumer awareness and demand for quality, more and more manufacturers are turning towards adopting this digital approach of maintaining “Quality” in their products.

The QMS Software market saw a slump in its growth, during pandemic, owing to financial restrictions. But, since the market has recovered to its original strength, organizations are more vigilant to serve the quality-seeking customers just what they need.

Moreover, the manufacturers are even focused on enhancing sustainability practices into their routine operations with a supreme goal of reducing waste and carbon footprint.

These and many such factors have set the base for QMS trends that will rule 2024.

So, the quality management strategy of the manufacturers seeking one should be based on the trends that are mentioned ahead in this blog.

Top 2023 Trends in Quality Management System

Increased Adoption of Lean Six Sigma-

The combination of these two fundamentally sound methodologies- Lean Manufacturing and Six Sigma, is taking a front stage these days.

Reason? It provides a streamlined framework to businesses to incorporate an improvement strategy focusing on managing

1. The flow of materials and crucial information between the processes,

2. Minimizing waste,

3. Addressing and removing the no-value-adding tasks.

This in turn helps bypass challenges like meeting customer expectations, cutting costs pressures, improving profits, and reducing lead times.

Aren’t these reasons enough to crown adoption of lean six sigma a top QMS trend of 2024.

Adoption of Lean Six Sigma

Growing Cloud Technology-

Businesses, to excel today must have flexibility, scalability, and transparency.

Holding on to the on-premises software solutions with huge infrastructure maintenance cost, slow performance, pending updates, location-dependent services, and much more, could be detrimental.

On the contrary, having remote and faster accessibility to all data, ability to collaborate multi-locations and multi-sites, scalability to new needs and norms and such capabilities ensure business not just survive but thrive in this digital world.

These capabilities are offered by Cloud-Solutions, and this makes it yet another top trend of 2024.

Increased Focus on Supplier Management-

Poor supplier performance impacts an organization’s product quality, finances, time, customer base, brand image in the form of lost sales, costly recalls, penalties for non-conformance, etc.

Thus, upgrading and maintaining the supplier quality—by partnering the suppliers capable of meeting regulatory & safety standards, would be an unavoidable trend to eye on.

Managing Cyber Security Risks-

In the era of tech dominance, cyber risks have become a major concern, specifically for the manufacturers that are data-dependent.

Hence, enhancing security to safeguard trade secrets like formulas/recipes, crucial documents and gaining complete operational control, etc., would be one of the major goals of the manufacturers this year.

More Transparent Production-

Consumers are increasingly interested in knowing about the items they purchase than ever before due to increased concerns about food safety, ethical sourcing, data security, and environmental impact.

“According to research, 94% of consumers are more likely to be loyal to a brand that offers complete supply-chain transparency, while 39% say they’re willing to switch to a more transparent brand.”

As a result, manufacturers will seek to implement robust tracking capabilities across their supply chains. Thus, from inception to consumption, 100% transparency will be a prominent trend this new year.

Prioritizing Quality Culture-

For a successful quality management program, quality culture is of paramount importance.

People often consider that only records, SOPs, and documentation, govern the ideology of “quality.” However, these factors account for 20–30% of maintaining quality.

The quality culture and mentality that you introduce within the organization will ensure that individuals truly adhere to the SOPs, comprehend them, and internalise them.

Hence, in 2024, instilling a culture of quality by deploying a good quality management software that allows the user to do the job right, will be a trend.

Making data-driven decisions-

What separates a thriving business from a declining one is the quality of decisions the management makes. And data proves to be the key to sound decisions.

For this, having a QMS software that offers robust functionalities like real-time view and operational insights of the business, helps manufacturers make data-driven decisions.

More Effective Training Programs-

A successful quality management program not only depends on improving processes using Quality Management Systems, but also enhancing involvement of and upskilling employees.

Hence, to accomplish the goal of delivering high-quality products and services, businesses need to invest in building effective training programs for their employees to reduce the possibilities of error— thus fixing a place in the top trends this year is Training Programs.

Better Audit Preparedness-

With an increase in globalization and technology, the manufacturing sector has become more vulnerable to the risks. Moreover, with time, even the norms and norm-makers have become stringent and stricter.

That said, performing manufacturing audits actually help identify the gaps, gain useful business insights, and improve company’s future performance.

And staying ready for such audits is not just a trend but a good business practice.

A Comprehensive Solution-

The world is coming on a platform called technology. Integrated solutions are the norm. We agree that best-of-breed software have better capabilities, but they come with a potpourri of drawbacks-

  • 1. Inconsistent workflow
  • 2.Increased time in integrating data
  • 3. Extra cost due to multiple implementations & maintenance
  • 4. Disconnected and spilled data 5. Errors and lag in data retrieving

An integrated solution, quite like a QMS with all-essential modules, on the contrary keeps the entire organization on a common platform.

It provides real-time, unified, and precise data without the need for uploads and downloads. These benefits have won a place for an integrated and unified QMS Software in prominent trends this year.

Final Words-

Though the impact of the above-mentioned trends could be different for different organizations but, making the right choice of the solution would be the defining factor in terms of growth & productivity.

One such solution that proves competent to all the quality management requirements even during the changing market trends is the QualityMaster.

Being a next-generation, cloud-based software, it helps manufacturers streamline the key quality management processes—ensuring quality throughout the product lifecycle.

Difference between QMS and ERP: Key Aspects and Functionalities

Anmol Pandit on March 17, 2023

QMS vs ERP system

Comparing QMS Software (Quality Management System) and ERP Software (Enterprise Resource Planning) is akin to contrasting apples and oranges. Both fall into the broader category of business software, yet their functions and importance diverge significantly, crucially enhancing businesses by streamlining operations in different ways.

Discover more about their unique capabilities, distinct features, and interconnectedness. The surprising conclusion might reveal an unexpected synergy between these two essential systems. Keep reading to explore their differences and their surprising connection!

Overview:

Businesses of all sizes and types can use QMS and ERP software. QMS software is crucial for companies that operate in highly regulated environments such as healthcare, aerospace and defense, the automobile industry, food and beverage industry, etc. Since these organizations typically have to abide by quality standards and rules like ISO 9001, they require a software solution to monitor and record their quality processes.

On the other side, businesses of various sizes, industries, and sorts need ERP to automate and streamline their operational procedures from start to finish along the complete supply chain. ERP software can help businesses make better decisions, and boost productivity and profitability to have a unified perspective of their business operations.

However, businesses often get confused if they should implement an enterprise resource planning system or deploy a standalone quality management system. As the features of these systems frequently overlap, there may be discussions among companies who have already implemented both systems over which system best meets a certain functional requirement.

But the key is, when it’s about managing the processes of regulated industries, it’s important for manufacturers to deploy a solution that can oversee quality and is also suitable for their regular business operations, procedures, and outputs. It should be a blend of the quality and their supply chain functionalities.

What is a QMS?

A formalized system that documents processes, procedures and responsibilities for carrying out quality policies and objectives is known as a quality management system (QMS). A QMS helps in organizing and directing an organization’s operations to satisfy the customer and regulatory requirements and continuously enhance effectiveness and efficiency.

Benefits of QMS:

  1. Streamline and automate end-to-end business operations
  2. Centralize data for a single source of truth
  3. Rapid responses to critical business issues
  4. Gain comprehensive business insights
  5. Accelerate company and financial reporting processes
  6. Ensure compliance with legal requirements through enhanced visibility
  7. Unified platform for data storage and integration with shared databases
  8. Optimize stock levels and inventory management
  9. Efficient warehouse management to support operations

What is ERP?

Enterprise resource planning (ERP) is a modular business management software that organizations use to manage day-to-day business activities such as accounting, procurement, project management, human resources, compliance, and supply chain operations, etc. A complete ERP software suite includes enterprise performance management, planning, budgeting, predicting, and reporting on an organization’s financial health.

ERP systems allow for the exchange of data between various business processes and bind them all together. They avoid data redundancy and ensure data integrity with a single source of truth by gathering an organization’s shared transactional data from several sources. The new-gen ERPs are available on different platforms- cloud ERP, on-premise ERP, and hybrid ERP.

Benefits of ERP:

  1. End-to-End Process Optimization: Streamline operations from start to finish
  2. Unified Data Repository: Obtain a reliable single source of truth
  3. Rapid Decision-Making: Prompt responses to critical business issues
  4. Comprehensive Analytics: Deeper insights for informed decisions
  5. Accelerated Reporting: Expedite company and financial reporting
  6. Enhanced Compliance: Maximize visibility to meet legal requirements
  7. Centralized Data Platform: Single platform for data storage and integration
  8. Optimized Inventory: Improved stock levels and control
  9. Efficient Warehousing: Streamline warehouse management operations

Key Functionalities of ERP & QMS:

Here’s more clarity on the type of modules these software offers:

Major difference between ERP and QMS Modules

Difference Between ERP and QMS

Difference between ERP and QMS System

The Potential of Combining QMS & ERP

Disparate systems and quality control procedures can rapidly silo crucial enterprise as well as quality data, resulting in complexity, limiting visibility and standards, both inside and between the facilities.

An ERP solution can enable enterprise integration and meet a variety of manufacturing needs. And a QMS can ensure quality at each step. However, adoption of integration of an ERP system and a QMS, will make it possible for the two systems to communicate with one another and exchange data, seamlessly, reducing duplication and delays associated with manual upload and download.

And so, to compete, expand, and innovate, manufacturers should adopt a cloud-based enterprise resource planning system with quality management features.

  • Integrating the two softwares can help businesses automate quality workflows into operational processes resulting in thorough application of quality processes across the entire supply chain cycle.
  • Improvement in quality and compliance drives the ability to standardize, streamline and simplify processes.
  • Businesses can predict trends and risks on the company by analyzing real-time data stored centrally which will drive them towards continuous improvement.
  • By automating quality procedures, it becomes possible to promote and apply best cGMP practices in all operations that enhances the quality of the final output.
  • QMS and ERP together speed audits and keep manufacturers away from legal obligations and fines without compromising on quality.
  • Streamlining workflows and synchronizing them between quality and manufacturing reduces cycle times, throughput value and resource requirements.

Combining a QMS and ERP system can result in improved data accuracy, better collaboration, increased efficiency, enhanced visibility, and improved compliance. By leveraging these benefits, manufacturers can drive performance improvements, respond more quickly to changing market conditions, focus on innovation, preserve capital and remain competitive in a rapidly evolving industry.

Summarizing thoughts

Understanding the needs of the business and all the associated functional groups is essential to choose the best solution. In light of the needs of the business, the capabilities of the various systems must be assessed.

The focus should be on the actual demands of the business rather than personal preferences or previous experiences. It’s crucial to determine and document the needs of each functional group participating in the business process, and to obtain their explicit agreement that this document fully and accurately satisfies those demands.

The true capabilities of both systems can be evaluated through research and vendor demos. With a clear understanding of the capabilities of each system, companies can weigh the pros and cons of various approaches.

It is critically important that all the individuals involved strive to be objective and reach consensus across all functional groups. So, it completely depends on the need of businesses that they want to integrate the system or want to use it as a standalone.

If you still have any questions about it, we would be pleased to help. Contact us by sending an email at sales@tecwrk.com  with any questions or requests for a demo.