Imagine you had a vigilant guard dog, constantly scanning your backyard, barking at threats, and keeping intruders at bay. Non-conformance software works in the same way, actively monitoring your processes, detecting even minor quality deviations, and preventing issues from escalating before they reach your customers.
Non-conformance management software isn't just about efficiency; it brings peace of mind by streamlining compliance and saving you valuable time and resources.
Let's take a closer look at how non-conformance software works, and how it can benefit your manufacturing business.
The cost of non-conformance
A non-conformance indicates that your company's standard operating procedures might need a tune-up. Deviations to standard operating procedures can be detected by conducting audits, analyzing customer complaints, material inspection or routine testing. If left undetected or unaddressed, non-conformances can quickly snowball into defective products, poor quality, and increased costs.
The American Society for Quality (ASQ) defines the cost of poor quality, or COPQ, as "the costs associated with providing poor quality products or services."
According to Philip Crosby, a quality management pioneer who emphasized the importance of prevention and zero defects, COPQ is the price of non-conformance. He argued that organizations choose to pay for poor quality, and the numbers seem to agree.
Many companies find themselves dedicating between 15-20% of their sales revenue to COPQ, with some spending up to 40% of total operational costs. As a rule of thumb, thriving businesses tend to allocate about 10-15% of their operations budget to address poor quality.
When quality control is poor, it can result in defective products, unhappy customers, and a damaged reputation. This can lead to lower sales, more returns, and higher costs to attract new customers, all impacting your profits.
But what if your organization believes that non-conformances are effectively managed already?
The risk of undetected or unaddressed non-conformances
Failure to address non-conformances and to implement quality control measures like safety testing and hazard analysis can have catastrophic consequences that might make your business fail. The production, use, and disposal of chemicals for instance can have significant environmental impacts, from air and water pollution to soil contamination and ecosystem disruption. Insufficient quality control jeopardizes compliance with safety regulations and guidelines, exposing both workers and consumers to potential harm, and leaving you vulnerable to litigation while also reducing the profitability of your business.
Loyal customers may lose trust in your business, and once that's gone, it's extremely hard to get it back. With consumers becoming more environmentally and socially conscious, it's more important than ever to protect your reputation by avoiding any incidents that would be damaging to human or natural life. This underscores the importance of robust quality control protocols in chemical manufacturing to safeguard against potential dangers and ensure the safety of everyone involved.
A stark example of this is renowned fitness equipment manufacturer Peloton. The brand faced a recall of nearly 2.2 million of its stationary bikes due to reports of injuries from manufacturing defects that posed a safety hazard to consumers. Peloton's shares dropped over 6%, not to mention the loss of profits and the cost associated with conducting the recalls. On top of this, the company was hit with a class-action lawsuit.
While multinationals may recover from such scandals, even minor production issues can threaten the existence of a small or medium-sized business.
Why non-conformance software is the right solution
Implementing non-conformance management software into your organization can help keep you on track to achieving your business goals while reducing the costs associated with poor quality.
While you are likely to commit to upholding certain compliance and adherence standards, even the most meticulously designed processes are rarely perfect.
Non-conformance management software is the best way to detect any issues early on and curb your spending on COPQ. Accurately recording and addressing each non-conformance helps to uphold quality standards and foster growth.
Moving from manual incident logging to an automated system empowers you to take control of your business, shifting from a reactive to a proactive approach.
Here are some of the most impactful ways in which non-conformance software can help your manufacturing business:
- Get to the root of non-conformances:
Root cause analysis is a key aspect of non-conformance management software, helping you identify the exact cause of non-conformances, drawing links to past incidents to identify patterns. For example, if a non-conformance is linked to materials from a particular supplier, the software can trace the link based on previous non-conformance data and alert the process owner. Being proactive helps prevent small issues from becoming big problems by avoiding non-compliance pitfalls.
- Streamline your quality management process:
Nowadays, most non-conformance management software is bundled together with other quality management solutions like document version control, corrective or preventive action management, and deviation management, streamlining your company's entire quality management workflow and making sure you're consistently meeting regulatory requirements.
- Accelerate response time for swift resolution:
It can be a challenge to keep an eye on everything that's going on within your organization. Non-conformance software makes it easy to spot inconsistencies right away and notifies the appropriate people for quick resolution. It also sends reminders to ensure everything stays on track.
- Stay in the know with in-depth reporting:
The data gathered by non-conformance management software is consolidated into detailed reports, providing a comprehensive overview of your non-conformance process and pinpointing opportunities for improvement.
- Audit reports at your fingertips:
With non-conformance software, accessing past non-conformance audit reports is easy, no matter how long it's been since they were first generated. Unlike paper-based systems that are susceptible to human error, damage, and loss, software solutions keep your information intact, empowering data-driven decision-making.
- Seamless data integration:
Software makes data collection a breeze, eliminating the frustrations associated with inefficient paper-based systems. Combining non-conformance incidents from different departments into one dashboard helps identify patterns. This includes ongoing issues with a specific supplier. This makes it easier to see and address these issues effectively. - Enhanced policy compliance:
Early detection of compliance issues becomes routine with proper software checks in place. Through robust monitoring capabilities, non-conformance software ensures all incidents are documented and addressed promptly, keeping your business operations running smoothly.
How AlisQI can help
AlisQI's quality management software detects deviations and patterns in your data, so you never need to worry about missing an off-spec measurement. The system will notify you and your team when it detects non-conformance based on your configuration. This will help you address the issues quickly and prevent any disruptions or financial losses.
Take SIG, for instance, a leading packaging solutions provider that works with their customers to bring food products to consumers in a way that is secure, sustainable, and cost-effective.
When SIG switched to AlisQI , their goal was to make QMS documentation easily accessible to everyone in the organization, from executives to shop floor operators. They were struggling to manage their SharePoint environment; documents were hard to find, and employee onboarding was needlessly complicated. This increased the odds of employees circumventing quality processes, exposing the organization to an even bigger risk-non-compliance.
The transition to AlisQI helped SIG to automate everyday tasks and maintain a standard of quality throughout the organization, enhancing efficiency and information accuracy as well as traceability and reporting capabilities.
This is just one example of how the power of non-conformance software to totally transform your organization. Prioritizing quality management and reducing incidents of non-conformance improves business operations so you can focus on achieving your most ambitious goals yet.
Contact us today to learn more about how AlisQI can reduce non-conformance in your organization.
