A wise man once said that ‘Change is the only constant.’ In the manufacturing world too, we are surrounded by technical, functional, and organizational changes. Some of these are temporary, others permanent, and then there are those that sound the alarm. While emergency changes always gain priority, it is important to highlight that all changes can pose a considerable risk.
Management of Change (MoC) assesses the impact of a change, anticipating risks, evaluating countermeasures, and helping people adapt during the period of transition. What does a mature Management of Change process look like? How can manufacturers benefit from digitizing this process? And are there other advantages to using AlisQI for MoC? Let’s find out.
Certifications like ISO 9001 require manufacturers to implement a Management of Change (MoC) process, to guard against the environmental, health, and safety risks changes might pose. MoC is procedurally one of the most complex, time-consuming QESH-related processes. It’s seen as such because it usually involves multiple steps and many stakeholders. This is why some manufacturers are still resistant to carrying out the process. But often this decision exposes them to greater risks.
How? Imagine that one of your machines broke down. While this doesn’t affect your daily production, starting to evaluate all the options to determine what went wrong and what’s the best way to move forward can be very time-consuming. Even more so if you need to dig up information in Excel, contact specialized technicians and speed up communication with other departments by phone, or email. And, while a solution may be found promptly, whether it’s a good one or one that would increase the risk of even bigger problems is not always clear.
Having a Management of Change process in place gives you this clarity. It assesses the impact of the change from all possible angles. This, in turn, increases awareness, helps with decision-making, and structures communication so that it’s most effective.
A mature MoC process is multi-disciplinary and aimed at making change happen in a controlled way. It starts with a suggested change to a process or a system. An owner or change manager assesses the impact of the change. This initial assessment is then used for a deep-dive analysis in which multiple subject matter experts chip in. Their role is to evaluate the change from all possible angles and to decide upon countermeasures or preventive actions that need to happen for the change to be effective and safe. Sure, having multiple stakeholders makes an MoC process more complex. But, in this joint effort, you also get a clearer picture – which makes it easier to take quality decisions and reduce potential risks.
Because of the complexity of the process and the number of stakeholders involved, many organizations struggle with digitizing the MoC process. Yet, digitalization can add tremendous value.
Management of Change is often seen as an administrative burden. But when you’re digitizing the process, you can forget about Excel sheets, printouts, and emails flying back and forth. This more effective way to navigate change makes collaboration easy, fast, and trackable.
AlisQI offers a digital solution for MoC, as part of the integrated quality suite. With our Forms, Workflows, and CAPA building blocks we have all it takes to implement any MoC process, regardless of how simple or complex your operation is. Since we operate a site license model, manufacturers don’t need to worry about the number of stakeholders that need to chip in as these have access at no additional costs. Using our smart platform, you can enjoy automatic notifications prompting experts towards action, time savings since evaluations can co-occur, and up-to-date overviews of the status of a change.
Do you want to learn more about MoC and how you can digitize this for your organization? Request a demo and we will reach out to discuss your needs and AlisQI’s capabilities.