In today’s business environment, it is nearly impossible to effectively manage operations, quality and the product lifecycle without implementing business software systems. Applications such as Supply Chain Management (SCM), Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP), Manufacturing Execution Systems (MES), and similar systems have become a necessary, if not vital, part of enterprise technology.
As a company grows, so does the need to implement more and more of these types of systems. In the past, business systems such as these have served a single purpose for a single set of users within the company (product design, operations, shop floor, etc.), without any need or forethought to integrating these systems into a larger environment. This results in information silos, whereby data across all systems is disconnected or redundant, and communication is hampered between departments. Problems begin to arise when critical information needs to be passed from one system to another—there is no seamless way to extract the data, and visibility into other systems is foggy at best, hindering overall performance within the organization and limiting the efficiency of operations.
Quality Management Systems (QMS) are not excluded from this information silo scenario. In many cases, the quality system is a completely separate function of the business, and the connection between the quality system and other business systems is usually achieved through offline forms, periodic reports and verbal communication. While QMSs play an important role in the assurance of product quality and process compliance, the business systems that control the products and run the process are “blind” to the status of the quality system. This often results in critical errors in the production environments being overlooked, leading to defective products and noncompliant processes, all of which can pose potential danger to the consumer and affect the bottom line.
As a company grows, so does the need to implement more and more of these types of systems. In the past, business systems such as these have served a single purpose for a single set of users within the company (product design, operations, shop floor, etc.), without any need or forethought to integrating these systems into a larger environment. This results in information silos, whereby data across all systems is disconnected or redundant, and communication is hampered between departments. Problems begin to arise when critical information needs to be passed from one system to another—there is no seamless way to extract the data, and visibility into other systems is foggy at best, hindering overall performance within the organization and limiting the efficiency of operations.
Quality Management Systems (QMS) are not excluded from this information silo scenario. In many cases, the quality system is a completely separate function of the business, and the connection between the quality system and other business systems is usually achieved through offline forms, periodic reports and verbal communication. While QMSs play an important role in the assurance of product quality and process compliance, the business systems that control the products and run the process are “blind” to the status of the quality system. This often results in critical errors in the production environments being overlooked, leading to defective products and noncompliant processes, all of which can pose potential danger to the consumer and affect the bottom line.