In 2008, Harris Moran Seed Company and Clause/Tezier were grouped together under HM.CLAUSE. In order to develop close operational links between the two companies, the organisation was looking for a joint quality management system. It was up to Erik Postma, vice-president quality and intellectual property, to find and implement a system that would allow HM.CLAUSE to realize this goal. “In our opinion, shop floor workers determine the quality of the product. In order to enable them to deliver high quality and to constantly improve their skills and their own processes, you have to implement a joint system which will be used on a daily basis to support teamwork.” This raised the following question: Is there an enterprise quality management software (EQMS) that matches this vision?
In the end, HM.CLAUSE chose iCOLOGiQ EQMS. HM.CLAUSE started the implementation of the EQMS in the summer of 2013. The whole project is expected to be finalised in 2016. This seems a long way from now, but Postma knows it is worth it. “It will become a central system for us, a business-critical platform. In the near future, we want everyone to open [the] EQMS first and we want the application to become just as important as e-mail is today. Like I said before, it is not a quality system that is used only by quality managers; it will become a system for the whole workforce of HM.CLAUSE. We [engage] them in continuous improvement. When seen from this perspective, three years for an organisation of our size is a very reasonable period of time, [keeping] in mind that when the project is finished, all processes are well-defined and transparent.”
As part of the rollout of the project, HM.CLAUSE utilised an ongoing comic strip to communicate with employees the benefits of the system and how it will aid in advancing their business.
Link to the Press Release: http://www.icologiq.com/customers/cases/hmclause
