GIANCARLO POLI | SAMUEL CORRAL | PHILIP KYTE

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LEADING CORPORATE QUALITY DEPARTMENTS ARE SHEDDING THEIR BIG BROTHER REPUTATION.

Known for years as the group that delivered the final yea or nay on products, Quality specialists earned a reputation as internal firefighters that had little to do with growth and innovation.

But, corporate innovators—primarily companies that have an increasingly direct line to consumers (e.g., Big Pharma, Consumer Packaged Goods)—are changing Quality’s image one face at a time.

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MEET THE STRATEGIC QUALITY ADVISOR

Part scientist, part diplomat, the Strategic Quality Advisor is embedded within business units—baked into business processes from R&D to Procurement. As invested in innovation as any business counterpart, the Strategic Quality Advisor comes with a key twist—a depth and breadth of knowledge about Quality principles, techniques and metrics.

That knowledge is sorely needed more than ever. In the United States alone, auto safety recalls have exceeded 50 million for the third consecutive year.1 The Food Marketing Institute and Grocery Manufacturers Association estimate the average cost of a recall for food companies to be US$10 million in direct costs, plus brand and reputation damage, as well as lost sales.2 Accenture Strategy research found that Quality issues in recent years have cost companies upwards of a 14 percent decline in sales and as much as US$350 million in total costs.3

THE STRATEGIC QUALITY ADVISOR BRIDGES THE GAP BETWEEN QUALITY AND THE BUSINESS, LINKING QUALITY’S PERFORMANCE TO SUCCESSFUL BUSINESS OUTCOMES.

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WHAT HAPPENED TO QUALITY?

WHAT A STRATEGIC QUALITY ADVISOR DOES Offers clear, proactive, strategic advice to the business to

drive Quality as a competitive advantage Manages Quality’s reputation as the main face of Quality to

the business Takes accountability for Quality and Quality-related

performance targets Communicates and ensures two-way alignment between

Quality and business strategies Focuses on the voice of the internal customer Builds strategic relationships with key partners/stakeholders Builds a bridge to the business by engendering trust

Once a vital contributor to the success of the business, the Quality function has lost its edge over the past several decades. At issue: the function generally still operates in a silo as it did in its golden age in the late twentieth century. Quite often, Quality professionals are focused on technical excellence without a larger connection to innovation or business outcomes. As a result, Quality departments have become outdated and marginalized by the rest of the business.

Yet, within the new business environment, the rise of digital is driving faster changes to the business and the way it operates, making Quality more critical than ever.

Companies must act now to transform their operating model. Creating a strategic advisor role that bridges the gap between Quality and the business can spark the first crucial changes across the operating model, linking Quality’s performance to successful business outcomes.

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BAKING QUALITY INTO THE BUSINESS

Quality must change from something “done” to the business to something created in conjunction with the business. The difference between “doing” Quality and “being” Quality is integration. When Quality professionals become an integrated part of major business initiative teams, the magic happens.

For instance, when a new product or service is being designed or new supplier partnerships are being forged, is a Quality professional involved from the beginning? That’s baking Quality into the business. “Doing” Quality means you bring in Quality as an afterthought, which often involves costly rework.

When your manufacturing team is looking at how 3D printing will change your plant footprint globally, is Quality involved in the strategizing? That’s true integration into the business. “Doing” Quality means the team is left to deal with a plant design that does not contribute to producing the highest Quality product. Which means your company pays on the back end for what could have been a lot less expensive on the front end.

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The good news is, nearly half (48 percent) of executives report Quality as a high priority for future investments to improve on the efficiency and productivity of manufacturing. At leading companies, the number is even higher, at 60 percent of executives.4

To help speed that improvement, Quality professionals—often engineers, technical experts or process pros—need to give up their proprietary language. It is one the business does not speak. More than 70 percent of internal stakeholders say the Quality function is not clear to them or their teams.5 Quality team members need to raise their business acumen to speak the business’ language, marrying their recommendations with corporate direction, goals and priorities. If they can do so, foregoing their policing role for one that helps the business foster innovation and improvements responsibly, they can re-earn their rightful seat at the decision-making table.

By embedding Strategic Quality Advisors in dedicated new or existing roles throughout the organization, and assigning them to teams so they can gain deep knowledge in everything from Sales to Supply Chain, companies can take a first big step toward making Quality a priority again.

DANONE HAS TAKEN SOURCING QUALITY TO THE NEXT LEVEL BY EMBEDDING STRATEGIC QUALITY ADVISORS INTO THE BUSINESS. THE ADVISORS CAN TALK THE BUSINESS LANGUAGE BUT CAN ALSO TALK ABOUT THE BUSINESS BENEFITS OF QUALITY. Read the full case atwww.accenture.com/quality

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INTRODUCING THE STRATEGIC QUALITY ADVISOR TO THE BUSINESSTo start the journey toward the new Strategic Quality Advisor role, companies and Quality Leadership need to:

what your partner/customer actually wants from you and their priorities

on the shape, scope and positioning of this new responsibility

secondment to increase other departments’ knowledge on Quality

training for Quality staff on stakeholder management

1. 4.

the Advisor role to best help your key customer meet their expectations and needs

positive impact on partner’s scorecards

2. 5.

3. 6.

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MAKE DIGITAL QUALITY’S BEST FRIENDDigital technologies offer Quality a bridge from being reactive to proactive (see Figure 1). Accenture Strategy research found that a majority (59 percent) of companies that already have built a digital foundation say they are deriving benefits in Quality and service improvement.6 By employing Strategic Quality Advisors who are well-schooled in digital technologies, companies move themselves forward considerably.

For instance, in the manufacturing area alone, seven out of 10 companies have deployed tracking and traceability processes in manufacturing, deriving significant benefits in Quality and labor cost.7 A multinational automotive supplier was facing a large number of Quality issues in its aluminum metallization. Using historical data and advanced analytics techniques, Accenture Strategy helped company executives identify the root cause of the problem. The results of the analysis and simulation showed a potential reduction of 19 percent fewer production batches with Quality issues. In addition, it created the ability to predict the results of the operations based on the input (material and equipment) attributes.

Strategic Quality Advisors who are integrated into business teams can help predict—rather than just react to—Quality issues. Digital gives Quality teams real-time data from traceable products. Quality professionals can then plan more accurately, using the data as a basis to anticipate issues to optimize production. And when they are able to anticipate issues, Quality and output improve. By doing so, Quality teams can help foster innovation but keep it within responsible limits—protecting the end consumer and company reputation.

STRATEGIC QUALITY ADVISORS WHO ARE INTEGRATED INTO BUSINESS PREDICT—RATHER THAN REACT TO—QUALITY.

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FIGURE 1 Digital technologies at work for Quality

Mobile Devices, Augmented Reality

Technologies like vision systems, smart glasses and tablets enable Quality to be built into production and maintenance processes.

Supply Chain VisibilitySeamless collaboration among supplier networks enables secure and transparent order management, just-in-time delivery and the ability to dynamically react to supply chain disruption.

Traceability

Radio-frequency identification (RFID) and telematics-based tracking enable the tracing of product Quality along all manufacturing process steps and the entire supply chain throughout the product life.

Predictive Analytics, Predictive Quality

Analytics enables faster identification ofroot causes, prevention of defects and increased throughput. Mining social data for customer feedback allows faster product updates and decreased cost of poor Quality.

Machine-to-Machine, Internet of Things, Telematics, Smart Factory

Connectedness on the plant floor can be used to gather Quality-relevant data, predict and reduce non-conformities and ensure the production process is followed as planned.

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SHED THE FIREFIGHTER IMAGE

Quality is often seen by the business as deeply technical and great at reacting to an issue—the team to turn to in a crisis. Currently, Quality teams’ work consists of roughly 70 percent reactive tasks, with only 30 percent of their time being devoted to planned Quality.8

This reactivity is not surprising, as Quality professionals are usually brought in after a problem has arisen, for damage control. By 2025, we see that balance shifting to favor proactivity, with 56 percent of Quality’s time being devoted to predictive measures and just 44 percent on reactivity.9 The ideal balance would be pushing proactive hours continually higher, something a Strategic Quality Advisor could be trained to do.

ASTRAZENECA HAS TURNED QUALITY INTO A COMPETITIVE ADVANTAGE. THE COMPANY ALIGNED ADVISORS WITH THE BUSINESS TEAMS TO HELP THEM BUILD A QUALITY MINDSET INTO EVERYTHING THEY DO, AND TO BE INSPECTION-READY AT ALL TIMES. Read the full case atwww.accenture.com/quality

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Proactivity becomes more important as companies increasingly form ecosystems to produce goods and services. Accenture Strategy believes Quality in 2020 will be defined by greater collaboration with supply chain partners, to eliminate weak links in the design, manufacturing and supply chain.

To ensure that Strategic Quality Advisors are involved from Day One of product design, launch and ongoing maintenance, Quality leaders not only need to embed them within existing business teams, they also need to change the perception of the business at large. In order to shed their reputation for squashing innovation and not marrying Quality to business goals, team members need to be retrained to use a proactive, positive lens. And, new team members need to come in with a more modern mindset—one that brings digital and business savvy—ready to roll up their sleeves and join their business counterparts in the quest for growth.

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FIRST STEPS TO THE NEW QUALITY FUTURE

To establish the role of the Strategic Quality Advisor, companies need to realign their operating model. Leadership teams should:

MAP THE STRATEGIC ADVISOR ROLE. Taking stock of the business’ needs—rather than Quality’s needs—should determine where advisors sit within the business, and if it should be a dedicated role or folded into already existing roles. Determining how the role will affect the operating model before making changes is key to success.

SWAP THE LAB COAT FOR A SUIT COAT. Reorganize to integrate Quality into all critical activities and functions. Hire and embed employees with a digital and business focus. Train current Quality staff on business and collaboration skills.

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EQUIP QUALITY WITH DIGITAL TOOLS. Focus on analytics to predict and anticipate business issues—making a business case for the potential savings. Cautionary tales provide plenty of data on the cost of poor Quality.

SHIFT THE MINDSET OF THE ORGANIZATION. By speaking the language of the business, supporting innovation and embedding Quality professionals into teams throughout the business, Quality has a far better chance of sitting at the decision-making table.

Employing dedicated Strategic Quality Advisors puts companies more rapidly on the path to making these first steps an integral part of the way they do business. With lapses in Quality costing firms in the millions to billions, it cannot happen soon enough.

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CONTACT THE AUTHORS Giancarlo PoliMilan, Italygiancarlo.poli@accenture.com

Samuel CorralMilan, Italysamuel.corral@accenture.com

Philip KyteLondon, United Kingdomphilip.kyte@accenture.com

NOTES1 “Auto recalls hit record 53.2 million in 2016,” Automotive News, March 10, 2017.

2 “More than money: what a recall truly costs,” Food Dive, September 26, 2016.

3 Accenture Strategy analysis.4 Accenture Strategy Manufacturing research.5 Accenture Strategy project experience.6 Accenture Strategy Manufacturing research.7 Accenture Strategy “Supplier Quality in 2025”

survey.8 Ibid.9 Ibid.

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