General Electric - Quality Insurance Plan Development - Case Study Example

Quality Insurance Plan Development

Quality assurance programs are designed with the aim to assure that organizations are adhering to quality and standards. Quality assurance programs are continuous and systematically examine the appropriateness and adequacy of a company’s services and products. Quality assurance programs function as systems of check and balance for the organization by developing standards comprising of measurable goals, reviewing data related to standards, documenting procedures and policies, and staff training (Brilis, 2008). Therefore, similarly to the importance of data review and checking in a company data management efforts, development of a quality assurance plan is also crucial. Developing a plan to guide in reviewing data prior to its collection and compilation permits the quality assurance team to think systematically about the types of conflicts, errors, in addition to other forms of data related problems they may encounter in a certain data set. If complemented with resulting metadata and data, the accepted quality and assurance control measures assist in providing a vivid picture of the entire dataset.

An effective Quality Assurance is one that lists the actions needed to evaluate data, mentions how the choices were made with regard to the problem resolution, and the actions that were enacted in the effort to resolve the problems that arose at each stage in the data’s lifecycle. This paper will focus on four major parts necessary for the development of a quality assurance plan. The first part of the discussion will focus on quality objectives of the entire plan; the second part will focus on the roles and responsibilities that various individuals within the firm will have in the entire process. Next, the paper will discuss how the intended plan is to be implemented in coordination with existing plans to ensure that the Company runs smoothly. The discussion will end with a development of a strategy of how tasks are to be assigned and scheduled along a specified time frame.

Introduction

In my experience at General Electric, a multinational corporation, the significance of an effective quality control plan was revealed to me. This proposal is intended to improve the current policy in the company in the aim to provide products and services of quality that satisfies the continuing and initial needs of the company’s consumers while adhering to good engineering practices. In doing so, General Electric Company will be in a position to gain more competitive advantages by being the leader in quality reputation, particularly with respect to the nuclear energy industry (GE.com | imagination at work, 2016).

General Electric is globally recognized as a giant amongst other digital industrial companies. It is popular for its success in transforming industries with its software-defined solutions and machines that are responsive, predictive, and connected ("GE.com | imagination at work", 2016). The company is structured within a global exchange of knowledge where various businesses access and share the same intellect, technology, structure, and markets. The company is fuelled by innovation across a variety of industrial sectors that include oil and gas, healthcare, transportation, finance, power and water, and energy management amongst other industries. With a perfect and effective quality assurance plan, the company should be in a position to merge its personnel, stakeholders, scale, technology, and services to provide improved outcomes to their customers.

Quality Objectives

This quality assurance plan focuses mainly on the Company’s involvement in the Energy sector, particularly in Nuclear Power and Fuel Reprocessing. Under this plan, there will be a need to adhere to the quality assurance program guidelines required by the NRC Federal Regulation and the guidelines stipulated by the quality assurance principles for fuel reprocessing and nuclear power plants (10 CFR part 71). Other areas needed to be improved the transportation and storage field guided by the requirements necessitated by the Quality Assurance principles for packaging and shipping of radioactive material (10 CFR Part 71 Appendix E).

One area that needs to be improved is the procurement documents control. There have been instances where purchase orders and Request for Quotations have been prepared inappropriately. To solve this problem in the control of procurements, engineering personnel should make sure that quality guidelines are incorporated in the structural drawings including the specifications of their responsibilities. Moreover, the material requests should be classified in a manner that they accomplish a reflection of the Nuclear-Safety features of the procurement in addition to quality assurance efforts necessary for the implementation of the quality requirements. The drawings and the material requirements, accompanying documents, and other specifications will also require reviewing for quality requirements guided by quality assurance functions. Such requirements could include but not restricted to inspection plans, source inspection, specific quality clauses, access to and audit of vendor facilities, procedure and personnel qualification records, and material certifications. The next step to resolve this issue would be ensuring that vendors produce a quality assurance plans that are consistent with this Quality Assurance program’s requirements.

The other area that needs improvement is the management of purchased equipment, services, and materials. In this scope, the plan will have to mention measures that will guide the control of the purchase of services, materials, and equipment in accordance with the procurement documents. To achieve this, every vendor should be approved by the new quality assurance team. This will be followed by the summarization of vendor evaluation on a quality ability rating. Moreover, the vendor will be required to produce objective proof of his quality assurance plan that will function to supplement the assessment process. Before a bid award, the new plan necessitates the review of the vendor’s bid by the company and the purchasing team, the quality assurance team, and the MR (Material Request) initiator. If any deficiencies or exceptions are found, they will need to be resolved, after which the purchase order can now be prepared. The inspection of the source will also need to be inspected for quality assurance in accordance with the guidelines contained in the purchase order and material request. Moreover, every equipment should be inspected by the quality assurance team at the delivery or receiving facility. Documentary proof that the equipment, service, or material adheres to the procurement requirement should always be provided before the use or installation of the service, material, or equipment.

Roles and Responsibilities

In the scope of the control of procurement documents, various roles will be allocated to various personnel in the company. The engineer will be will be allocated the responsibility of preparing all material requests that will comprise the quality and classification requirements. The quality assurance team or function will be burdened with the responsibility of reviewing the material request to ascertain that the required quality requirements have been adhered to and included in the material request. The purchases or procurement team will then be burdened with the responsibility of submitting the material request package to all prospective bidders.

In the scope of the control of material, equipment, and service procurement, various roles will be allocated to the quality assurance, the material request initiator and the General Electric Company, and the procurement team. The quality assurance team will be allocated the responsibilities of conducting source inspection, quality assurance audits, vendor surveillance, and assessing and approving vendors. The quality assurance function will also be responsible for evaluating and approving quality assurance records provided by the vendor, conducting an inspection at the receiving facility, and practicing their duties with corrective action and nonconformance as stipulated by the company’s rule.

The material request initiator and the company will be burdened with the tasks of evaluating the approved potential sellers, and reviewing the purchase order to ensure that the material requirements guidelines have been included in the purchase order. On the other hand, the procurement officer will be responsible for incorporating the material requirement specifications and the conclusions of the vendor’s evaluation, into a purchase order.

Coordination with Other Plans

In order to enhance coordination with the existing plan, the control of procurement documents will need to involve a process that is systematic and incorporates all stakeholders associated with procurement (Evans, Lindsay, 2002). The procurement process will begin with the requestor initiating the material request. The quality assurance team will the review the material request followed by the finance and management’s approval. The procurement office or purchasing team will then take over the process and request for a purchase order or quotation by choosing a vendor from the approved vendors’ list and re-evaluating them. This process if followed precisely will facilitate the coordination of the suggested plan with the previous plan if every party involved in the process is to adhere to their responsibilities allocated by the new quality assurance plan.

To facilitate the coordination of the suggested quality assurance plan and the existing program with regard to the control of material, equipment, and service procurement, a detailed procurement process will be put in place. The process will begin with the delivery of the vendor’s feedback to the inspection at the receiving facility. This plan if followed strictly with each party playing its role will ensure the coordination of the current and new plan. After the response is received from the vendor, it is either approved or unapproved implying that there could be a bid or no bid. After a successful approval, the procurement team coordinates a review of the procurement with influence from the quality assurance team and the material request initiator. A vendor is then selected and the purchase order placed.

The purchase order must have been approved by the quality assurance team and the material request initiator. The next process will entail the fabrication after which an inspection at the receiving facility will be conducted. An inspection of the vendor or the source will be conducted. The inspection will be conducted in the following procedure. First, there will be an approval for inspection followed by a reception of the inspection plan. Next, the quality inspection data will be provided after which the quality assurance team will review the data. This will either lead to rejection or acceptance. In the case of acceptance, the next process will be material storage of the procured items. If rejected, the materials will be transferred to a segregated storage where they may be considered as scrap, or rejected. A mon-conformance report may also be needed after which if a resolution is achieved, the materials are accepted and the materials are stored.

Tasks and Scheduling

Acknowledging that this is a new plan that will be introduced in an already existing organizational culture, there will be a need to develop a strategy to minimize negative impacts that such changes would have while striving to act stealthily against time to meet the company’s goals. This process will require involving all teams involved, particularly the management personnel, quality assurance team, the procurement team, and any other person engaged in these processes. Initially, there will be a 4-day training session to educate the chosen personnel on how to implement the plan and familiarize with it. Next, there will be a need to choose a person who will be responsible for overseeing the implementation of the plan.

The person will be chosen by the management with the approval of the quality assurance team. This will only need a day. The chosen representative will ensure that the plan is communicated to all concerned parties in the company and its affiliate firms. Next, there will be a need to choose the time to enact the plan. This could be the following month to minimize the loss the company is already experiencing under the guidance of the current plan. Next, each party will be allocated specific time to complete his duty in the above processes. Though this time may differ with the nature of the task, the each party should be allocated the shortest time possible to help in optimizing time since time is a major and crucial resource for the company.

Conclusion

General Electric is a multinational corporation which requires a strict quality assurance plan in place to oversee its operation for the provision of quality services. Implementing this suggested corrective actions plans in the quality assurance will be beneficial, particularly to save the company from unsatisfactory results and help the company improve performance. This plan holds the management and heads of departments, particularly the quality assurance team and the procurement office accountable for implementing the plan and achieving results. The management and the quality assurance team should continue monitoring the plan and other company operations to make sure the corporation is providing the best services and products possible.