Vlitix

06/02/2024

“𝐖𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐢𝐬 𝐦𝐲 𝐪𝐮𝐚𝐥𝐢𝐭𝐲 𝐦𝐚𝐧𝐚𝐠𝐞𝐫 𝐚𝐜𝐭𝐮𝐚𝐥𝐥𝐲 𝐝𝐨𝐢𝐧𝐠? 𝐒𝐡𝐞’𝐬 𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐲 𝐛𝐮𝐬𝐲, 𝐛𝐮𝐭 𝐈 𝐝𝐨𝐧’𝐭 𝐤𝐧𝐨𝐰 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐰𝐡𝐚𝐭.”.....

29/01/2024

✋🏻 𝐒𝐭𝐨𝐩 𝐰𝐨𝐫𝐤𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐨𝐧 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐪𝐮𝐚𝐥𝐢𝐭𝐲 𝐦𝐚𝐧𝐚𝐠𝐞𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐭 𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐲 𝐭𝐢𝐦𝐞 𝐚𝐧 𝐚𝐮𝐝𝐢𝐭 𝐢𝐬 𝐜𝐨𝐦𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐮𝐩: you won’t have sustainable results, is my experience after being 32 years in quality management.

Your certification audit is coming up and in the last couple of weeks everybody is working very hard 🏃🏻 to make sure everything is OK: internal audits are done in a hurry, the list with corrective actions is reviewed and updated; the objectives of your quality & food safety culture plan are reviewed, the supplier evaluation is formalised…

Recognisable?

Once, I gave a contract manufacturer 𝐚 𝐦𝐚𝐣𝐨𝐫 𝐧𝐨𝐧𝐜𝐨𝐦𝐩𝐥𝐢𝐚𝐧𝐜𝐞 for “window dressing” for this approach, after I deep dived into document statistics and found that the majority of documents was updated 1 to 2 weeks before the audit.

It was their final warning before being kicked out of the supply base.

That’s how important I find “𝐬𝐮𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐢𝐧𝐚𝐛𝐥𝐞 𝐪𝐮𝐚𝐥𝐢𝐭𝐲 𝐦𝐚𝐧𝐚𝐠𝐞𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐭”, and I made it the company mission to help companies towards that, whether it’s during coaching or audits. You can find more information about Vlitix on our website (vlitix .com).

The 7 elements of sustainable quality management are

🚀 𝐂𝐨𝐧𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐮𝐨𝐮𝐬 𝐈𝐦𝐩𝐫𝐨𝐯𝐞𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐭: make changes based on feedback from customers, suppliers, staff (which includes internal audits) and relevant stakeholders;

🔎 𝐂𝐮𝐬𝐭𝐨𝐦𝐞𝐫 𝐅𝐨𝐜𝐮𝐬: you always put the interests of your client first, otherwise you will lose market share and ultimately become obsolete.

🎯 𝐋𝐞𝐚𝐝𝐞𝐫𝐬𝐡𝐢𝐩: Everything starts with your mission & vision motivating others towards achieving common goals. Have a clear direction, set standards and create a quality & food safety culture.

🎉 𝐈𝐧𝐧𝐨𝐯𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧: If you want to stay ahead of the competition, you need to innovate. Risk assessment is the quality tool to minimise its impact on the organisation. Be risk-tolerant.

✍🏻 𝐀𝐝𝐚𝐩𝐭𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧: To ensure that you remain relevant, you need to constantly evaluate yourself and determine what areas require improvement, and act to it.

🗣️ 𝐓𝐫𝐚𝐧𝐬𝐩𝐚𝐫𝐞𝐧𝐜𝐲: Transparency allows everyone to see clearly why decisions were made and help prevent miscommunication.

👷🏻 𝐒𝐨𝐜𝐢𝐚𝐥 𝐑𝐞𝐬𝐩𝐨𝐧𝐬𝐢𝐛𝐢𝐥𝐢𝐭𝐲: It’s obvious to not harm people or the environment. But dare to go the extra mile: give back to the community, as I did in Malawi for instance, where I helped a tea company with their quality management.

Focus on these areas, and you will be more at ease for every audit 😉.

26/01/2024

When an auditee gets tears in the eyes 🥲 from all the value received during an audit, you know you changed a life.

For one of our US clients, I audited a potential new contract manufacturer: a small, FSSC certified, company was very eager to start the business with our client.

The owner, a young lady who was the only person who spoke English, was my auditee: a very open and constructive mentality, and willing to learn from the audit. Her quality consultant was present to answer the technical questions after translation.

I explained my concerns 🙁 about things like:

🌡️ the pasteurisation process as e.g.; the PLC’s showed different temperatures than what was required,

⚠️ the HACCP risk assessment resulting in pasteurising a part of the product twice (both marked as CCP),

🐁 insufficient pest control,

and I shared ideas on how to improve things, and how to make the process more efficient (and save money 💲 at the same time).

The situation was not looking good, to be honest. And she knew.

During the close-out meeting, she got tears in her eyes: thank you Bart, I learned so much about my own process.

Moments like these remind me why I started Vlitix 8,5 years ago: sharing my 32 years of quality & food safety knowledge and experience, to help companies towards sustainable quality management with coaching and auditing.

24/01/2024

You miss a big opportunity to 𝐩𝐮𝐭 𝐪𝐮𝐚𝐥𝐢𝐭𝐲 𝐨𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐦𝐚𝐩 when your quality policy is too generic: my 32 years of quality experience taught me that this is the way to go 👇🏻.

9 out of 10 quality policies are written because it’s expected by a standard, and only contain the elements required by that standard: sounds familiar 🤔?

Last year I gave people the opportunity to have quality policies reviewed for free, and they all could replace one another. Not one was specific for the company they were coming from 🙄.

Why is this an issue?

💡 Your quality policy should answer the question what quality stands for in your organisation. With a generic one, it is unclear how quality is contributing to the business.

𝐈𝐭 𝐬𝐡𝐨𝐮𝐥𝐝 𝐛𝐞 𝐥𝐢𝐧𝐤𝐞𝐝 𝐭𝐨 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐦𝐢𝐬𝐬𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐯𝐢𝐬𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐨𝐟 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐜𝐨𝐦𝐩𝐚𝐧𝐲, 𝐭𝐞𝐥𝐥𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐲𝐨𝐧𝐞 𝐢𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐨𝐫𝐠𝐚𝐧𝐢𝐬𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐡𝐨𝐰 𝐪𝐮𝐚𝐥𝐢𝐭𝐲 𝐢𝐬 𝐜𝐨𝐧𝐭𝐫𝐢𝐛𝐮𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐭𝐨 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐦𝐢𝐬𝐬𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐯𝐢𝐬𝐢𝐨𝐧.

You want to have your quality policy reviewed as well? Send me a DM with the keyword POLICY, and I will arrange a meeting to come to a value adding policy.

23/01/2024

When it feels like your 𝐪𝐮𝐚𝐥𝐢𝐭𝐲 manager is 𝐧𝐨𝐭 𝐚𝐝𝐝𝐢𝐧𝐠 much 𝐯𝐚𝐥𝐮𝐞 and is only complaining, 𝘆𝗼𝘂 𝗻𝗲𝗲𝗱 𝘁𝗼 𝗿𝗲𝗮𝗱 𝘁𝗵𝗶𝘀: I’m sharing 32 years of quality experience and insights 💎 with you.

You hired a, or promoted someone to, quality manager because you were convinced that this person had the technical and management skills to do so.

And you’re probably right: you see that confirmation in audit results, in how quality issues are managed, that all quality controls are taking place, complaints are handled… 👍🏻

But you also notice that the impact on the organization is low, that the quality engagement is poor, and that your quality manager is complaining about that lack of ownership 🤔.

On top of that, you don’t see the added financial 💲 value of quality: you get what you pay for, but there is no financial return.

And it’s not the fault of your quality manager: you don’t know what you don’t know 🤷🏼‍♂️. Quality people are very good in what they do, but not good in marketing and selling quality in your organisation.

👉🏻 Rewrite your quality policy to make clear how quality is contributing to the bigger picture, create more time to prevent issues from happening by tackling the main quality issue once and for all, and demonstrate the added financial value by using quality tools and techniques.

This is exactly the process we coached several quality & food safety managers on in the last year.

Send me a DM with the keyword 𝐐𝐓𝐈𝐏, and I’ll arrange a video-call with you to explain the things your quality manager can do now to create value and job satisfaction tomorrow.

22/01/2024

“𝐎𝐮𝐫 𝐐𝐮𝐚𝐥𝐢𝐭𝐲 𝐒𝐲𝐬𝐭𝐞𝐦 𝐢𝐬 𝐧𝐨𝐭 𝐬𝐮𝐩𝐩𝐨𝐫𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐠𝐫𝐨𝐰𝐭𝐡 𝐨𝐟 𝐦𝐲 𝐜𝐨𝐦𝐩𝐚𝐧𝐲. 𝐂𝐚𝐧 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐟𝐢𝐱 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐬?” 🚀
Yes, I can with my 32 years within quality, from lab technician to group quality director. That's why I started Vlitix.

I was glad that this CEO recognised that not 💯% of the possibilities were used in their quality management system, and you probably know it as well.

His Quality manager was spending a tremendous amount of time keeping the quality management system up-to-date: she was maintaining the system almost on her own for the audits, and on top of that fixing the daily quality issues, and doing product development.

Here’s what we did, and we is the quality manager and me:

📑 simplified the quality management system: keep what’s good, improve what’s needed, get rid of non-adding value parts of the system;

💪🏻 got the different stakeholders involved, and let them take ownership of their process

📉 implemented quality related KPIs and a quality dashboard

🛠️ worked on the main driver for product nonconformities and complaints

💰 demonstrated the added financial value of quality, and a 60% reduction in customer complaints.

After all this she claims to have 50% of her time back, which she could invest in product development.

Product development that will attract new customers, new business.

You can find their case study on our website: https://www.vlitix.com/cases/10/van-gils

I’m convinced that when you take the steps we did, you will have a sustainable (quality) management system that will not only be the foundation for further growth of your business, but is also something to go back to when times get rough.

Thank you for the time you took to read this: I hope it inspired you on what sustainable quality management can do for you and your business.

A quality system with a truly valuable implementation: discover how Vlitix provided the proverbial cherry on top for dessert specialist Van Gils.

19/01/2024

In every role I took within Quality over the last 32 years, these 𝟕 𝐐𝐮𝐚𝐥𝐢𝐭𝐲 𝐌𝐚𝐧𝐚𝐠𝐞𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐭 𝐏𝐫𝐢𝐧𝐜𝐢𝐩𝐥𝐞𝐬 have always been, consciously or unconsciously, with me, and they made me 𝘀𝘂𝗰𝗰𝗲𝘀𝘀𝗳𝘂𝗹 𝘄𝗶𝘁𝗵𝗶𝗻 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗾𝘂𝗮𝗹𝗶𝘁𝘆 𝘄𝗼𝗿𝗹𝗱.

All the 7 principles are equally important, it is finding the constant balance ⚖️ between them that might make it difficult: the world is changing, your organisation is changing, your role is changing, and so do the priorities within these principles change.

These 7 Quality Management principles are
👉🏻 customer focus
👉🏻 leadership
👉🏻 engagement of people
👉🏻 process approach
👉🏻 improvement
👉🏻 evidence-based decision making
👉🏻 relationship management

Based on ISO 9000:2015, I made a document for you with the rationale for each principle, some key benefits per principle, as well as possible actions you can take within each principle.

Follow me, connect with me when you want to be updated on the quality insights I share.

18/01/2024

Frustrated with quality being seen as a cost and not as a priority? In my 32 years in quality, I’ve helped tens of quality & food safety managers to have a seat on the table where they can make impactful decisions. Interested? DM me the key word 𝐐𝐓𝐈𝐏, and let’s chat to see if it’s a fit.

17/01/2024

🚨“𝐈𝐭’𝐬 𝐚 𝐜𝐫𝐢𝐭𝐢𝐜𝐚𝐥 𝐟𝐢𝐧𝐝𝐢𝐧𝐠, 𝐛𝐮𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐢𝐬 𝐧𝐨𝐭 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐭𝐨 𝐦𝐚𝐧𝐚𝐠𝐞”: a lesson about ownership of Quality & Food Safety.

Experienced quality and food safety audits are a source I often use to share valuable lessons learned.

💪🏻 This audit was well prepared by the site quality manager, and even the regional quality manager was present.

Everything went well, until we entered the mixing area: a contractor was welding next to an open cooking vessel 😱. Sparks and drips of metal and slag can travel a considerable distance, and the vessels were not shielded.

With this critical finding, 𝐩𝐫𝐨𝐝𝐮𝐜𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐰𝐚𝐬 𝐬𝐭𝐨𝐩𝐩𝐞𝐝 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐚𝐮𝐝𝐢𝐭 𝐰𝐚𝐬 𝐨𝐯𝐞𝐫.

The quality manager, who was already frustrated with the lack of support from other departments, got tears in his eyes 😢… he had enough of the whole situation, this was the straw that broke the camel's back.

His manager stepped in and told him: “𝐈𝐭’𝐬 𝐚 𝐜𝐫𝐢𝐭𝐢𝐜𝐚𝐥 𝐟𝐢𝐧𝐝𝐢𝐧𝐠, 𝐛𝐮𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐢𝐬 𝐧𝐨𝐭 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐭𝐨 𝐦𝐚𝐧𝐚𝐠𝐞. Call the production and the maintenance manager.”

The reputational damage for the site was huge: the confidence that quality and food safety were under control was gone in 15 seconds 💨.

💡 Quality and food safety are not the sole responsibility of the quality department, but it is the role of the quality manager to facilitate quality and food safety within the organisation.

This is not an easy role to play, so I’m giving you the opportunity to tap into my knowledge and experience on how to achieve this.

For January, there are 𝐨𝐧𝐥𝐲 𝟑 𝐟𝐫𝐞𝐞 𝐬𝐩𝐨𝐭𝐬 𝐥𝐞𝐟𝐭: send me a DM with the key word 𝐒𝐔𝐏𝐏𝐎𝐑𝐓, and I’ll reach out to see if I can be of any help to you.

16/01/2024

Managers who acknowledge that their Quality System is not supporting the growth 🚀 of their company, understand 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐭𝐫𝐮𝐞 𝐛𝐞𝐧𝐞𝐟𝐢𝐭 𝐨𝐟 𝐬𝐮𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐢𝐧𝐚𝐛𝐥𝐞 𝐪𝐮𝐚𝐥𝐢𝐭𝐲 𝐦𝐚𝐧𝐚𝐠𝐞𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐭.

Unfortunately seeking help to fix 🛠️ that seems a big hurdle, while they don’t realise they are not in a unique situation, and somebody solved the problem before.

I’ve seen it during my 25 years in corporate quality at suppliers, contract manufacturers and own facilities, and during my 8,5 years at Vlitix.

Systems are static, not evolving with the company, and the quality manager is spending a lot of time maintaining the management system and fixing daily quality issues 😔.

While this time would be better used to make the system work for the organisation, and make it more sustainable.

Or like someone told me lately: it feels like the side activities within quality became the head activities, and I don’t know how to get out of that situation 🤷🏼‍♂️.

During our 1-hour conversation, I guided the quality manager towards the solution… just in time, as he was ready to give up.

Send me a DM with the key word 𝐒𝐔𝐏𝐏𝐎𝐑𝐓, and I will schedule a similar free meeting with you.

Attention: only 4 spots left for January!

15/01/2024

To all food quality managers, I have a 𝐜𝐡𝐚𝐥𝐥𝐞𝐧𝐠𝐞 for you: 𝟑𝟎 𝐝𝐚𝐲𝐬 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡𝐨𝐮𝐭 𝐜𝐨𝐦𝐩𝐥𝐚𝐢𝐧𝐢𝐧𝐠! (And I want to help you with that 😉 )

Monday 15 January 2024 is known as Blue Monday, but it is also the start of a challenge in Flanders, the region where I live, to live 30 days without complaining… 30 days of positivity 😁 .

And I’m specifically addressing food quality managers, because I know your situation as I’ve been there myself: in 24 years I climbed the quality ladder from lab technician to group quality director.

To be honest, I didn’t start my challenge very well: this morning at 7, it was very cold 🧣 at the gym , and I started complaining about it to a gentleman of about 75 years old.

“Let’s do the warming up together,” he said, “it’s the only thing you can do about that cold”. 30 minutes later I was pumping iron 🏋‍♂️ , the first training of the week.

I can imagine you left your office on Friday evening, and everything was still fine. And this morning you might have found out that the late shift on Friday messed up, again, and that your week is starting with a big quality issue, again 😒 .

Like I said, I know that feeling, and I also know that there is a solution to that. It’s that strong belief and the will to fix it that made me climb that quality ladder.

Now, I’m 54 and not 75 like the gentleman at the gym, but I’m confident that I can help you as well, away from your biggest quality issue in this case: I have 𝟒 𝐬𝐩𝐨𝐭𝐬 𝐥𝐞𝐟𝐭 𝐨𝐮𝐭 𝐨𝐟 𝟖 in January to help you for free with your biggest quality challenge, and this might help you in your "30 days without complaining challenge".

Send me a DM with the key word 𝐒𝐔𝐏𝐏𝐎𝐑𝐓, and I’ll set up a meeting with you.

The next thing to do, is print this “30 days without complaining calendar”, and mark the day of our appointment: it will be your moment to look forward to.

12/01/2024

🤢 𝐒𝐢𝐜𝐤 𝐨𝐟 𝐪𝐮𝐚𝐥𝐢𝐭𝐲 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐟𝐨𝐨𝐝 𝐬𝐚𝐟𝐞𝐭𝐲 𝐢𝐧𝐜𝐢𝐝𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐬? What I learned the hard way in my first 20 years in quality, the solution I found, and what I've been coaching quality managers on already for the last 12 years.

When investigating 🔎 a quality or food safety incident, you will often find that the reason why it happened is that 𝐚 𝐜𝐡𝐚𝐧𝐠𝐞 𝐰𝐚𝐬 𝐧𝐨𝐭 𝐢𝐦𝐩𝐥𝐞𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐞𝐝 𝐜𝐨𝐫𝐫𝐞𝐜𝐭𝐥𝐲, or a validated process was not followed (which is actually 𝐚𝐧 𝐮𝐧𝐜𝐨𝐧𝐭𝐫𝐨𝐥𝐥𝐞𝐝 𝐜𝐡𝐚𝐧𝐠𝐞).

Having a change management process in place, as we always request during a client’s supplier audit, is not enough: a system is as good as its weakest link 🔗.

But what is that weakest link in a change management process 🤷🏼‍♂️?

During management training at Campbell's I was introduced to 𝐀𝐃𝐊𝐀𝐑: a model for change in business by Jeffrey M. Hiatt, and found the solution to better change management and thus in 𝐫𝐞𝐝𝐮𝐜𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐪𝐮𝐚𝐥𝐢𝐭𝐲 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐟𝐨𝐨𝐝 𝐬𝐚𝐟𝐞𝐭𝐲 𝐢𝐧𝐜𝐢𝐝𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐬.

The model consists of 5 elements:

𝐀wareness of the need to change: are people aware why the change is being made, and the risk of not changing? Do they know the internal and external drivers that created the need for change, as well as “what’s in it for me.”? This last element is crucial, as people will step into the action to move away from the pain they have, or to go to a more pleasant situation.

𝐃esire to support and participate in the change: are people willing to support and engage in the change? Their choice is again determined by their personal situation, as well as their individual intrinsic motivators.

𝐊nowledge of how to change: do people have the right and sufficient knowledge, information, training and education to know how to change? When they don’t have a clue what is needed to make the change happen, nothing will be done.

𝐀bility to implement required skills and behaviours: Can people turn that knowledge into action? Ability is achieved when the capability to implement the change at the required performance levels is demonstrated.

𝐑einforcement to sustain the change: There are external and internal factors that sustain change. External reinforcements could include recognition, rewards and for sure celebrations that are tied to the realisation of the change: celebrate every (small) success! Internal reinforcements could be internal satisfaction with the achievement or other benefits derived from the change on a personal level.

For a change to be successful, all 5 elements need to be present in this exact order. What is the most common weakest link in the process in your experience?

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