Quality in Action
Turbo+ case study
Turbomeca UK’s enviable track record in Quality Control has been achieved, in part, through its success in implementing the corporate-wide Turbo+ programme. By involving every member of its organisation in the drive towards continuous improvement and striving to identify non-conformities as early as possible, engines are being repaired more quickly and the level of customer complaints has been reduced to almost zero. Quality & Business Improvement Director Tony Cross explains how Turbo+ works and what it has brought to the UK operation.
“It starts on the shop-floor, at machine operator level. If one of them encounters anything out of the ordinary – from a missing tool to an unclear sentence in a manual – they are required to make an entry on a line-board. Similar procedures apply to the New Production and Front Office teams. Only then is the issue discussed with the team leader, who decides on a course of action. If it cannot be resolved there and then, on the line, the matter escalates to the shop level where a PDCA (Plan Do Check Act) process is initiated.”
All PDCAs are dealt with at shop level and Turbomeca France is subsequently briefed on both event and solution.
Shop-boards for each division are inspected at fixed daily times by managers, and by the CEO and COO if onsite, while basic audits are carried out by the Quality Team on a weekly basis. At least twice a year, the British efforts are assessed by Turbomeca France’s Quality Department .
“Customer complaints are invariably dealt with at shop level. Since we committed to the Turbo+ model, the annual number of complaints has dropped from 20, in 2005, to just one during 2009. At the same time the number of PDCAs has risen, indicating that while potential anomalies still arise, they are identified and resolved, long before the customer becomes involved, Customers themselves have noted the improvements and some have even adopted the programme themselves.”
Our efforts to embrace the principles of Turbo+ continue to be highly rated by the Quality Team in France. However Tony is not complacent. “The minute you think you have achieved total quality, is the point at which you fail. We are on a journey but there is no final destination. There is no such thing as total quality.”
