International energy business
We were please to be engaged on a strategic quality review by this international energy company with operations in UK, Vietnam, Indonesia and the Falkland Islands.
Our brief was to conduct a strategic quality review across the whole business. We deployed our expert team of quality professionals to carry out a structured diagnostic exercise focused on ten business areas defined by function and location.
3
Consultants
10
Business Areas
QFactorial Service offering
Implementation
Working in close collaboration with functional heads and in-country operations, we applied the 6 stages of the QFactorial Diagnostic Methodology: orientation, conversation, observation, documentation, data analysis, reporting. After defining and communicating the goals of the exercise, a programme of interviews with key personnel ensured broad stakeholder engagement from all areas.
Our diagnostic methodology has been developed ‘in action’, with lessons learned and embedded in the process after each deployment. One of the repeated lessons is the importance of triangulation – using different information sources – to enhance the credibility of results and conclusions. Hence: conversation, observation, documentation and data.
We presented our diagnostic report with conclusions by business area and by quality process, including actual case studies with opportunities for operational improvement and quality cost savings. We developed a strategic model to focus on common themes emerging from the work, then converted the model into a set of strategic workstreams with specific objectives. Finally, we designed an organisational structure to implement the workstreams in a co-ordinated way. All in all, we established the foundation for a strategic quality improvement programme.
At the formal presentation of our findings we were pleased to receive positive feedback on the “depth and detail” of the diagnostic study and the “inclusive approach” to engage with all areas of the business, including visits to London and Aberdeen and conference calls with distant colleagues in Vietnam and Indonesia.
Q! Feedback
“Quality is carried out in our business in different areas and often in different ways. We invited QFactorial to conduct a diagnostic exercise throughout a number of functions of our business across geographic areas where we operate. At the conclusion of the three-month programme, this has allowed us, for the first time, to obtain a holistic view of how Quality is approached within our business. At the conclusion of the diagnostic phase, QFactorial have proposed eight workstreams as part of a strategic quality management programme and this is now being evaluated.”
