For new Quality Managers

You’ve been made Quality Manager. Now what?

If you've been handed quality without the time or authority to fix it, this page is for you: what the first 90 days should look like, how to make the case to the MD, and how we help you lead it rather than take it over.

Signs you're being set up to fail

None of these is your fault. All of them are fixable, and none needs a bigger binder.

  • The certificate passes its audits, but the same problems come back every month.
  • The failure log is full, but the root-cause column is almost always empty.
  • You are asked for a report that says things are getting better, without the means to make them better.
  • The causes sit in purchasing, design or the warehouse, and you have no authority there.
  • Quality is your second job, and it loses to your first one every busy week.

Your first 90 days

  1. Weeks 1–3

    Get the numbers

    Read every failure record, not a sample. Group them into families by cause and cost, and for each ask two questions: why did it happen, and why didn’t a check catch it? Agree a conservative cost per incident with finance, so the figure is one the board will believe.

  2. From week 3

    Contain the worst

    Put a few deliberate checks where the biggest families escape (at goods-in, at dispatch, before more work is made) and give site issues one channel. This stops the damage while the real fixes are built, and buys you credibility early.

  3. Months 2–3

    Fix a few families, properly

    Pick the handful of families that cost most and change the process behind each one, with an owner, a definition of done and a measure. Cheapest control first. Resist adding fields and forms: every check has to earn its place.

  4. Throughout

    Report in half a page

    A short weekly update to the MD: the cost-of-quality figure, measured the same way each time, what was fixed, what is in progress, and what the numbers say. Expect logged incidents to rise at first, because site fixes and office catches start being recorded. Say so before it happens.

Making the case to the MD

The owner signs, and owners buy protected margin, not ISO clauses. Translate before you ask.

  • Talk about margin, not compliance. “Rework cost us an estimated £X last quarter” lands; “we have 40 open NCRs” does not.
  • Use a conservative, agreed cost per incident rather than a big number nobody believes.
  • Ask for authority over a few named causes, not over “quality” in general.
  • Propose a checkpoint at day 30, so the MD can see results before committing further.

How we help

We coach you to lead it. We walk the work with you, help you read the failure records and cost them, run the first corrective actions alongside you, and help you report them so the board sees your progress. When we step back, the method stays with you.

The easiest place to start is a free Margin Leak Review: bring a sample of your records, and take what we find to your MD. If you need senior support for longer, a Fractional Quality Lead works with you a few days a month.

Where margin leaks → Quality glossary → Cost of poor quality calculator →

Bring your records. Take the findings to your MD.

A free hour with a sample of your rework or remedial records, showing where the money is going and what to fix first.

Book a Margin Leak Review

Free. About an hour. You keep the findings.