Jesús Luque is currently responsible for Tecnopol’s quality system. With more than 10 years of experience in the sector, Jesus is an expert in quality management and has been instrumental in obtaining ISO 9001 certification by Tecnopol.
As responsible for the quality system, Jesús is responsible for supervising and ensuring the correct application of the processes and procedures necessary to ensure the quality of the products and services offered by Tecnopol.
His experience and knowledge in the area of quality have been key to obtaining ISO 9001 certification, a globally recognized standard that guarantees the quality of a company’s processes and products.
In this interview, Jesús tells us about his experience in the sector and the importance of quality management at Tecnopol.
What is your job as Quality Manager?
Making a quick summary, we could say that it mainly consists of the implementation of a quality management system, as well as ensuring its compliance through a system of continuous improvement.
How important do you think a quality management system is in an organization? What are the benefits?
I think a quality management system is vital in any organization looking to improve the efficiency of its processes, products and services. These systems provide a solid foundation on which to plan, implement, monitor and continuously improve quality in all aspects of the organization.
The advantages offered by such systems could be summarized mainly in the following four points:
Improved customer satisfaction: By focusing on customer satisfaction, it helps the organization meet and exceed its customers' expectations.
Increased staff engagement and participation: A quality management system involves all staff in continuous quality improvement, which can increase staff engagement and participation and create a more positive work environment.
Compliance with requirements and regulations: A quality management system can help the organization meet the regulations and requirements applicable to its sector.
What are the main challenges you face to maintain high quality standards in the company?
It is certainly not easy to maintain a high standard of quality. Obtaining and above all maintaining a quality system is arduous and costly work both time and resources. If we go into the challenges we could say that they are mainly:
Resistance to change: Often, the changes needed to improve quality can be perceived as threats by some members of the organization. It is important to overcome this resistance to change and ensure that all members of the organization are committed and willing to implement the changes needed to improve quality. As I said earlier, maintaining high quality standards can require considerable resources, such as time, trained personnel and advanced technology. If the organization does not have sufficient resources to support the quality management system, it may not be able to maintain high quality standards in the long run.
Finally, a challenge that has proven vital in recent years is the changes in market demand and expectations that require the organization to constantly adapt its processes and products/services to maintain high standards of quality. This may require rapid response and constant attention to market trends and needs.
Recently Tecnopol has obtained the ISO9001, what has been your role in obtaining this certificate?
My role within the process has mainly been to coordinate and direct the project implementation of the quality management system. I have worked with colleagues from both Tecnopol and the quality departments of Mapei Corporate and Spain. I want to take advantage once again and thank the whole team for the work done, without their effort to obtain ISO accreditation with a certification company as important as Certiquality would not have been possible. I am very happy and proud of the work we have done together.
What skills do you think are essential for a Quality Manager?
How have you developed these skills in your professional career?
After having been involved in this implementation process in my opinion it is important that the quality manager has an important knowledge in the company or system in which he wants to implement the management system. If we talked about skills in a general way I would say that technical knowledge and analytical skills are essential for identifying possible problems and identifying opportunities for improvement. Similarly, skills related to communication, leadership and problem solving are quite important skills as well. As I mentioned earlier in the challenges of the system, resistance to change and the involvement of the team is vital for a correct implementation of the system, which means that correct leadership skills and especially communication help to solve these difficulties.
How do you foster a quality culture across the organization? What strategies do you employ to ensure that all employees understand the importance of quality and are committed to company standards?
Mainly by clearly communicating the importance of quality: It is essential that all employees understand the importance of quality and how their work affects the overall quality of the company. Clear and effective communication is essential to ensure that all employees are aligned with the organization’s quality objectives.
It is also necessary to provide training in quality skills and techniques can help employees understand how their actions affect the overall quality of the organization. Continuous training and development are essential to keep employees up-to-date and motivated in quality improvement as well as being the best way to involve employees in their own quality improvement.
Finally, it is imperative to set clear and measurable goals, this helps employees understand the quality objectives of the organization and how their work contributes to achieving them. Once the objectives have been achieved, quality achievements should be recognised and rewarded. Positive feedback is essential to keep employees motivated and engaged in quality improvement.
What methodologies or tools do you use to evaluate and improve the quality of the company’s products or services? How do you identify and address areas for improvement?
There are various methodologies and tools that can be used to evaluate and improve a company’s services. They range from internal audits, data analysis or external feedback from the customer satisfaction survey.
In this sense this year we aim to launch a new satisfaction survey for our customers as well as other means to make an assessment and a study of the results to obtain a better overall picture and find possible points improvement.
Normally once the best points are established we always work on each of them as an independent project, always following the same four points: Analyze the data, set objectives, develop the action plan and finally a final monitoring and evaluation. This system is applicable to virtually any project, not just for improvement actions.
You have been at Tecnopol for more than 6 years, in terms of quality, how do you think the company has evolved in terms of quality?
Since I started working at Tecnopol there has been a huge change in this regard. When I started quality control and management were very basic. The quality policy was not implanted in the roots of the company. If I can say that I am proud of anything, it is that I have gradually generated a greater awareness of the importance of quality in the company.
We have implemented new strategies and practices to improve quality, such as conducting internal and external audits, adopting best practices and quality standards. It has concluded everything in obtaining ISO 9001 certification.
