Implementing and Improving Quality Management Systems in the Capital Facilities Delivery Industry

Many challenges confront companies that are involved in the capital facilities delivery (CFD) industry. Periods of tremendous growth may be interrupted by economic downturn. Capital assets are aging and costs to maintain and replace them are increasing. Changing workforce demographics and the availability of resources are affecting the planning and execution of capital projects. These challenges call for a renewed focus on proactively managing quality, and demand an increased awareness of the impact an effective Quality Management System (QMS) can have on the success of an organization.

The CII body of knowledge (BOK) on quality management (QM) from past research is extensive; however, advancements in technologies, tools, and processes have changed how quality management systems (QM systems) are currently being used for capital facilities project management. Furthermore, practices once thought to be valuable may have lost some of their effectiveness. For these reasons, CII created the Quality Management in the Capital Facilities Delivery Industry Research Team to re-examine the best practices in the CFD industry.

This implementation resource (IR) has been written to give owners and contractors in the CFD industry an understanding of what constitutes a modern quality management system (QMS). It also offers the following three-step process for implementing and improving a QMS:

1. Define and implement your QMS.
2. Assess the maturity of your QMS.
3. Improve your QMS.

In addition, to support this three-step process, this IR presents, a set of resources tailored to the CFD industry and developed from the CII research on quality management.

These resources include the following key tools:

• The Quality Management/Business Excellence Systems Correlation Matrix allows users to compare the strategy, approaches, and tools that comprise different quality systems.
• The ISO 9001 Compliance Checklist assists in the evaluation of an existing QMS against ISO 9001.
• The Quality Maturity Matrix for Capital Facilities Delivery is a self-assessment tool for determining QMS maturity.
• The QMS Implementation Drivers show the distinctly different sequences that drive the evolution of QMS priorities in both owner and contractor organizations.
• The RT 254 Recommended QM Practices identify the most significant differences between organizations that report highly effective QMS and those that report less effective QMS in the CFD industry.

Together, these tools provide a new and simple framework for implementing, recognizing, and prioritizing opportunities for improving the QM systems employed by both owners and contractors.