ERP vs.

Quality:
Chicken vs. Egg

Optimize your operation

Organizations faced with optimizing their operations often
find themselves with several areas for improvement. ERP
and Quality often lead the list. While ERP has the name
recognition it is often not necessarily the best candidate
for a place to start.
Instead of going with name recognition, its best to review your
objectives.

What are your priorities?

Most people think that

quality costs money,
well I will tell you,
weve learned the hard
way not having quality
costs money. Building it
right the first time is one
of the few ways to save
money and actually
improve the company.
Fortune 100 CEO 
in CIO magazine

IQS

March 2007

White Paper Series

Saving time
Reducing cost
Increasing compliance

If we look at the top two drivers for most initiatives, most organizations
are surprised to learn that quality initiatives have a huge and
fast impact on time and cost reduction. Surprised? Many think
that quality costs money, when in reality poor quality increases
expenses often caused by errors created in redundant and ad hoc
work that is not tied to an overall process.
To quote a Fortune 100 CEO in CIO magazine Most people think that
quality costs money, well I will tell you, weve learned the hard way
not having quality costs money. Building it right the first time is one
of the few ways to save money and actually improve the company.
Fully optimizing your organization, and reaching Six Sigma status
will certainly reduce costs and time. But there is immediate value in
implementing quality that is often realized in the first phase.
The basics of quality save enormous amounts of time and money.
Benchmarks have revealed:
PPAP submittals dropping from five to six days to four to five hours
Compliance and audit preparation reduced from weeks to hours
Supplier scorecard generation went from three days to one hour
And every bit of data on the scorecard was traceable and defensible
Resolution of non-conformances and corrective actions
dropped from days to hours

www.iqs.com

ERP vs. Quality:

Chicken vs. Egg

IQS connects the dots better

than anyone in the quality 
business. Quality is about 
details - connecting detail, 
both horizontally across the
product life cycle, and vertically
up and down the supply chain.

We first used IQS to optimize
our operation internally. We
reduced labor costs, reduced
scrap, decreased PPM and
improved ECN processing. Weve
now expanded IQS out through
our Global operations. We were
able to bring up our Chinese
sourcing agent in a single 
day, and are now rolling out 
to our Asian suppliers. 

IQS, allowed us to met out 
stringent quality improvement
goals, and our short timeframes
with a minimal investment in
software and technology.
Kreg Kukor, 
Cequent, Divisional Manager

IQS

March 2007

White Paper Series

ERP Deployment
Now that you understand the dramatic and immediate time savings
implementing a quality application can create, you have either dashed
off an e-mail to get things rolling, or you are concerned that you
dont have the resources to support it. After all, the last ERP modules
you implemented took years, and a huge team of people either
that, or youve heard the stories. Most ERP applications either
require a high degree of customization, or a fair amount of
re-engineering, particularly if you are replacing an existing ERP/MRP.
Quality implementations on the other hand, and in particular IQS
derive the majority of their value out of the box and are deployed
in weeks or months with one or two people not years with a team.
If you started today, your quality system would be up and running
and delivering value in weeks, even before your ERP short list could
be developed.

But what about IT resources?

Everyone knows they are scarce and will be tied up for months on
an ERP deployment. IQS provides deployment flexibility with both a
traditional on-site implementation, and a hosted OnDemand model.
Many clients who want quick up-and-running programs start with
OnDemand and bring it in house when their IT resources have freed
up. By utilizing OnDemand there is virtually no need for IT resources
to deploy such robust quality management software. Those who do
chose to deploy on site will see a relatively small impact on their IT
staff with the fast, out-of-the-box implementation methodology
utilized by our services team.
Another concern you may have about which to deploy first is
compatibility. You want to make sure that everything is compatible
with the ERP system you choose. Over 80% of IQS customers do
interface with their ERP system. IQS has an open API toolkit that
allows us to develop smart interfaces that not only map and move
the data, but can perform business rules-based validation. IQS has
mapping to most of the major ERP systems, and deep manufacturing
experience to work with nuances in particular system. With IQS
you cant make a bad ERP choice. Many IQS customers have
looked at their ERP systems quality modules, and agree with the
analysts that ERP vendors dont offer the depth of detail or
connectivity to solve the detailed quality problems that are a reality
in manufacturing environments.

www.iqs.com

ERP vs. Quality:

Chicken vs. Egg

Manage erp with iqs

If you are starting your deployment today, chances are you have a
number of compliance audits, certifications, PPAP submittals and
other projects looming. Implementing a quality system allows you
to start gaining efficiencies in these areas immediately.
Finally, because IQS has a product launch module that manages all
the details of a product launch, you can use IQS to manage your
ERP implementation and deployment. If you have a project schedule,
you can import it into IQS, and with IQS centrally manage all of
the documents, assignments, execution of details, etc. Operational managers can assure work has been done properly, so project
and program managers can be sure that the project stays on track.

An IQS quality initiative

is an ideal way to show
positive bottom line 
benefit to your organization
on three fronts at once:
Time, Quality, and Value.
Now. Today.

IQS

March 2007

White Paper Series

To summarize; both ERP and quality initiatives are solid investments

for companies. ERP projects are long-running projects that can
consume an organization. To prevent the organization from falling
into ERP paralysis, it is important to choose other initiatives that
can move the company forward and deliver value while the company
is in the process of implementing an ERP framework. An IQS
quality initiative is an ideal way to show positive bottom line
benefit to your organization on three fronts at once: Time, Quality,
and Value. Now. Today.

Why wait to start saving?

www.iqs.com

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