Three Keys to Global Harmonization in Quality: Learning to Share

 Posted
by Tim Lozier on Mon, Mar 28, 2011

Growing up, I never was one to want to share my toys.  I wasn’t one to throw a temper tantrum and take my toys home, but I never really liked the whole concept of people touching my stuff.  Thinking back on it, it all boiled down to the fact that I kept my toys in a certain working order, and I didn’t want little Jimmy MacMillan going and getting his scummy hands all over it.
When I hear people talk about the challenges behind a global harmonization initiative, I can help but think of a group of kids not wanting to share the toys.  Each site within the organization, operating under their own Quality Management System, happy to have their specific processes just the way they like them.  Then someone comes along and says, “We’re going to standardize on a single platform”.  It’s akin to mom saying, “We’re going to pool all the neighborhood kids toys together into one room, and everyone is going to share (even dirty Jimmy Macmillan).   There are inherent challenges to harmonizing a solution, especially Quality Management.  However, with the right tools, harmonization can actually enable a single standardized environment, while at the same time sustaining each site’s unique business processes.  Below are a few key considerations when harmonizing your Quality Management System:

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