The monthly quality meeting
Chaired by the general manager, sixty minutes, the same day each month. The scorecard is the front page; everything else is opened only when a line on it moves. The meeting ends with every off-target measure carrying an owner and an action.
Management review
Each quarter the scorecard, the objectives register, the NCR trend and the cost summary go into the management review data pack (AQL-F03) as the inputs on customer satisfaction, objectives, process performance, product conformity, corrective action and suppliers. The Management Review Kit handbook (AQL-K02) covers the review itself.
The recovery report
When a problem is big enough that executives, or a customer's executives, want regular updates (an escape, a scorecard drop, a probation, a customer corrective action request), report it on the Executive Quality Recovery Report (AQL-F12): eight slides, the same every time, from what happened to what we need, with closure criteria agreed in the first report. Report setbacks on it before anyone else does.
A page for the general manager
Between meetings, the general manager needs three things: which measures are off target, what is being done, and whether anything needs them. The dashboard Summary answers the first; the Action or comment column the second; the third is a short list of decisions, each with a date.
We send it as five lines, the day after the meeting: the month, what is off target, this month's corrective action, the objectives at risk, and the decisions needed.
Questions management will ask, and how we answer them
| The question | Where the answer is | How we answer |
|---|---|---|
| Are we getting better or worse? | Scorecard: Direction and Months on target (F08) | Name the measures getting worse first, then the ones improving, with the three-month figures. One sentence each. |
| Why did this number jump? | The data tab month by month; the NCR trend's split columns (F09) | Say whether it is a signal or noise before saying why. Most jumps are one event; name it. |
| Which customer is unhappy? | Customer scorecards; complaints; escapes | Give the customer's own number and its trend, then what we are doing, with a date. |
| What is this costing us? | Cost of poor quality summary (F11) | The full figure as a share of sales, the share estimated, and the largest failure element. Then one improvement case. |
| Why isn't the corrective action working? | Repeats (F09); closed versus shown effective (B09) | Show the effectiveness evidence, or say it was never checked and when it will be. |
| Are we ready for the audit? | Readiness front page and 30/60/90 plan (A03) | The counts that need action, what is being done about each, and what an auditor will most likely sample. |
| What do you need from me? | Decisions list | Each request as approve, choose or date, with the cost and the date it is needed by. |
If an answer needs more than a minute, it belongs in the next meeting's agenda with the evidence, not in a long explanation in the room. 'I'll bring the Pareto by cause next week' is a good answer.
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A management aid, not certification or a registrar audit. Using it does not by itself show conformity to AS9100D or any other standard, and your customers' requirements may add to it.
Clause numbers refer to AS9100D (SAE AS9100 Rev D) unless another document is named. The standards' text is not reproduced here: use your own licensed copy.
Aegis Insights are our own guidance, labeled wherever they appear: how we approach this work, not a requirement of any standard or customer.