Building a Competitive Edge Through TL 9000

TL 9000 is a quality management system designed specifically for the communications industry. As the minimum floor for performance, it has benefited both suppliers and service providers. Tim Harden, vice chairman of the QuEST Forum executive board and president of supply chain and fleet operations at AT&T Services, shared with us how TL 9000 improves AT&T’s supply chain, how it improves the entire ICT industry, and how TL 9000 will progress in the future. He praises ZTE’s contribution to the QuEST Forum and believes the Forum helps ZTE because of its focus on quality.

Q: Could you briefly introduce TL 9000?

A: TL 9000 is a worldwide standard that was established in 1998, so it is relatively young. It was built off ISO 9001 which does not change frequently. But the ICT industry and companies that are part of the industry have technology that changes every 12 to 18 months (according to Moore’s law). Because of this, we need to ensure we have a way of improving overall quality and build on a standard that is recognized worldwide. ISO 9001 is that standard, and the ISO governing body allowed the QuEST Forum to manage the TL 9000 standard, which includes the ISO. The intent of TL 9000 is to respond quickly to changes in technology while using the ISO as a basis. 

    TL 9000 is about increasing the level of performance of products that come to service providers and their customers so that all of the industry benefits from an increased level of quality. This saves the supplier and service provider money and improves the overall experience for end users. The mission of the QuEST Forum is to ensure there is a worldwide focus on quality and that TL 9000 and ISO 9001 become the base quality standards for companies that work in the ICT industry. Actually, we’ve expanded from telecommunications to ICT because software is now a very big part of the delivery of a product. Many software companies are now covered by TL 9000 as well.

Q: AT&T is a founding member of the QuEST Forum. How can AT&T improve its supply chain through TL 9000?

A: Ten companies came together to start the QuEST Forum in 1998, and AT&T was one of those founding companies. At that time, there was a void in the industry. Many new companies were delivering products to those ten companies, and the products did not have the right level of quality. So the ten companies came together and worked with ISO standards to create and manage the TL 9000 standard. The standard was developed by both suppliers and service providers.

    If you look at where AT&T was in 2002 (when we started tracking our suppliers) to where we are now, we went from suppliers meeting 77% of their performance targets to suppliers meeting 92% of their performance in a ten-year span. That is a significant improvement in quality in that ten-year span. It translates into faster introduction of products, and from a supplier’s standpoint, it translates into faster cash and faster earnings. From when I place the order to when I pay the supplier, the time is much shorter because now I have a quality product coming in. There is less re-work for both the supplier and AT&T, which means lower costs. You don’t have to come out many times to fix a product that has just been introduced.  

    There are great benefits for both suppliers and service providers. The experience for end users is also better because they are able to immediately get the benefit of the product without having to call back to service the product. That’s why AT&T continues to be involved in things that significantly lift the overall performance of suppliers. We also ensure that prospective entrants into the market achieve a minimum level of performance before they even get their foot in the door. The industry is performing much better as a result of this.

    ZTE has demonstrated a focus on TL 9000, and this is one of the traits AT&T wants to see. TL focuses on the experience between customers and suppliers. You can see much-improved overall performance in companies that are using it.

Q: How will service quality be affected by the growth of telecom services?

A: Overall performance has improved and will continue to do so as more companies get involved. One of the benefits of the QuEST Forum managing the standard is that as new expectations emerge from the marketplace, we can quickly introduce new metrics to manage product performance.

    A product that provides video to an end user is a good example. I don’t just want the hardware delivered on time; I also want the performance of the box to satisfy all requirements and expectations. With TL 9000, I can measure not only the delivery but also each of the built-in criteria to see whether the box is doing exactly what it is supposed to. If not, then every month we have a dialogue with our supplier to fix areas that aren’t performing. We keep a scorecard that is red, yellow, and green. It’s very easy for me, as an operator, to look at a company and see how much red is on their report. If there’s a lot of red, that means they have missed the metrics three months in a row. If it is green, then everything is ok. If it is yellow, it means they may have missed one time and it may just be an anomaly. So I watch them for a couple of months, and if they keep missing and their report turns red, I then pick up the phone and say “Why do you have trouble on this metric? Let’s figure out together how to fix that particular area of concern.” Then we can put a plan together and watch the performance again.

    So TL 9000 gives me an easy way of looking at all my suppliers, and I have scorecards on approximately 200 suppliers. From a supplier’s perspective, it is a two-way dialogue for joint improvement because AT&T wants to buy more from the supplier and suppliers want to sell more to AT&T. We have a common way to focus on these objectives, and we create much better solutions if we can measure results. The TL 9000 standard gives me metrics that I can apply immediately to all the processes between myself and a supplier. That improves performance.

    We are looking for ways to improve the base level of performance across the industry so that everybody in the industry is better off. I want each supplier to be successful, and one sure way to be successful is to improve product performance. You have less things going wrong. We have proven that those who are involved with TL 9000 perform better overall within the industry. So if you are involved with and apply these approaches, you will be much more competitive than your rivals down the street. That is another reason why AT&T stays involved—because it wants to see the entire industry improve its performance. For ZTE, the challenge is that you have many companies that supply parts to you. You have to make sure those individual companies have very-high-quality processes that meet your requirements. TL 9000 gives you a way of measuring how well your suppliers are meeting your requirements. It’s a very practical quality standard.

    The other thing that is important about this standard is that you can take a process end-to-end. So all the steps along the way, from the time an order is placed to the time you manufacture and ship it, can be measured. Now you have a golden thread all the way through the processes to improve overall performance. If I talk to you about something that isn’t working right, you have a very quick way of going back to see where a process isn’t functioning properly.

Q: You are leading the QuEST Forum’s strategic initiative called Measurements for Next Generation Networks. How is this initiative progressing?

A: The purpose of this program goes back to one of my initial statements: “This is a living standard; it isn’t static.” As the requirements from the customer base and the marketplace change, we need to make sure that the standards keep pace with the new requirements. The overall performance of a network used to be good if it was 99.9% reliable. Now if you are not at least 99.99% or even 99.999% then you are not competitive. That changed because expectations in the marketplace changed. Because of that, we have to go back and look at the TL 9000 metrics to make sure we can measure progress towards that.

    The next generation network metrics that I am heading up involves 25 companies around the world. The team is made up of service providers and suppliers. They are looking at LTE 4G networks, IP-based networks, and the software for managing these networks. They are building on metrics that already exist in TL to make sure they incorporate what has changed in this next generation set of requirements. We just introduced the first five changes last year. There is a list of 20 to 25 additional changes that will go through the process this year. The team develops the changes; all the members within the QuEST Forum have the chance to provide input on those; and then we trial the proposed measures. The information from the trial is shared with all members. If the changes accomplish what we anticipated, then they are adopted. We are constantly looking at what else can be included: security, software performance, software updates, the introduction of hardware into the networks, and the performance of this hardware.

    What used to be on-time performance may not be good enough to measure the actual performance of a solution. We have to look not just at the hardware itself but the overall solution. We are constantly considering new approaches to improve service. Introducing metrics that keep pace with our industry involves constant dialogue. There is a similar effort underway looking at current performance and reliability of the entire network. Excellent network performance is a result of overall planning, engineering, construction and maintenance and encompasses a much broader set of issues than only supplier issues. Companies involved with TL 9000 are developing measurements that will affect customers when outages or service degradation occurs, which is extremely important when combined with software solutions delivered via high-speed data connections. There’s a new set of metrics used for measuring the overall effect of the network on customer experience. From this set of metrics, you can improve the level of performance of the actual network and improve UE. This is another example of why the QuEST Forum exists and is relevant. We are constantly looking at what we can do to improve the overall standard and how the metrics help improve particular areas.  

Q: What’s the future direction of TL 9000?

A: One thing we are learning is that each region has unique needs relative to what’s important. Take China for example. The greater China hub, a set of core companies of which ZTE is a key member, is looking at the unique requirements within China for companies that supply products and services. The QuEST Forum, working with government groups in China, is moving in the direction of creating a national standard for TL 9000. The greater China hub has already said that in order for TL 9000 to make real progress, it has to be adopted by the government’s standards accreditation team. Once it is adopted, other companies can begin to participate, and we will make further progress. We have been working with the appropriate government agencies for the past 12 to 18 months. We signed an agreement at the end of 2011 on how the standard would be introduced, monitored, and controlled. We are now moving forward with this work.

    The North American group has a focus on building performance small- and medium-sized businesses in order to help these businesses become more competitive and provide better products. 

    In Europe, the focus is on measurement. We are developing the right set of metrics to allow European operators to manage the introduction of new technologies.

    Different regions have different requirements. That may seem obvious, but you learn more as you are able to interact with various groups. Different areas in the world have different requirements depending on what technology they are using at that point. That’s part of what’s going on right now. We’re managing different requirements and needs within each region—all built on the same TL 9000.

    We hold best practices conferences each year. Each region has a different focus, and we hold three conferences across the globe. The last one was in Beijing in November 2011. It was a tremendous success. We bring in local companies that have implemented TL 9000 and talk about things that are working and things that aren’t working so that other companies learn how to implement TL 9000. In April, we will hold a best practices conference in Delhi; we hold one in Madrid in June; and we will hold one in Chicago in September. 

    There has been some confusion in the past about how TL 9000 relates to other quality standards. TL 9000 includes ISO 9001. If you obtain TL 9000 certification, you automatically obtain ISO 9001. If you obtain ISO 9001, you have to go a little bit further to obtain TL 9000. Companies also use other quality techniques and tools, such as Six Sigma and Lean, to help them manage specific issues. TL is a foundation, and then you can use other quality tools to improve specific areas within your quality programs.

    TL 9000 itself is a great building block, and the QuEST Forum manages it so that others can learn. We keep the standard fresh. It is a great opportunity for companies around the world to shape where the standard goes in the future.

Q: What do you expect will be ZTE’s contribution to the QuEST Forum in the future?

A: ZTE is a founding member in China, and its contribution is expected to be very large. ZTE has been the co-chair of the QuEST Forum management team (greater China hub) since its inception and has been very active in getting TL 9000 adopted as a national standard. ZTE also sits on the executive board, which is made up of many companies around the world. So ZTE has great influence and is participating in a number of next generation metrics groups. The executive board agreed to pursue two initiatives a year ago. They intend to improve current metrics, and they intend to develop next-generation metrics. ZTE is participating in both of those initiatives and has been very involved in shaping where the standard has gone and where it is going.  

    ZTE is also involved in the best practices conferences. ZTE has given tremendous presentations on the use of TL 9000. At the most recent conference, ZTE and Shanghai Telecom gave a joint presentation describing how they used TL 9000 together to introduce a new product. It was very well received and was one of the best presentations we’ve seen on how two companies jointly use TL 9000 to improve a new service delivery. So ZTE and Shanghai Telecom are examples of the implementation of quality systems and how to do it right through the use of TL 9000. ZTE’s influence has been tremendous, and ZTE has done excellent work in the QuEST Forum.

Q: AT&T has cooperated with ZTE on several handset models. Could you give us some advice on improving handset quality? 

A: First of all, congratulations to ZTE on being in our lineup of handsets. It is very tough competition every year. I think this is our fourth year with ZTE handsets. Quality is very important for handsets. Our suppliers test their devices, then give it to us, and then we take it through an introductory testing process. If something surfaces when customers begin using the handset, it is important to quickly react.

As managers change and people retire, you have to continually train the next manager to use the tools and techniques the previous manager used. You have to constantly educate your employees and management team so they are able to implement the latest and greatest quality improvements.

    There are ten handset companies in the world we do business with, and you are one of them. This is a good thing for ZTE, and it is supported by your TL 9000 quality performance levels.