Structuring quality without betraying the craft

Structuring the quality system

In jewellery, everything rests on the craftsperson’s hand, whether in a maison, a workshop or a manufacture. Quality standards written for classic industry, applied as they stand to craftspeople, often end up as documentation nobody opens any more.

My approach starts on the floor. I build on what your teams already do well, and bring it together with the requirements of the international quality management standard, which I adapt specifically to the reality of jewellery.

The quality system is the workshop’s memory. It makes it possible to replicate the same standards of excellence, day after day. It turns individual savoir-faire into collective performance, constant and reproducible.

Tipping points

I work with maisons, workshops and manufactures at a tipping point.

  • Strong growth, or a change of leadership.
  • A certification required by a client.
  • A rejection crisis that inspection alone cannot resolve.
  • The need to harmonise standards when several workshops work on the same product.

The five Foundations

My method rests on five Foundations, always laid in the same order.

  1. Foundation 1

    Reading

    Assess the situation on the floor, before writing a single line.

  2. Foundation 2

    Standards

    Set written criteria and a visual reference guide.

  3. Foundation 3

    Steering

    Track a few useful indicators every week.

  4. Foundation 4

    Documented savoir-faire

    Capture the craft without freezing it.

  5. Foundation 5

    Workshop-to-management dialogue

    Set up a regular exchange, pieces in hand.

The starting point

Every in-depth engagement begins with an assessment on the floor, written up, before any commitment on what follows.

To know where you stand before you even write to me, I offer a self-assessment.

The principle
Twenty-five questions, about ten minutes, organised around the five Foundations.
The result
Within two working days, I send you a reading written from your answers, assessing your maturity on each Foundation. The report highlights the critical points to watch first.

The self-assessment

Start the assessment
  • Foundation 1 Reading Vigilant
  • Foundation 2 Standards Fragile
  • Foundation 3 Steering Developing
  • Foundation 4 Documented savoir-faire Solid
  • Foundation 5 Workshop-to-management dialogue Developing
Example of a reading by Foundation
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