How Kenvue Leverages Technology to Enhance Quality Culture

This video provides an insightful look into how Kenvue, a major consumer health company recently separated from Johnson & Johnson, is strategically leveraging technology and cultural initiatives to modernize its Quality Management System (QMS) and enhance its overall quality culture. Natasha Zuyev, Kenvue's Chief Quality Officer, frames the separation as a unique opportunity—like "moving out of your parents' house"—to simplify, standardize, and digitize inherited, complex systems. The core objective is to make the QMS work for the people, rather than the other way around, thereby making employees' jobs easier and allowing them to focus on value creation for the consumer.

The presentation emphasizes a dual approach combining technological transformation with grassroots cultural change. Technologically, the focus is on implementing digital solutions that support automation. This automation is directly linked to key operational improvements, specifically the reduction of human errors, which subsequently leads to fewer incidents, non-conformances, and safety issues. Culturally, Kenvue established "Quality Change Agent Teams" (QCATs), composed of employees from all organizational levels. These agents are tasked with actively listening to staff on the floor and in the office to identify pain points, understand what is working well, and pinpoint areas where digital solutions or process improvements can enhance the employee experience and operational efficiency.

A critical theme highlighted is the power of data in driving quality improvements. Zuyev notes that by leveraging data from various channels, Kenvue can gain a much deeper understanding of the consumer experience. This enhanced data analysis capability is then utilized directly to inform product improvements and elevate overall quality standards. Looking forward, the Chief Quality Officer envisions a future state within the next five to ten years where manufacturing environments are completely paperless, systems are fully interconnected, and the focus shifts from reactive problem-solving to proactive, predictive issue prevention. This digital transformation allows personnel to dedicate their time to high-value tasks that truly benefit consumers and customers.

The transformation journey at Kenvue serves as a powerful case study for regulated companies undergoing significant structural change. It demonstrates that separating from a legacy organization provides a rare chance to shed complexity and legacy IT debt, enabling rapid adoption of modern, integrated, cloud-based quality platforms (like those offered by Veeva). The strategy prioritizes user experience and operational efficiency, recognizing that a simplified, digitized QMS is the foundation for a robust quality culture, ultimately leading to better compliance and superior consumer products.

Key Takeaways:

• Strategic Opportunity in Separation: Organizational separation (like Kenvue's spin-off from J&J) presents a massive opportunity to rationalize and modernize inherited, complex Quality Management Systems (QMS) and associated IT applications, moving toward simplification, standardization, and digitization.
• QMS Must Serve the People: The goal of digital transformation in quality should be to make the system work for the employees, making their jobs easier and allowing them to focus on high-value activities rather than administrative burdens.
• Automation as Error Reduction: Digital solutions support automation, which is a direct mechanism for reducing human errors; this leads to a tangible decrease in operational metrics like incidents, non-conformances, and safety incidents, improving both compliance and safety.
• Grassroots Change Agents (QCATs): Implementing Quality Change Agent Teams (QCATs) composed of employees across all organizational levels is crucial for successful change management, as they act as internal listeners and advocates who identify real-world pain points and opportunities for digital improvement.
• Data-Driven Consumer Experience: Leveraging data from diverse channels is essential for gaining a superior understanding of the consumer experience, allowing the company to analyze feedback and insights directly to improve product quality.
• Future Vision: Predictive and Paperless: The industry trajectory points toward interconnected, digital systems in manufacturing environments where paper is eliminated, and the focus shifts from solving issues after the fact to predicting and actively preventing them from occurring.
• Prioritizing Digital Interconnectivity: The long-term vision involves fully interconnected systems, which is a key requirement for achieving true predictive quality and maximizing the efficiency of AI-driven insights across the quality ecosystem.
• Regulatory Compliance through Simplification: By simplifying and standardizing the QMS, companies inherently improve their ability to maintain compliance, as fewer complex, disparate systems mean fewer opportunities for oversight or non-adherence to regulatory standards (e.g., GxP, 21 CFR Part 11).

Tools/Resources Mentioned:

• Veeva QualityOne: Mentioned in the channel name, indicating the use of a cloud-based quality management platform common in the life sciences sector.
• IT Applications (QMS): Reference to multiple, complex legacy IT applications inherited from the parent company, which are now being consolidated and digitized.

Key Concepts:

• Quality Culture: Defined as critically important, involving empowering employees and utilizing technology to ensure quality is embedded at every level of the organization.
• QMS Digitization: The process of converting paper-based or disparate electronic Quality Management Systems into unified, standardized, and automated digital platforms.
• Change Agents (QCATs): Internal teams tasked with facilitating organizational change by gathering feedback, communicating transformation goals, and ensuring new digital solutions meet the needs of end-users.