Does Your QA Manager Own the Quality System?

I was talking with someone yesterday and he mentioned that the company President wants the QA Manager to own the Quality System. Now that is a reasonable request. 

If as a President you can’t get a “Yes” when you ask your QA Manager the following questions, then “Houston, we have a problem”:

  1. Have you read every page of the QA Manual?
  2. Have you personally compared the QA Manual to every AS9100 or ISO 9001 requirement to assure compliance?

If the QA Manager can’t boldly answer “Yes” to both question, then I dare say, they don’t own the QMS, they’ve abdicated their responsibility to others.