Quality work often reveals itself in the handoffs. A concern becomes an investigation. An investigation leads to actions. A process change creates a need for updated documentation. A recurring issue raises questions about risk, trends, training, and continuous improvement.
That connected view shaped the Quality Leadership Roundtable at the Europe IMPACT Conference, featuring Nathalie Ruelle, Global Quality and Sustainability Director at H.B. Fuller, Laura Fiume, Associate VP, Strategic Solutions & Growth, and Mark Boehner, SVP, Customer Success & Integration Executive at Benchmark Gensuite. The session explored how quality programmes are evolving within the Benchmark Gensuite platform, with a focus on stronger workflows, document control, concern reporting, and practical opportunities for AI-enabled support.
The discussion opened by challenging a common assumption: quality management extends well beyond action tracking. Corrective and preventive actions remain an important part of quality management, but they are only one piece of a broader programme landscape. Quality teams also need ways to manage concerns, inspections, compliance activities, change, quality events, risk, audits, documentation, and programme performance.
That broader perspective matters because quality processes are rarely isolated. When documentation, reporting, investigation, and action management are disconnected, teams can lose visibility into what happened, what changed, and what still needs follow-up. A connected Quality Management Software approach can help bring these processes together so teams can manage issues more consistently and learn from the data being captured.
Document management was one of the strongest areas of discussion. Quality programmes depend on current, controlled, and accessible information. Procedures, SOPs, policies, and other documents need to be easy to find, properly reviewed, approved, distributed, and acknowledged. Without strong document control, teams may struggle with version confusion, inconsistent access, or manual follow-up.
The session highlighted the growing importance of centralised document workflows, including review and approval processes, permissions, PDF conversion, QR code access, and acknowledgements. These capabilities can help make critical documents more accessible while supporting the governance needed for quality programme control.
See how Document Manager Software supports centralised document control, review, and access.
Quality Concern Reporting was another major theme. When employees, customers, or operational teams can report concerns more easily, organisations gain earlier visibility into issues that may affect quality performance. A strong reporting process can support escalation, investigation, assignment, follow-up, and trend identification, helping teams move from issue capture to resolution and prevention.
AI-enabled support added another layer to the conversation. The session explored practical capabilities such as assisted logging, photo extraction, summaries, and writing support. These types of tools can help users provide clearer information, reduce manual input, and improve the completeness of submissions. For quality teams, that can mean better information at the start of an investigation and more consistent data for analysis.
At the same time, the discussion recognised that quality workflows require context. Root cause analysis, documentation review, defect management, audits, and quality events may require different forms of support than other operational workflows. The roundtable created space to discuss how AI can continue to become more relevant for quality-specific needs, without losing sight of the human expertise that remains essential to decision-making.
Quality event and incident management also formed part of the broader discussion. As programmes mature, teams need clearer links between events, investigations, corrective actions, and reporting. This closed-loop approach can help teams identify trends, support more consistent resolution, and strengthen continuous improvement across sites or business units.
The overall message was that quality transformation is not about adding more isolated tools. It is about strengthening the connections between documentation, reporting, investigations, actions, audits, and continuous improvement. When those connections are stronger, quality teams gain better visibility into programme performance and can respond with greater confidence.
As quality programmes continue to evolve, the opportunity is to build workflows that are practical for users, reliable for leaders, and flexible enough to support different operational needs. Connected systems and responsible AI can help quality teams spend less time managing fragmented information and more time driving meaningful improvement across the enterprise.
About H.B. Fuller
H.B. Fuller is a global leader in adhesives, sealants and functional coatings, with more than 7,100 team members worldwide. The company operates across more than 50 countries and serves customers in 150 countries across a broad range of industries. Through technical expertise, innovation and collaboration, H.B. Fuller develops specialised solutions that enhance product quality, safety and performance.
About Benchmark Gensuite
Benchmark Gensuite® delivers AI-forward, best-in-class digital EHS, Sustainability, Quality, and Risk solutions for global enterprises. Powered by a single-version, cloud-based platform and enriched by a rapidly expanding suite of generative AI tools, Benchmark Gensuite empowers more than 4 million users across industries to proactively manage risk, ensure compliance, and accelerate performance. With over two decades of domain expertise, award-winning customer service, and a commitment to continuous innovation, Benchmark Gensuite is the trusted partner for organizations seeking both operational excellence and strategic impact.
