About

Hillscom is led by Kevin Hills, founder and principal consultant. Kevin’s career began in tier-one automotive manufacturing, supplying components to global vehicle manufacturers, where he learned quality the hard way: on production lines, through Total Quality Management, Kaizen, SMED and structured problem solving with 8D, 5 Whys and Ishikawa analysis.

From there he moved into senior quality leadership across automotive, telecoms, aerospace and defence. His roles have included Head of Quality and Mission Assurance for the UK business of a global defence and aerospace prime, and Acting Quality Director at an advanced satellite communications manufacturer, where he built an AS9100D quality management system from the ground up through to certification. He has also led quality and engineering teams on an interim basis, stepping in to stabilise performance, develop people and leave stronger processes behind.

That mix of hands-on manufacturing experience and board-level quality accountability shapes how Hillscom works. We understand what auditors look for, but we also understand what a production manager, a programme director or a supplier needs from a management system to do their job.

We build management systems around how your organisation actually operates, rather than forcing it into a generic template. A twenty-person engineering business and a multi-site defence supplier need very different systems, and we size documentation, controls and records to match your risks, your customers and your people.

Where you hold or need more than one standard, we build an integrated management system. A single set of processes, one risk and opportunity register and one document control system is easier to run, easier to audit and far less likely to drift out of date than parallel systems maintained by different people.

You work directly with the consultant doing the work. There are no account managers and no junior staff learning on your project. We also make deliberate use of AI-assisted tools to speed up document drafting and analysis, with every output reviewed and owned by an experienced consultant, so more of your budget goes on judgement and less on typing.

Finally, we aim to leave capability behind. That means training your internal auditors, mentoring your quality team and making sure the people who own each process understand it, so the system keeps working when we step back.

Some situations need more than advice. A certification is at risk after a difficult audit, a key customer has escalated quality concerns, supplier scorecards have turned red, or a head of quality has left at the worst possible moment. In these situations organisations need someone who can take ownership of the quality function immediately and bring it back under control.

Kevin has worked as a professional interim at head of quality, quality director and engineering section head level, in sectors ranging from aerospace and defence to consumer products and accreditation services. He arrives with the experience to read a situation quickly, the authority to make decisions and the credibility to work directly with managing directors, boards and senior management teams. He reports quality performance in the terms leadership cares about: customer risk, cost of poor quality, delivery performance and certification status.

A typical interim assignment follows a clear path:

1. Assess and contain. In the first weeks, establish an honest baseline of where the risks lie, contain the issues affecting customers and agree priorities with top management.
2. Stabilise. Close out the most significant nonconformities and customer complaints using disciplined root cause analysis, restore control of key processes and put meaningful performance indicators in place.
3. Strengthen. Realign roles and responsibilities, develop and mentor the quality team, and improve the processes and working relationships with engineering, operations and suppliers that caused the problems in the first place.
4. Hand over. Support the recruitment or development of a permanent successor and leave a documented, stable function that no longer depends on the interim.

Because Hillscom is an established limited company with professional indemnity insurance, interim engagements are straightforward to contract, whether full-time on site for a fixed period or a few days a week alongside your existing team. Find out more about our interim quality management support.

Our experience comes from working inside these sectors, not just advising them. Here is where we have supported organisations and what that work has involved.

Hillscom supports ISO 9001 quality management, ISO 14001 environmental management, ISO 45001 occupational health and safety, ISO 27001 information security, ISO 44001 collaborative business relationships, ISO 42001 AI management, AS9100 and AS9145 for aerospace and IATF 16949 for automotive. We are currently helping organisations plan their transition to ISO 9001:2026 and ISO 14001:2026.

Alongside certification, we provide gap analysis, internal and supplier audits, management review support, interim quality leadership and training in auditing, problem solving and core quality tools.

Kevin holds ISO 9001 Lead Auditor, ISO 27001 Lead Implementer and ISO 44001 Lead Implementer qualifications. Hillscom has traded as an independent limited company since 2007 and holds professional indemnity insurance. We are independent of any certification body, so our advice is focused entirely on what is right for your organisation.

We are based in Amesbury, Wiltshire, and regularly work on site with organisations across the South, South West and South East of England, including Salisbury, Andover, Bristol, Bath, Swindon and Southampton. For aerospace and defence clients we support organisations throughout the UK, combining on-site work with remote support to keep costs proportionate.

Whether you are preparing for first certification, transitioning to ISO 9001:2026, strengthening supplier quality or need experienced quality leadership for a period, a short conversation is usually the quickest way to see whether we can help.

Contact Hillscom