Not Strictly PG - Quality for the SME
Qualityworld
Talking the same language
It's a tricky business being a small firm at the best of times without having to think about quality as well. Alison Taylor talks to Graham Fisher of business solutions firm, Simply Trading Ltd and civil engineer Mike Eastwood of Transcore Ltd to see how they cope
Graham Fisher and Mike Eastwood are in very different businesses but have two things in common: they both work in SMEs and they both deal with quality - if a little differently
Simply Trading is former accountant Graham Fisher's brainchild: 'I call it a dream - my staff call it a nightmare.' He came up with the idea for providing technology solutions or, according to the company brochure, 'enterprise portals' for SMEs in 1999 and started trading later that year.
The company has 26 employees, although it started out with just five. 'Whilst working at a business support agency which supported small businesses, I saw that a lot of large companies were using technology to their advantage and often to the disadvantage of smaller businesses,' explains Fisher. 'So we targeted developing an environment in which smaller businesses could use technology in their businesses more easily (and cheaper) than was available in 1999'. As a small business owner himself, Fisher is in a good place to assess the needs of other SMEs: 'So much of what's available is tied up in very technological terms. It requires a technological infrastructure called an IT department and with small businesses that often just isn't a practical proposition.'
Transcore is a building and civil engineering contractor based in Malton, North Yorkshire. The company, established in 1990, has 40 employees with six in administrative/supervisory roles, ten foremen/site supervisors and the rest skilled labour, plant operators and general labour. Mike Eastwood, one of Transcore's five contracts engineers, has been with the company for five years. His job is to supervise the day to day management of various jobs the company takes on, which involves estimating, setting out ordering materials and supervision among other things. Jobs range from minor building works to major coastal defence works, with various building and civil engineering projects in between. At the moment he is overseeing a number of projects one of which is a highway improvement scheme within the City of York. On the building side of things, the company is undertaking the demolition and reconstruction of eight flats for Yorkshire Housing.
Chalk and cheese
Their businesses are like chalk and cheese but it's surprising how both men see quality in similar ways, even if the language they speak is different. Fisher has a way with words - which is perhaps essential in the jargon-filled world of business solutions and internet portals, which, as he eloquently explains, are basically 'bits of software - platforms - on one side of the platform, portal technology will grab information from all sorts of different sources ranging from the web, suppliers or a company's own systems, applications and data'. Fisher sees the service as a quality-assisting device for his clients by 'helping people to work smarter and use technology in their business better than they are probably doing now'. It's about making things more efficient.
The company is in the process of implementing ISO 9000 because Fisher is a fan of the system; he's 'done it before'. He sees this previous experience as a critical factor because of the perceived bureaucracy of the system: 'Having done it before, I see it as the best framework in the world for continuous improvement. In our industry, because it's so fast moving we need a whole culture of continuous improvement which sits everywhere.'
Mike Eastwood is all too familiar with the bureaucracy and excessive paperwork associated with implementing a quality standard like ISO 9000. When he worked with it previously, it was as part of a larger company which did, unfortunately, get bogged down with documentation. Perhaps it is partly for this reason that Eastwood has avoided implementing a formal QMS so far. However, despite these seemingly opposing views it is clear that the civil engineer takes quality as 'totally' and seriously as his businessman counterpart. He just doesn't talk the talk.
Live and Learn
In the building trade, quality is very much about the staff you employ and whether they have the know-how, qualifications, expertise and, importantly, enthusiasm to adhere to the minefield that is business regulation. And like Fisher, for Eastwood quality has to be a given - 'a part of what we do'. Otherwise it's simple, the company won't be asked back, and for Transcore repeat custom and word of mouth is an essential part of its livelihood. Providing the client with what they require in a safe manner.
Staff really contribute to the quality ethos in the company: 'A core of staff, about 50 per cent of the company, have been with the company a long time and are experts who know the level of quality required', explains Eastwood. Quality is ongoing and always strived for, much like Fisher's commitment to continuous improvement. Again, it's just the words that are different: 'I wouldn't say there's one thing we've done that has improved quality. It's ongoing. Visiting sites, checking the work, and if it's not right putting it right at the time and then using it to learn for the future.'
This approach is echoed at Simply Trading where ISO 9000 is a framework which 'underpins everything we do', according to Fisher, although not at the expense of innovation - essential in the fast-moving technologies industry. 'Innovation is very important', says Fisher. 'We don't allow the standard to get in the way of innovation... it provides a framework for it. So, if you know what you did yesterday, you know what to do tomorrow to improve things.' Wise words, much like Eastwood's abridged version: 'You live and learn.
This approach is particularly true on the development side of Fisher's business (a third of the staff work on development, a third on customer service and a third on sales): 'It's a very fast moving environment where you are trying new techniques, new applications and so on which need to be managed. Things won't work first time in a test environment. We are meticulous at recording what we've done, ready for next time to get to the answer again.' Common sense yes, but for Fisher it's about putting in the right culture: 'Quality systems are about moving forward.'
Eastwood's 'live and learn' sensibilities might suggest a rather haphazard approach to quality but, on further questioning, he does reveal a more preventive approach: 'The main factor is communication with staff as to what level of quality we expect and what our customers expect.' Sometimes clients will provide a specification for the type and quality of work they require which Transcore adheres to. This will also include rigorous health and safety conditions and often, specific tolerances (for materials and workmanship for example) or British building standards. When a specification isn't supplied, the company automatically works towards good building or civil engineering practice.
'Systems of work' are Transcore's quality 'oaths'. They include the work's objective -'what we intend to do'; how long it will take; personnel information - the people that are needed, and the qualifications they need to have (a machine operator must have a plant operators card for example). Also included are the plant and equipment required and welfare arrangements for staff - oaths which encroach on health and safety territory. Also included are a sequence of work, method statements and the relevant hazards associated with the work and preventive measures to be taken to ensure all goes safely. A separate section is provided for quality - 'quality all included'. These systems of work are documented prior to the various jobs and communicated to the employees by toolbox talks. Whether the client has their own specifications or not, they enable Eastwood and his colleagues to anticipate any problem areas that may arise on a job. Hence it is preventive. But equally it is informed by the 'live and learn' philosophy and as such the systems of work are constantly updated and improved.
Client focused
In the building trade, client approval and efficiency is the most important thing according to Eastwood and it is central to Transcore's approach: 'Sometimes a client will come along and if he doesn't like what he sees then things have to change.' Which is fine, but it makes it difficult to tailor a more formal quality system: 'Our customers and jobs are very different', admits Eastwood. As such the systems of work are assembled partly through the company's own experience and partly through the client's specification. Similarly, at Simply Trading what the client wants is central to the company's method of working and is something that Fisher is passionate about. His background may not be technical but he knows what a business needs: 'We assess what the business requires and assess whether the technical team can develop it.' The answer is usually yes, at which point Fisher is quick to ask, 'Okay, so how long will it take?' He says: 'We drive this through what the business needs rather than technology. Technology can do whatever you want it to; you just need the imagination and drive to use it in different ways and for the way it suits your business.'
Buying peace of mind
This client-focused approach from both companies obviously has its roots in the desire to provide the best possible service - a familiar quality ideal. For Simply Trading, this has a direct application in the 24 hour fully-managed system it offers it clients. Its servers are securely housed in a BT-backed data centre in Cardiff and maintained 24 hours a day via electronic signal by a Bristol-based firm on a subcontractual basis. The company offers a 99.5 per cent guaranteed level of service: 'If [the portal] breaks down it's our responsibility to get it fixed', Fisher stares. 'We are running business critical services [for our clients]. On a simple level, if your network breaks down it's very difficult for you to do any work.' Simply Trading's customers are buying peace of mind - technologically speaking. It is for this reason that Fisher has to guarantee that level of service. 'If things do go wrong we need a very high quality help desk facility and if we're running their platform where new systems need to be implemented, we need to be able to do that efficiently and correctly first time.'
At Transcore, Eastwood approaches customer care with the same dedication, where its customer approach determines whether the company gets repeat business. Site supervisors, senior management and visiting safety officers upkeep a constant and combined QA and health and safety system according to Eastwood: 'They use their expertise to continually check/improve what is taking place on site and keep in mind clients' requirements.' Like at Simply Trading, the currency is peace of mind.
Back to the future
So what about the future for SMEs and quality? For Transcore, Eastwood is looking into a more formal written standard, 'but it would require careful thinking because the work is so varied'. He is also considering the use of check sheets before jobs begin: 'Health and safety issues, materials, workmanship and so on.' He is, however, reluctant to create too much unnecessary paperwork: 'As a small company it would mean somebody breaking off from the productive side of the work to put it together. Even though it probably would be beneficial to us.' The introduction of company manuals is a more realistic possibility for the immediate future, staring what standard of workmanship staff should aim for when laying concrete or pipes for example.
Fisher is more evangelical about the impact a system like ISO 9000 can have on a business - even a small one: 'I believe it is the underpinning culture and infrastructure behind the business.' But, like Eastwood, he is keenly aware that it should never take over: 'If I ever heard anybody in this company saying "I can't do that because the quality system says I've got to do it this way" then I would have a problem, because then we're moving towards a bureaucracy and not a dynamic environment' - a fact that Fisher recognises is often a stumbling block for small businesses. But under his leadership it works for them.
The idea that quality brings with it a system of bureaucracy bound with excessive paperwork has important implications for small businesses. Central to this is time -time that would be better spent doing something different. With Transcore, keeping a steady continuation of work is something Eastwood sees as his biggest concern as part of a small business: 'When it's busy we seem to be too busy likewise when it's quiet'. At Simply Trading speed is of the essence: 'We have to move rapidly at what we re doing - the challenge is that we've got to do it right first time. Our customers can't afford us making mistakes when we re running their business infrastructure.' And so we're back to the customer: 'Customer care is number one on the agenda', says Fisher. At Transcore, Eastwood is confident the work does the talking: 'A lot of our customers are repeat customers which is testament to the company's level of quality.' Yes indeed.
Biographies
Prior to joining Simply Trading in April 2000, Graham Fisher was chief executive of Business Link London East for five years. He has substantial experience in the SME sector and was joint chair of the Business Link National Forum, the CT and the e-commerce development groups. He worked at numerous government assignments after International Resort Holdings plc; a company he started in 1981 specialising in the marketing and funding of leisure developments. Fisher is a fellow of the Chartered Association of Certified Accountants.
After leaving school Mike Eastwood worked for a civil and structural engineering consultancy and gained an ONC and a HNC in civil engineering. He then worked on a number of different local government schemes before moving to the private sector.
© Qualityworld June 2002
Talking the same language
It's a tricky business being a small firm at the best of times without having to think about quality as well. Alison Taylor talks to Graham Fisher of business solutions firm, Simply Trading Ltd and civil engineer Mike Eastwood of Transcore Ltd to see how they cope
Graham Fisher and Mike Eastwood are in very different businesses but have two things in common: they both work in SMEs and they both deal with quality - if a little differently
Simply Trading is former accountant Graham Fisher's brainchild: 'I call it a dream - my staff call it a nightmare.' He came up with the idea for providing technology solutions or, according to the company brochure, 'enterprise portals' for SMEs in 1999 and started trading later that year.
The company has 26 employees, although it started out with just five. 'Whilst working at a business support agency which supported small businesses, I saw that a lot of large companies were using technology to their advantage and often to the disadvantage of smaller businesses,' explains Fisher. 'So we targeted developing an environment in which smaller businesses could use technology in their businesses more easily (and cheaper) than was available in 1999'. As a small business owner himself, Fisher is in a good place to assess the needs of other SMEs: 'So much of what's available is tied up in very technological terms. It requires a technological infrastructure called an IT department and with small businesses that often just isn't a practical proposition.'
Transcore is a building and civil engineering contractor based in Malton, North Yorkshire. The company, established in 1990, has 40 employees with six in administrative/supervisory roles, ten foremen/site supervisors and the rest skilled labour, plant operators and general labour. Mike Eastwood, one of Transcore's five contracts engineers, has been with the company for five years. His job is to supervise the day to day management of various jobs the company takes on, which involves estimating, setting out ordering materials and supervision among other things. Jobs range from minor building works to major coastal defence works, with various building and civil engineering projects in between. At the moment he is overseeing a number of projects one of which is a highway improvement scheme within the City of York. On the building side of things, the company is undertaking the demolition and reconstruction of eight flats for Yorkshire Housing.
Chalk and cheese
Their businesses are like chalk and cheese but it's surprising how both men see quality in similar ways, even if the language they speak is different. Fisher has a way with words - which is perhaps essential in the jargon-filled world of business solutions and internet portals, which, as he eloquently explains, are basically 'bits of software - platforms - on one side of the platform, portal technology will grab information from all sorts of different sources ranging from the web, suppliers or a company's own systems, applications and data'. Fisher sees the service as a quality-assisting device for his clients by 'helping people to work smarter and use technology in their business better than they are probably doing now'. It's about making things more efficient.
The company is in the process of implementing ISO 9000 because Fisher is a fan of the system; he's 'done it before'. He sees this previous experience as a critical factor because of the perceived bureaucracy of the system: 'Having done it before, I see it as the best framework in the world for continuous improvement. In our industry, because it's so fast moving we need a whole culture of continuous improvement which sits everywhere.'
Mike Eastwood is all too familiar with the bureaucracy and excessive paperwork associated with implementing a quality standard like ISO 9000. When he worked with it previously, it was as part of a larger company which did, unfortunately, get bogged down with documentation. Perhaps it is partly for this reason that Eastwood has avoided implementing a formal QMS so far. However, despite these seemingly opposing views it is clear that the civil engineer takes quality as 'totally' and seriously as his businessman counterpart. He just doesn't talk the talk.
Live and Learn
In the building trade, quality is very much about the staff you employ and whether they have the know-how, qualifications, expertise and, importantly, enthusiasm to adhere to the minefield that is business regulation. And like Fisher, for Eastwood quality has to be a given - 'a part of what we do'. Otherwise it's simple, the company won't be asked back, and for Transcore repeat custom and word of mouth is an essential part of its livelihood. Providing the client with what they require in a safe manner.
Staff really contribute to the quality ethos in the company: 'A core of staff, about 50 per cent of the company, have been with the company a long time and are experts who know the level of quality required', explains Eastwood. Quality is ongoing and always strived for, much like Fisher's commitment to continuous improvement. Again, it's just the words that are different: 'I wouldn't say there's one thing we've done that has improved quality. It's ongoing. Visiting sites, checking the work, and if it's not right putting it right at the time and then using it to learn for the future.'
This approach is echoed at Simply Trading where ISO 9000 is a framework which 'underpins everything we do', according to Fisher, although not at the expense of innovation - essential in the fast-moving technologies industry. 'Innovation is very important', says Fisher. 'We don't allow the standard to get in the way of innovation... it provides a framework for it. So, if you know what you did yesterday, you know what to do tomorrow to improve things.' Wise words, much like Eastwood's abridged version: 'You live and learn.
This approach is particularly true on the development side of Fisher's business (a third of the staff work on development, a third on customer service and a third on sales): 'It's a very fast moving environment where you are trying new techniques, new applications and so on which need to be managed. Things won't work first time in a test environment. We are meticulous at recording what we've done, ready for next time to get to the answer again.' Common sense yes, but for Fisher it's about putting in the right culture: 'Quality systems are about moving forward.'
Eastwood's 'live and learn' sensibilities might suggest a rather haphazard approach to quality but, on further questioning, he does reveal a more preventive approach: 'The main factor is communication with staff as to what level of quality we expect and what our customers expect.' Sometimes clients will provide a specification for the type and quality of work they require which Transcore adheres to. This will also include rigorous health and safety conditions and often, specific tolerances (for materials and workmanship for example) or British building standards. When a specification isn't supplied, the company automatically works towards good building or civil engineering practice.
'Systems of work' are Transcore's quality 'oaths'. They include the work's objective -'what we intend to do'; how long it will take; personnel information - the people that are needed, and the qualifications they need to have (a machine operator must have a plant operators card for example). Also included are the plant and equipment required and welfare arrangements for staff - oaths which encroach on health and safety territory. Also included are a sequence of work, method statements and the relevant hazards associated with the work and preventive measures to be taken to ensure all goes safely. A separate section is provided for quality - 'quality all included'. These systems of work are documented prior to the various jobs and communicated to the employees by toolbox talks. Whether the client has their own specifications or not, they enable Eastwood and his colleagues to anticipate any problem areas that may arise on a job. Hence it is preventive. But equally it is informed by the 'live and learn' philosophy and as such the systems of work are constantly updated and improved.
Client focused
In the building trade, client approval and efficiency is the most important thing according to Eastwood and it is central to Transcore's approach: 'Sometimes a client will come along and if he doesn't like what he sees then things have to change.' Which is fine, but it makes it difficult to tailor a more formal quality system: 'Our customers and jobs are very different', admits Eastwood. As such the systems of work are assembled partly through the company's own experience and partly through the client's specification. Similarly, at Simply Trading what the client wants is central to the company's method of working and is something that Fisher is passionate about. His background may not be technical but he knows what a business needs: 'We assess what the business requires and assess whether the technical team can develop it.' The answer is usually yes, at which point Fisher is quick to ask, 'Okay, so how long will it take?' He says: 'We drive this through what the business needs rather than technology. Technology can do whatever you want it to; you just need the imagination and drive to use it in different ways and for the way it suits your business.'
Buying peace of mind
This client-focused approach from both companies obviously has its roots in the desire to provide the best possible service - a familiar quality ideal. For Simply Trading, this has a direct application in the 24 hour fully-managed system it offers it clients. Its servers are securely housed in a BT-backed data centre in Cardiff and maintained 24 hours a day via electronic signal by a Bristol-based firm on a subcontractual basis. The company offers a 99.5 per cent guaranteed level of service: 'If [the portal] breaks down it's our responsibility to get it fixed', Fisher stares. 'We are running business critical services [for our clients]. On a simple level, if your network breaks down it's very difficult for you to do any work.' Simply Trading's customers are buying peace of mind - technologically speaking. It is for this reason that Fisher has to guarantee that level of service. 'If things do go wrong we need a very high quality help desk facility and if we're running their platform where new systems need to be implemented, we need to be able to do that efficiently and correctly first time.'
At Transcore, Eastwood approaches customer care with the same dedication, where its customer approach determines whether the company gets repeat business. Site supervisors, senior management and visiting safety officers upkeep a constant and combined QA and health and safety system according to Eastwood: 'They use their expertise to continually check/improve what is taking place on site and keep in mind clients' requirements.' Like at Simply Trading, the currency is peace of mind.
Back to the future
So what about the future for SMEs and quality? For Transcore, Eastwood is looking into a more formal written standard, 'but it would require careful thinking because the work is so varied'. He is also considering the use of check sheets before jobs begin: 'Health and safety issues, materials, workmanship and so on.' He is, however, reluctant to create too much unnecessary paperwork: 'As a small company it would mean somebody breaking off from the productive side of the work to put it together. Even though it probably would be beneficial to us.' The introduction of company manuals is a more realistic possibility for the immediate future, staring what standard of workmanship staff should aim for when laying concrete or pipes for example.
Fisher is more evangelical about the impact a system like ISO 9000 can have on a business - even a small one: 'I believe it is the underpinning culture and infrastructure behind the business.' But, like Eastwood, he is keenly aware that it should never take over: 'If I ever heard anybody in this company saying "I can't do that because the quality system says I've got to do it this way" then I would have a problem, because then we're moving towards a bureaucracy and not a dynamic environment' - a fact that Fisher recognises is often a stumbling block for small businesses. But under his leadership it works for them.
The idea that quality brings with it a system of bureaucracy bound with excessive paperwork has important implications for small businesses. Central to this is time -time that would be better spent doing something different. With Transcore, keeping a steady continuation of work is something Eastwood sees as his biggest concern as part of a small business: 'When it's busy we seem to be too busy likewise when it's quiet'. At Simply Trading speed is of the essence: 'We have to move rapidly at what we re doing - the challenge is that we've got to do it right first time. Our customers can't afford us making mistakes when we re running their business infrastructure.' And so we're back to the customer: 'Customer care is number one on the agenda', says Fisher. At Transcore, Eastwood is confident the work does the talking: 'A lot of our customers are repeat customers which is testament to the company's level of quality.' Yes indeed.
Biographies
Prior to joining Simply Trading in April 2000, Graham Fisher was chief executive of Business Link London East for five years. He has substantial experience in the SME sector and was joint chair of the Business Link National Forum, the CT and the e-commerce development groups. He worked at numerous government assignments after International Resort Holdings plc; a company he started in 1981 specialising in the marketing and funding of leisure developments. Fisher is a fellow of the Chartered Association of Certified Accountants.
After leaving school Mike Eastwood worked for a civil and structural engineering consultancy and gained an ONC and a HNC in civil engineering. He then worked on a number of different local government schemes before moving to the private sector.
© Qualityworld June 2002
posted by T at 5:31 pm
