Ray Smuts
THREE YEARS ago J.H.Bachmann became the first company in the country to have all five of its branches simultaneously ISO 9002-certificated by the South African Bureau of Standards.
The concept of running a company without International Standards Organisation certification is simply unthinkable to J H Bachmann's national quality manager Laura Huysamer, who started in the company's export divison eight years ago.
The marketplace expects it so it has
definitely become a requirement and there is no doubt that it gives one the edge in quality service, she believes.
One of the great advantages of ISO is the structure and control it gives various managers. Through continuous monitoring, errors are picked up early in the process, resulting in costly write-offs being avoided.
She told FTW that J H Bachmann had decided from the outset that the ISO system would cover more than mere operational processes, looking extensively at training and other staff requirements in order to continue growing in accordance with modern logistic principles and client service requirements.
Furthermore, as it is J H Bachmann policy to strive for continuous peformance, a complete global division called Global Business Excellence was established in 1998 and is in the process of implementing various other quality systems including the 4C Module with its components of costs, customers, creativity and communication, European Foundation Quality Management (EFQM) and Kaizen, the Japanese philosophy of continuous improvement.
In South Africa for the past 24 years and with branches in Cape Town, Port Elizabeth, Durban, Johannesburg and Pretoria, J H Bachmann and Co's global interests were acquired last year by the giant Imperial Group.
Copyright Now Media (Pty) Ltd
No article may be reproduced without the written permission of the editor
To respond to this article send your email to joyo@nowmedia.co.za
