Lunch Lesson 3 - Quality Control

Checks are made repeatedly in the Dalepak warehouse

Dalepak pride themselves on their quality control.

They're a warehousing, packaging and distribution company based in Northamptonshire.

With big name clients such as Ford, they can't afford to make mistakes. And they don't.

In recognition of their efficiency they've just won an award from British Standards (BSi) for the best small to medium sized business to embrace BSi standards.

Procedure

By the time the parts arrive in Northampton they've travelled from Ford plants all over the world.

The boxes can contain anything from an engine to a car aerial.

They then have to be sorted and checked, ready to be sent to dealers and garages around the country.

About 100,000 items a week arrive in the warehouse.

They have to be turned around within a day, often within hours.

Making sure that is done correctly is where quality control comes in.

"When the stock arrives, the paper work is compared with all the items and they're matched up," explains Operations Supervisor John Paredes.

"They then go down the conveyer to the packing team."

Efficiency

It's essentially an unpacking and repacking operation.

Great care is needed to get the right things in the right boxes.

The company specialise in efficiency and it's paid off - over the last eighteen months they've handled seven million items and haven't made one mistake.

Supervisor Denise Knight admits there is pressure to keep up the 100% record, but they have at least three areas dedicated to checking orders are correct.

"We have special checks on the out door, I check the seals and check the bench sheets to check everything is going through ok, and there's another check in shipping," explains Denise.

It's a record that's bound to be broken sooner or later but for companies like this working in a competitive market, quality control is what they live or die by.

A reputation for making mistakes can lose contracts, a reputation for high quality can win them.

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Student Guide

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Mick White and his wife Sheila began a small packaging business in Northampton in 1991.

The company now employs more than 80 people across two Northampton sites and provides services for some of the country's biggest and best known companies.

These include Ford, Stanley Tools, One For All (UK) Ltd. It also acts as a supplier to Woolworths, Dixons and Currys, Argos and Index to name but a few.

Striving for quality has been a key factor in its achievement.

In the services that it provides for Ford, it has not made one mistake in the last 18 months!

All this has led to it being given a special award for quality by the British Standards Institute - the organisation which assesses businesses for quality in all fields.

To find out more, take a look at the company's website,

Dalepak

Just think...

Dalepak provides services such as packing, distribution and customer care. What does quality mean for activities like these?

Achieving quality

There are many ways of achieving quality.

Total quality management is built into the business and involves all staff being responsible.

At each stage, employees aim to pass the best quality output to the next part of the process. Products will be checked to ensure they meet safety standards but all other quality checks will be carried out by departments.

It is important that senior management are seen to be part of the process because others will lose faith in the system if they don't.

Benchmarking involves measuring the business against best practice elsewhere. It has become established as a strategy for businesses both large and small. It is usually carried out on separate aspects of the business.

If there is a problem with customer service, having a look at firms which do it well should be useful. This is done through forming an alliance with them so they will share the information which needs to be analysed and applied to the business so targets can be set.

The process should be carried out in consultation with everyone involved. People often feel threatened by such processes so need careful preparation and training.

Kaisen or continuous improvement is a philosophy which underpins the way a business works. Everyone is responsible for quality and looking out for ways of improving all aspects of the business.

It is a strategy originally developed in Japan but the practice has spread round the world.

If is it to work effectively, every employee needs to be empowered so they feel that they can make decisions. This means being well trained. People work in teams - or cells.

Members develop expertise so they can identify and solve problems and work out how to improve the process. They will meet frequently to discuss their activities. This will only work, of course, if sensible ideas are accepted.

Targets are important because they help to identify problems and show whether the system is working.

Persuading management and other employees to work within the system means the business must develop a democratic structure in which everyone feels free to contribute their ideas.

This means trust between different levels of staff because some people may see extra responsibility as a burden rather than an opportunity.

Quality circles are often part of a Kaisen strategy but can be used independently. Groups of employees meet to discuss issues related to their work. A meeting might focus on a particular problem or look generally for ways to improve output.

Just think...

Why do you think involving people in ensuring quality is important?

How does it happen at Dalepak?

How does it work?

Some larger businesses set up quality assurance departments to organise the process and take responsibility for ensuring that quality targets are met. In a smaller organisation, one person may be responsible.

Continuous improvements to quality can only be achieved by well trained employees.

It is unrealistic to expect staff to contribute in this way if they lack the expertise to deal with problems and come up with new ideas. Training generally increases motivation and quality improves so the whole process is inter-linked.

Just think...

Who runs quality at Dalepak?

How do they do it?

Does it cost too much?

Some people who run businesses argue that strategies to improve quality are too expensive to implement and run.

• Training is expensive
• People need time to meet and discuss the work of a cell
• Change means more cost
• Quality strategies need managing
• Accreditation involves costs

Shareholders are often looking for a quick return so investing in the long term may be unpopular.

In a market with little competition, it can be tempting to ignore quality issues.

Just think...

Why do you think that it is unwise for a business to adopt these views?