Small and medium enterprises (SMEs) form the backbone of most economies around the world, contributing substantially to the world’s employment. It is imperative that management systems can help improve these sectors.
By Kaitlin Walsh and Penny Sutcliffe.
Small and medium-sized enterprises (SME’s) usually employs more than 50 percent of the private sector labour force and comprizes over 95 percent of all firms worldwide. New and small firms continually contribute to innovation and productivity performance across many sectors. The future growth of economies can leverage greatly from management systems that can assist SME’s to continuously contribute to the supply of a nation’s entrepreneurs.
Local, state, and federal governments around the globe, not to mention the large amount of SME support organizations and membership associations, all want to know more about how to stimulate entrepreneurship and to promote innovation in the SME sector through value-added economic activity.
Yet the role and value that ISO management systems offer in this relatively glowing sector is something often questioned. Traditionally, two major hurdles have been cited as barriers for entry of smaller operations to the world of ISO management systems. The first of these are cost and resourcing requirements for implementation, certification and ongoing compliance. The second is relevance. Small business owners and operators have, in the past, been hard pressed to understand quite how a system that can apply to a global manufacturing giant could possibly also work in a small, professional or service oriented company. Recently ISO opened a new section on its website to help small and mediumsized enterprises (SME’s) achieve the benefits of implementing quality and environmental management systems based respectively on its ISO 9001:2000 and ISO 14001:2004 standards.
However, in the past five or so years, a number of factors have combined to break down these traditional barriers, leading to an increasingly healthy acceptance and uptake of a range of ISO management systems among SMEs around the world. ISO and its partners are increasingly putting more focus into this sector to help them thrive. “To encourage SME’s to use International Standards and to become more involved in developing them, ISO and its partners the International Electrotechnical Commission and the International Telecommunication Union chose SME’s and standardization as the theme for World Standards Day 2006, on 14 October,” says ISO Secretary-General Alan Bryden.
One factor, and perhaps the most significant, has been the advent and widespread acceptance of the 2000 iteration of the ISO 9000 Standard. Its process approach, focus on customer satisfaction and critical requirement for built in continual improvement have given it the relevance and flexibility required by the SME market.
Secondly, is the development and strong marketing of specialist “small business” implementation and certification programs, which are scoped and priced to match the requirements of SMEs by organizations such as SAI Global, Australia’s largest and most established ISO certification specialist. “SAI Global has recognized the unique requirements of this sector, which has neither the time nor the money to dedicate entire quality teams to large scale implementation projects of the type some of the bigger firms may undertake,” said John Feeney, Assurance Business Development Manager at SAI Global. “What was required on our part was to listen to these businesses, to get out there in the field, observe, learn and develop suitable programs, get them in place – and then wait for word to get out.”
Certainly, a glance at SAI Global’s small business program books would indicate that word is well and truly out. The size, shape, variety and occupation of SMEs which continue to take the ISO Management System plunge grows by the day. From the more traditional manufacturing-based operations, through to those seeking certification for tendering and contract purposes, through to high-tech, pure service and professional organizations: all are represented and many of them are happy to publicly sing the praises of their ISO management system.
Here are a few case studies that show how ISO management systems can work for SME’s and produce great results.
> iso9001:2000: the bluei story
Bluei, a UK-based portable floodlighting manufacturer, made a decision to adopt ISO9001:2000, a quality management standard. Improved processes and enhanced existing systems led to innovative results. Most recently, their innovative range of LED echargeable portable floodlighting – with market leading lighting duration of up to 15 hours – has been a huge success worldwide. The ‘i storm range’ has seen orders received from over 22 countries with enquiries from as many others. As a result, the
company has already exceeded its initial sales forecasts. Bluei can now justifiably see itself as a major producer and exporter of high-value goods, and an important proponent of Britain’s export drive.
“Through IS09001:2000 we saw the perfect structured answer to fit our business model – the globally recognized standard of business excellence”, says Neil Walker, Bluei Managing Director. From day one the company’s key requirement has been to demonstrate to employees and customers alike the focus on business and product excellence at every level. According to Operations Manager, Ian Page, “The ISO9001:2000 standards model made us re-evaluate our existing business processes in totality
and has given us the management tools to achieve this control through stringent business planning and continual review which only enhances our culture of ‘continual improvement’.”
The application of ISO9001:2000 has enhanced Bluei’s existing systems and processes in design, manufacture and production. It is the standards model that has allowed for the sort of quality that gives rise to products like the ‘i storm’. Their worldwide customer base continues to be successful, encompassing some of the most demanding and discerning sectors including: armed forces, emergency & rescue services, counter terrorism units, railways, highway agencies, aid agencies, airports and airlines,
to name just a few.
For more information about Bluei UK, its products and services email: sales@blueiuk.com or visit their website at www.blueiuk.com.
“Fully integrated Management Systems, helped us to transform our business and we urge any forward thinking company to make the decision as we did.”
The complexities of putting a new high tech application together, marketing and selling it was something that confronted another ISOcertified small business operator, Rishi Viner. His company, Puredata, uses new digital imaging techniques to enable highly ccurate testing and rating of road assets. “The initial motivation for certification was the advantage it gave us with securing local government contracts – the third party validation provides clients with a lot of comfort,” explained Mr Viner. However, it soon ecame apparent that the benefits of certification to this SME extended beyond expectations.
“The process of putting the system together made us focus on all our processes, eliminating duplication and inefficiency. Further, we are no longer reliant on the corporate knowledge of any individual – a real trap in small business, in particular. Should one “key person” leave, we have the resources and systems to slot someone else in with minimal disruption.” A third major factor in the continuing popularity and uptake of ISO management systems among SMEs has been external pressure: either from industry organizations themselves, or from their clientele. Whether seeking to improve image, avoid litigation, become better corporate citizens – or, most likely, all three, a diverse range of industry representative groups is now choosing to adopt more rigorous and accountable forms of self-regulation – in many cases by endorsing ISO management systems to their members.
One such example is the development of a legal-specific version of the ISO 9000 standard, designed for Australian legal practices. Law 9000 is the result of a cooperative partnership between SAI Global and The College of Law, the largest provider of practical legal training in Australasia and one of the oldest and most respected in the common law world. “There is a growing movement toward regulation of practices and certainly, Law 9000 helps ensure that the systems are in place to manage that. We are in a position to endorse it to the profession and provide training and education to assist practices in implementation and certification. We also offer a special package for smaller firms and sole practitioners,” said Greg Dwyer, Director of Practice Development at The College.
However, it’s not just ISO9000 management systems receiving industry endorsement. Dwyer, Director of Practice Development at The College. However, it’s not just ISO9000 management systems receiving industry endorsement. iso14001 The Printing Industries Association of Australia (PIAA) represents Australia’s fourth largest manufacturing sector, with 115,000 employees and an annual turnover of around $A18 billion. Small, often family-owned printing businesses work in an environment of knife-edge competition. The PIAA encourages its members to become “green printers” as one way to gain a competitive edge. They have spent considerable time and resources in developing researched programs and principles to guide its members through the potential minefield of being “green”, in an industry whose very mainstays – paper and ink – are subject to increasingly stringent environmental scrutiny and controls.
The PIAA has developed what’s known as the Printing Industries Environmental Principles (PIEP), which describes four “levels” of environmental achievement. Mr Hagop Tchamkertenian is the Manager of Industry and Commercial Policy at the PIAA, and has championed the environmental efforts of his industry from the outset. He says it is now commonly recognized that we all hold responsibility for the future social and environmental wellbeing of our society, and that developing sustainable industry is the key. Testimony to this is the fact that major corporations are increasingly choosing to deal with organizations who can actively demonstrate their integrity via such recognized means as certification to ISO 14001.
“As an industry we need to acknowledge that our activities do impact on the environment and as a result we have a social responsibility to help minimize or eliminate such adverse effects. ISO 14001 is one way of moving toward that point and it is a path that we openly recommend to our members,” said Mr Tchamkertenian. Perhaps ten years ago, when quality in particular was experiencing a “doldrums”, the breadth and diversity of SMEs that were keen to jump on the ISO express would have been a surprise. However, the increased accessibility of ISO 9000 and related process-based standards such as ISO 14001, coupled with increasing pressures and concerns relating to regulation, risk management and social responsibility, mean that ISO management systems are still very much enjoying their place in the un down under.