Company Announcement - Streamlining business through systems and efficiencies is non-negotiable in a highly competitive and often saturated marketplace – but in the quest to cut costs and still remain efficient, quality cannot be compromised. “Quality control is essential to building a successful businesses; it ensures adequate delivery of products and services that meet or exceed clients’ expectations,” says Virginia Voigt, National Quality Manager at GIBB; South Africa’s leading black-owned engineering consulting firm.“Sufficient quality control and measures also form the basis of an efficient business that minimises waste and operates at high levels of productivity,” she adds.
Voigt is responsible for establishing the processes needed for quality management systems and to warrant their correct implementation and maintenance. Voigt reports on the performance of the quality management system and any need for improvement; thus ensuring the promotion and awareness of client requirements throughout the firm. Quality is also a top priority of the Tender department at GIBB, led by Niri Jainath, she shares, “As the Head of Tenders it is my responsibility to ensure that our tender submissions are of the highest quality and distinctively demonstrate the GIBB value proposition. This is achieved through the establishment, implementation and maintenance of the GIBB tender process.”
A high level of detail goes into a tender document especially with the various compliance requirements, and the omission of one of these requirements could render the tender disqualified, therefore Jainath ensures that the tender process accommodates for stringent checks before submissions.
“High level research into the client’s business and industry requirements are coupled with internal knowledge to develop a client specific tender submission. Tenders are generally packaged according to the client specification. Resources vary between tenders, however general internal resources would comprise technical, editorial and production resources,” added Jainath.
The ISO 9001 is a quality control system based on an internationally recognised standard which is published by the International Organisation for Standardisation. The ISO 9001 provides a strong foundation for achieving a wide range of marketing and operational benefits. At GIBB, ISO certification audits are conducted annually. Internal audits are conducted according to audit plans which are compiled quarterly. This is to ensure that new, as well as long-running projects are audited.
“Preparing for an external audit takes months of planning and execution. We do this by ensuring that our new employees receive training on the quality system by the third month of their employment to understand the necessity and requirements of GIBB’s QMS. We conduct regular internal audits (last financial year we completed 145 audits) which plays a pivotal role for the external audit and managing GIBB’s risk. The success of a quality audit is dependent on every GIBB employee at every level to conduct their environment in line with the highest quality standards and bring quality into their everyday work life,” expresses Voigt. GIBB is re-certified until June 2018.
“We are extremely proud of this achievement and it shows that we have a robust system which is effectively and efficiently implemented and maintained. It gives management confidence in investing in the management system. This achievement also keeps us on a competitive edge and it gives us motivation to continuously improve our output,” comments Voigt. Having an ISO certification also has benefits for tenders, as Jainath explains, “Being ISO certified also gives credible weight to our proposals by providing assurance to our clients that we are compliant with international quality standards.”
However, even with the backing of ISO, industry challenges and competition still exist.
“We regularly face issues such as poorly defined tender scopes, lengthy procurement processes from submission to award and decentralised procurement systems. Process management is a large part of my role and we attempt to continually streamline this process,” affirms Jainath.
Both the tender process and quality control procedures are vital to a firm such as GIBB, which consults on several mega projects.
As Voigt summarises, “When quality is incorporated into your everyday work life, it becomes a habit. The system enables us to execute high standard deliverables which makes an impact on clients’ impression of the firm. The ultimate aim is client satisfaction and clients can be assured of receiving good quality services from GIBB.”