Maintaining high standards at Amberol

There are many ways that we strive to continually improve services and products at Amberol. In addition to ongoing customer communication, surveys and product development initiatives which are often based on customer feedback, we are also externally assessed to ensure that we meet the stringent requirements of the British Standards Institution (BSI) Quality Award ISO 9000-2015.

What is the BSI 9000?

The award is internationally recognised, used within many different industries and covers all aspects of a business, including seven key areas:

• Customer focus – understanding future as well as current customer needs
• Leadership – for clear and purposeful direction
• Engagement of people – to ensure that people at all levels of an organisation are involved in working towards that organisation’s goals
• Process approach – making sure that activities and resources are managed effectively as a process
• Improvement – this should be an ongoing goal of any organisation
• Evidence-based decision making – decisions are based on available and relevant data and information
• Relationship management – the relationships between all external providers and suppliers should integrate and be mutually beneficial

As a quality management system, within Amberol it provides a clear structure for a range of processes and standards, measuring areas such as customer service, customer complaints and non-conformance, delivery times and scrap levels.

What does a BSI 9000 audit involve?

The external assessment for BSI 9000 includes an annual audit of all paperwork and is followed up by an annual visit from a BSI consultant to ensure that we are continuing to meet the standards required for the award. This inspection is part of the process of re-certification which occurs every three years.

Why does the BSI 9000 matter?

Amberol’s MD Patience Atkinson-Gregory comments: “The BSI award is an important business management tool which benefits management, staff, suppliers and customers. While we aspire to offering the best experience for our customers, having clear external standards to work towards is important in helping us to maintain quality across all areas of the business. It also offers customers reassurance that we are working to exacting industry standards across a range of areas, from administration to production quality.”

Using the BSI Quality Management System enables staff to identify any potential issues quickly and is also used to record opportunities, risks, strengths and weaknesses within the business - which then feeds down to customers.

“While the BSI 9000 award is just one of the measures that we use to ensure customer satisfaction, having that external validation is an important mark of our commitment to offering quality for customers, respecting suppliers, being a considerate employer and operating ethically,” Patience adds.

For more information about Amberol’s products, visit www.amberol.co.uk, call 01773 830 930 or email sales@amberol.co.uk.