Another system can be used called Kaizen which is more of a quality test and means ‘change for the better’ and is also known as continuous improvement – this is where businesses have such demand for there product that they continue to improve their products by continually updating and improving their products and marketing to stay ahead of competition. Kaizen as JIT also aims to reduce costs and time of production and eliminates waste. It links in with other concepts like quality circles, productivity improvements and new product development.
Kaizen aims to eliminate waste, and reduce both the time and the costs of production. It links in with other concepts such as TQM, quality circles, productivity improvements and new product development.
Scott Bader although they do not call it Kaizen, they are always looking to improve their processes in a number of ways. For example they have small teams which are set up to do a number of improvement projects within their manufacturing plants. They make sure that they continuously review and update their Standard Operating Procedures. They have started a bench marking process, which enables them to adopt best practice and learn from each other their sister. Training and development of their staff is the key to their success and so a lot of effort is being put in this area.
Total Quality Management is used so that the workers on production processes have a personal responsibility for passing in to the following operation only products of perfect quality. This is quality at source and it is passed down a ‘chain of quality’. Each work team checks the quality of its own products, so operators must be capable of doing and understanding the statistical quality analysis. These results are displayed so everyone knows how the work team is doing. Anybody can stop the production process if they are unhappy about the level of quality being produced until the problem is found and resolved. This will help Scott Bader to be as efficient as possible. Everyone in Scott Bader shares the responsibility of quality. In their manufacturing plants, the operators are responsible for testing the batches when they make them. They also have a Quality Control department to do the final tests before the products are approved. Scott Bader is accredited with an ISO 9001 and an ISO 14001 accredited Company. Most of their suppliers are also ISO accredited.
A wide variety of products, solvent based and water based and powder coatings, industrial coatings, water based products and thickeners are made at Scott Bader. Scott Bader believes that, “Everybody in this country touches something from the Wollaston plant everyday of their lives.” Scott Bader’s new investment programme means they make less volume of product but increases the amount of flexibility, which is vital for keeping up with changing technology and changing customer needs.
Scott Bader does not use the Cell Production method because they feel it is more relevant to assembly production. This method of manufacturing an item is done by organising workers into ‘cells’ (groups) within the factory, with each cell comprising of several workers who each have different skills to offer. Each cell is independent of the other cells and will usually produce a complete item, and each cell will also usually have an output target to achieve for a given period of time.
If Scott Bader used this method of production they would benefit form the improved job satisfaction and motivation their staff would get out of it, the quality of their goods would rise because the quality is looked is a responsibility for the whole group. Their staffs become more multi-skilled and stockholdings are reduced which they are looking for at the moment. Scott Bader prefer more of a specialised workforce which means that the worker specialises in their best skill which means overall quality is excellent, also cell production is not very regular, it is slower than other production methods and different groups will go at different speeds more machinery may be needed because of the amount of groups.
Scott Bader use batch production this method of production involves the manufacture of an item being divided into a number of small tasks. A collection (or ‘batch’) of items each has one of these tasks completed, and then the batch moves onto the next manufacturing task. In other words, several items have the same task performed on each of them and then they move onto the next task together in a group. For example if a manufacturer was making pizza then one task would be to put on the tomato puree then it would be moved on for the cheese and then moved on again for extra toppings. This means that manufacturers can build-up of large amounts of stock and work-in-progress. This also means that Scott Bader benefits from economies of scale.
Scott Bader are always looking to improve their production methods to become more efficient and modern, they say there is always somewhere to improve, at the moment they are looking at their stock holding policy, to ensure waste is eliminated this could be reduced by using a just-in-time method or cell production method as discussed earlier. Scott Bader have also “embarked upon a £2.6 million automated project” in one of their plants
Scott Bader has been accredited an ISO 9000 and an ISO 14000 standards for quality which includes conception and design. In a recent customer survey they were rated top by its customers for skill and service and in 1975 they were rewarded a Queen’s Award to industry for technical innovation in surface coatings. Scott Bader since then have improved a lot and claim that to keep up with fierce competition see 20 to 30 new or modified products added to the range.
Relationships with people, customers, suppliers and others interacting with a business is a crucial part of a businesses success, if customers and suppliers are happy with the service you give along with the products then your transactions will be smoother and you will easily form partnerships and gain customer loyalty, without this and a company will not have regular sales revenue or wouldn’t be able to predict what amount of products to produce.
Scott Bader believe that good relationship with suppliers combined with good quality products and services means that customers become regular and they gain customer loyalty, on a Scott Bader video I watched to help me with my findings a customer said, “With Scott Bader we know that it will be delivered in time, it’ll be the right quality, right price, so we don’t even think about looking elsewhere.” They try to form close relationships with their customers so that they can provide the optimum level of service required. The customer service people who deal directly with the customers are divided so to give regional/country focus they also have native speakers around Europe making it easier for them to understand the social aspects required and can follow the transaction through smoothly and can solve problems and issues, having these speakers probably solves a few problems too.
Customers find it easy to make a working relationship with them, Scott Bader are always helpful, they know what they are talking about which helps with the quality of service given to customers and means that good communication can be kept with Scott Bader and the customers understanding what is going on. Scott Bader think it is important to visit customers so that they can understand there working process so to have an intimate understanding.
Louis Hubert Guilloux, the export sales manager of composites at Scott Bader – France, says, “It’s a state of mind, you must be ready to meet the needs of the customer even for medium sized orders.”
Scott Bader revealed that consistency is very important to them; they have never had a batch sent back making life so much easier. They have embarked on a huge investment programme this year in the polyester plant and it would build an infrastructure to make them more flexible it would give them the ability to respond faster to changing customer needs.
Scott Bader tries to establish a partnership relationship with their customers because they understand that it is a two-way process. “We need to listen to what our customers are telling us and then we need to act on that.
I think Scott Bader’s attitude to customer needs is great they have the right idea they form customer loyalties and make a good name for themselves. Scott Bader also give a good after sales care service they provide particularly with technical support – people in the technical team can go out to visit customers and will bring the product back in-house to get their technical people to look at it and resolve any problems they are having. Scott Bader also helps customers with the safety issues of their products like how to store them, ventilation, temperatures, and the use of right equipment. This in a way is abit like adding value.
