| Introduction |
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After
many years of working in various industry sectors from office
junior in a small law firm in the mid 80’s, to procurement
manager for a large manufacturing plant in the late 90’s, I
have seen a wide range of management systems. Some were well
managed and extremely effective, while others were little more than
documented protocol and offered few benefits to the organisation. The
better managed systems, it is fair to say, had both a varying degree of
successes and disappointments. However, these more successful systems
did provide the companies with vital information to focus on areas of
improvement and explore new opportunities.
Is this not what business is about? Celebrating success and sharing of sometimes difficult lessons? The ISO Standards provide companies with a set of principles and solid business tools. When effectively implemented these can provide consistent productivity, reliability and efficiency, control environmental impacts, and focus on the safety, health and welfare of ALL people who interact with the organisation. They assist the organisation in achieving positive financial benefits and in demonstrating continual improvement, enhancing customer delivery, building supplier relationships and attracting a positive workforce. Certification for FSC (Forest Stewardship Council) and PEFC (Programme for the Endorsement of Forest Certification) Chain of Custody is one of the fastest growing certification schemes worldwide. Any industry associated with fibre and timber products should consider these schemes to provide full traceability from forest floor to manufactured paper products, timber construction and manufacturing and even down to the simple garden shed or roll of toilet paper! In today’s world of continuous change and tough challenges, companies must take every opportunity to explore new technologies, end of product cycles, continually review service provision, communicate with all parties including employees and neighbours, and ensure customer expectations are delivered with confidence, whilst meeting the continuing need to raise safety standards and improve environmental credentials Julie A Turner |
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