Ever since this company was first established, we’ve always shied away from being just ‘average’. We recognise that, when clients choose us, they’re ploughing their time, money and other resources into one of our projects, so we want to give them the biggest bang for their buck in return. We want to invest as heavily in our customers, as they invest in us.
But as a team, it’s simply not enough to strive to be the best in the business, because ‘best’ is quite a subjective word. So, we’ve worked through our proposition with a fine toothcomb, to define where we excel, where we can hone our continuous improvement efforts, and how this all comes together to encourage clients to choose us.
And that’s the reason for this new blog series – ‘Why UNTHA?’
We’ve taken inspiration from research conducted by Harvard Business – which asked 1000 high-profile buyers what they look for in a supplier – and used the top 12 factors to shape our thinking. Each month we’ll delve into one of the factors in detail, to tell you how we think we shape up!
By this point – and having read the title of this blog – you may be expecting a sales pitch. But you needn’t worry. We may be talking about ourselves in these posts, but the aim is to link these to how they can impact on the waste, recycling and alternative fuel production projects we undertake. In other words, we hope you’ll learn a thing or two along the way, whoever you choose as your shredding partner!
So, first up, it’s Marie Dransfield, talking all things quality and performance! Please let us know what you think…
“Quality is actually a vast topic, particularly if you’re set up to ensure it runs throughout every part of your business. Summing up our approach to quality in only a couple of hundred words is therefore really tough.
So, to try and give my answer some structure, I’ve devised a 6-step summary of how quality manifests itself within UNTHA UK, and why I think this has an impact on our performance.
- Systems
We’ve invested more than £250,000 in sophisticated technology, as well as our hat-trick of ISO accreditations, to provide us with a quality backbone. Collectively, our systems give us a best-practice infrastructure on which we can continually build and fine-tune our processes. As clichéd as it sounds, they help ensure the right people do the right things at the right time.
- Processes
A quick note on these processes – they don’t exist because we want to work in a robotic fashion, and they don’t restrict us from being flexible or agile either. We know every client’s needs are different, so we don’t believe in a ‘one size fits all’ to working with them. However, we do want to ensure that every installation or aftersales project is carried out to the same high standards, whoever is involved, and whatever the budget. Our carefully thought out processes help us achieve this.
- People
I was tempted to put this point first as really it governs the success of everything, but it makes more sense to include it here. Systems and processes give us the architecture to deliver work to the highest quality standards, but without the right people it’s all irrelevant really. We therefore work hard to recruit and develop the best talent in the industry – people who are as stand-out as our machines. We look for candidates who have quality at the top of their personal agenda, otherwise it’s unlikely they’ll buy in to what we’re trying to achieve.
- Culture
As the above point suggests, quality must form part of an individual’s – and company’s – mindset. So, as a business, we try to provide an environment that nurtures this quality passion. We give employees a voice, and a platform on which to grow, and this culture runs throughout every department. That way, whoever is interacting with a customer or project, the quality standards hopefully remain the same.
- Our machines
We couldn’t talk about quality without referencing the robustness of our shredders – the build excellence, long-lasting parts and long maintenance intervals are just some of the quality components. In the simplest of terms, quality has been engineered into our products, by design.
- Feedback
In the modern, customer-centric business environment, feedback matters more than ever. So we try to capture – and act upon – this feedback as much as we possibly can. Being quality-led isn’t necessarily about being perfect every time – sometimes the unexpected happens, for example. But how we deal with unforeseen challenges – and how we strive to resolve issues quickly and efficiently – is further evidence of our quality stance. Often our biggest advocates are the customers who know we’ve gone the extra mile to help them through a particularly tricky time – that’s what people remember.
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