“Thanks Episode, you have spent a lot of time with us to put, implement and rectify the system. We at Havelock thank you as a company and team and are delighted to have been certified by TUV Nord.”
Hesham Shedid, Quality, Health and Safety Manager, Havelock AHI.
Summary
Havelock AHI is an interior design and fit-out company headquartered in Bahrain. Employing over 700 people, one of their largest divisions is its Abu Dhabi operations in the United Arab Emirates.
Given the prestigious nature of the projects it undertakes, both in the public and private sector, and because the Operations Director recognised the need to provide structure to the division, they chose Episode to help them become certified to ISO 9001, quality, ISO 14001 environmental and OHSAS 18001, occupational health and safety management systems. With over 100 employees drawn from all over the world, Havelock faced the challenges of cultural and language difficulties, as well as divergent ways of working. The need to access their management systems on site meant they chose to implement an integrated management system using an online platform, allowing access to the information they require in real time.
About the Organisation
Havelock AHI specialises in interior fit-outs and manufacturing of high quality furniture, joinery and shop fittings for international hotels, renowned retail stores, supermarkets and hypermarkets, corporate offices, banks and palaces.
The Company undertakes projects throughout the Middles East and Russia. Its Abu Dhabi division employs over 100 people, operating out of its office, warehouse and workshop in the capital.
What the issues were
The need to be certified to the three standards, whilst important, was not the main reason for establishing an integrated management system. The Senior Management Team wanted to provide a structured and consistent way of working, along with making some fundamental changes to the ways of working.
Two areas were particularly pressing
1. There was no consistency in how projects were costed, project managed and delivered, leading to costly re-working on many projects
2. Different attitudes to health and safety due to cultural differences across the staff were a major concern.
What we did about it
Episode allocated two consultants to work on the project. A substantial amount of time was spent getting to understand how the company worked, including going to site to comprehend the problems staff faced in the field.
A number of workshops were held with departments throughout the company to capture how things were done, how they interacted with each other and agree new, more efficient ways of working.
One challenge faced by the project was a change in Senior Management Staff, with a new Operations Director joining. The project team were able to bring him up to speed, having systemised ways of working, so that he could then make changes he needed without delaying the roll out of the integrated management system.
Once the system had been built and tested, all the staff were trained on the use of the management system. Importantly, the focus was on making Havelock work better, not complying with ISO standard’s requirements. The Operations Director had previous experience of working with ISO based management systems and knew the pitfalls of focusing on ISO audit compliance rather than making the systems work for the company.
The outcome
Havelock was successfully certified to all three standards at the first attempt by TUV Nord. Significant cost efficiencies were achieved (such as the reclamation of surplus suspended ceiling components, and a 15% reduction in costs due to re-working on site).
The Project Managers are now able to access site specification documentation over the web, ensuring the site is always working to the latest issue of drawings.
Office based staff have fed back that they find it much easier to do their job as they know how things are done and are able to access the documents they need quickly.
Health and safety has improved as everybody now knows what good working practices are in a consistent way.