TEC hits 100th SC21 engagement

The two companies which reached the century were Protocon Engineering in Southend and Quality Blasting, a shot blasting company in the West Midlands. At the other end of the scale, one of the first companies TEC supported through the process was Dunstable-based High-Tech Engineering. Each of these companies however had different reasons for adopting SC21.

Alan Bass, Quality Blasting’s Managing Director, said: “We are keen to adopt the industry’s continuous improvement methodology to develop our business processes, and SC21 is a good fit for Quality Blasting. Deciding to embark on the programme was a big decision to make and I am confident that it will deliver for the company and for our customers.”

Karl Cadman, SC21 Champion of Protocon, said: “We are starting our SC21 journey to improve our business processes, reduce inefficiencies and ultimately deliver a better service and product to our customers. We have chosen TEC to support us through this journey due to their vast knowledge, experience and expertise of SC21.

“Following our initial two day workshop with TEC, we now have a clear Roadmap for SC21 implementation and based on our current performance, we intend to submit for an SC21 award by the middle of next year.”

High-Tech Managing Director Steve Tickner said: “The journey that we have made towards implementing SC21 has been of real benefit to the business – resulting in retaining Silver Award for four consecutive years.

“The SC21 journey has fundamentally changed the company and is continuing to do so.  The CSIP has given focus and some additional formality to the on-going improvement process. It has also become something that is visible to employees and customers alike.

“Not only does SC21 allow us to understand our strengths and weaknesses it is a fantastic marketing tool when you have achieved recognition level.

“We are now seeing procurement teams using SC21 as a means to identify suppliers, as they understand the real benefit of engaging with companies committed to improvement and quality and delivery performance.  Our ultimate aim is to achieve, and maintain, SC21 Gold Award.

“TEC were extremely supportive in our SC21 journey. They encouraged us when we came across particularly difficult problems and nudged us along to maintain momentum.

“Their expert and timely advice have undoubtedly made this process much easier, to the benefit of the company and also our customers.”

TEC has supported 24 companies to bronze award, over one third of the total (68). To this can be added over 50 client certifications to 'Rev C' of AS/EN9100.

Dave Bull, Director of TEC, said: “SC21 is making a huge difference to the aerospace and defence supply chains. It has raised the bar in terms of Quality, Cost and Delivery(QCD)performance and the industry has recognised the value it brings to customer-supplier relationships. We are pleased to be able to support businesses committed to the philosophy of understanding and achieving ‘excellence’

“There is a lot of work ahead for companies which have just started on the SC21 continuous improvement journey, such as Protocon and Quality Blasting. However I am sure that both companies will derive great benefits throughout the process, just like High-Tech, and not just aim to achieve an award.”

The pursuit of excellence is a never-ending journey that boosts profitability and business growth in the face of austerity. TEC has trained several of the aerospace and defence primes’ Supplier Development Leaders as SC21 Practitioners and mostof the UK’s Certification Bodies’ assessors for the recent certification updates (Rev C).

Award winning quality and delivery is potentially guaranteed because the effectiveness of internal processes is constantly monitored against the company’s objectives and targets.  Negative trends are immediately picked up and actioned by the company’s management team and actioned using Lean Six Sigma tools and techniques – SC21 levels of performance are automatically recognised as essential.

Companies deploying SC21 generally have very different experiences and reasons for embarking on the SC21 programme, and can operate in very different markets, however there has been a number of ‘red threads’ between CSIP actions.