Meeting Reports 2003 - 2004
The following are reports of the previous meetings.
Thanks to Andrew Grant for providing the reports.
| IQA member Jenny Glover gave a presentation
on ‘5S’ applied to small business and the avionics industry,
at the latest branch event |
| Pick up that newspaper. Is the print fuzzy? Are the colour pictures out of focus? Is it badly folded? – Yes ? – then you are unlikely to be looking at the Dundee “Courier and Advertiser”. That is the message member’s received during their recent visit to publisher D.C.Thomson & Co. Ltd. With daytime staff of the company’s magazines, My Weekly, People’s Friend, etc. and comics such as the Dandy and Beano, all away – possibly at The Bash Street Kids 50th birthday party – the evening visit focused on production of the regional daily newspaper the “Courier and Advertiser”. Manager Ian Main and assistant manager Graeme McMinn gave a presentation on the company products and led a tour of the premises. D.C.Thomson & Co., employing around 900 staff, operates from a purpose made building incorporating offices, printing press rooms and dispatch bays at Kingsway Dundee. The company has two distinct sections, one dealing with magazines and comics, the other newspapers. Apart from the ‘Courier and Advertiser’ they produce the ‘Evening Telegraph’, the Sunday Post’ and also do contract printing of other publications including the ‘Daily Mail’. The editorial floor, busy with reporters and sub-editors working at computers, was quiet despite the activity, - no clacking typewriters and shouts of “copy- boy” nowadays! News and pictures arrive electronically from staff and agencies like Associated Press or Reuters, are processed, downloaded and passed to the appropriate department for consideration. A 6.00 pm editorial conference decides the main stories and number of pages to be produced. Advertising is such an important part of newspaper revenue that the amount and position of adverts governs the layout of news columns. 30 telephone operators deal with small ads. intimations, car and house sales and situations vacant, while 8 area sales representatives liaise with local businesses. A dedicated photosetting department can compile adverts combining text and photographs or prepare customers ready-made adverts for printing. Once the adverts, photos and news ‘come together’, full-page metal printing plates are formed, two plates for each page to be printed, these are then loaded on to the press. D.C.Thomson has two high-speed offset litho colour newspaper presses, installed in 1991. Each press with it’s 4 colour ink supply – black,yellow,cyan and magenta – is capable of printing 70,000 copies/hour of the broad-sheet ‘Courier’ and 30,000 copies/hour for the tabloid ‘Mail’. Print runs are controlled from a common glass sided control room where, in theory, one person could run both machines. In practice, ten overseer and printing staff operate the presses. On start up there is about 6% waste as paper tension, speed, alignment, colour and ink density is checked and adjusted to give the quality of printing acceptable for dispatch. Modern technology has made it easier to change or update stories, alter pages and delay printing however, printing 55,000 copies of the ‘Daily Mail’ usually starts at 11.30pm. At midnight the 1st of 6 editions of the ‘Courier and Advertiser’ goes to press and by the early hours 100,000 copies will be on sale all over East Central Scotland, Fife, Angus and beyond. ‘Courier’ editor, Bill Hutcheon answered member’s questions and Chairman Alan Solway thanked D.C. Thomson and their staff for an excellent informative evening. Back to top |
| A report of the meeting will appear here |
| The latest branch event was a visit
to wheelchair manufacturer Lomax Mobility, Dundee. Branch member Tom Forbes, product assurance manager gave a presentation about the company products then led a tour of the factory departments. Tom explained that Lomax Mobility is the largest independently owned UK wheelchair manufacturer, with around 200 staff producing 20,000 items per year. Members were invited to sit in, and examine many of the 39 models of chair produced. A wheelchair is defined as a medical device but the company now designs and makes products far advanced from the original NHS model 1 wheelchair. Lomax Mobility has three product lines - steel construction, powered and lightweight aluminium. From bought-in tubes and wheels, the cutting, bending, brazing, welding, assembly and painting (or coating) is all done in the modern plant. The company produces to order, the main customer being the NHS. A priority order required urgently can be done in one day. Products include chairs with small wheels for pushing from behind, large wheeled for self-propelling and battery powered. There are folding models, kerb climbing features and children’s chairs with brightly coloured frames to give ‘playground credibility’. There are racing and basketball special chairs and Tom told members about a ‘downhill racer’ crashing unharmed at 50 mph! Product development is done in conjunction with NHS occupational therapists and other specialists. There is a demand to make wheelchairs lighter for pushing, lifting into vehicles and stowing. While the chair itself can be light the user’s weight often increases due to lack of mobility. Many models folded easily and had quick release wheels. Puncture proof solid tyres are now generally fitted and all products carry the ‘CE’ mark for entry to Europe, but acceptance by German medical insurance authorities appears hard to attain with France an untried market. The quality and colours of the powder coating finish of the tubular frames, particularly ‘toffee apple red’, impressed members. Seats and backrests are upholstered in material with integral flame retardant properties unaffected by future abrasion. Extensive product testing is done to prove model strength and reliability. A programme of ’7000 time drop test’ and ‘200,000 cycle road test’ is performed with chairs carrying up to 118 Kg load. Chairs intended for transporting users within vehicles are given crash tests. One test apparatus, driving two circling chairs on uneven surfaces with a kerb drop, reminded members of an astronaut G-force trainer! Final inspection is a last check that construction is correct and no sharp edges have slipped through earlier stages. The Lomax Mobility aim is to give the NHS value for money, chairs can cost from £300 upwards. Reliability was proven in a charity event when the participant, in a self-propelled chair, completed the 901.4 miles from Lands End to John O’ Groats trouble free and on the original set of tyres. This was an extremely interesting and enlightening visit to a manufacturer of an essential product most fit people hardly notice or pay attention to. Chairman Alan Solway thanked Tom. Back to top |
| At the first meeting of the new session,
held at North Queensferry Lodge, Fife, Chairman Alan Solway presented
new member Allan Thomson with his certificate. Vice-chairman Tom
Candlish then gave a presentation highlighting the short time left for
gaining ISO 9001:2000 accreditation. Speaking as an active, working Assessor, he outlined the impact on businesses who had not made the transition from ISO 9001:1994 to the new standard and the main problems they face attaining certification. Some businesses have been awarded the new accreditation but many are unaware that the old certificate ‘drops dead’ and is invalid from 15 December 2003. Companies who have not been assessed may be running late on their timetable or may have decided not to continue with ISO accreditation. Final figures will emerge after December. Without ISO 9001:2000 companies may be faced with losing contracts, or be subjected to frequent rigorous assessment by their customers. It was suggested that the three-year transition from ISO 9001:1994 may have led to complacency and a one-year period would have been more appropriate. Tom stated that ISO 9001:2000 was the first good standard equally suitable for manufacturing and service companies. One of the problems businesses have attaining the new standard is the failure of some company leaders to realise that they own, and should implement the quality management system. Leaving accreditation to staff members or an outside consultant indicates possible lack of commitment and motivation therefor top management must become fully involved with policy and set measurable quality objectives. Facing assessment, some businesses have difficulty writing a statement of quality policy, understanding continual improvement and keeping appropriate records. Continual improvement is a difficult part of the standard to deal with; there has to be a starting point to measure from. Tom found a lack of records common in his assessments. Appropriate evidence must be kept to ‘prove that you do it’. Internal audits need to be planned carefully so that they check all requirements of the standard. Regarding customer service, Tom stressed more had to be done than sending out questionnaires to be ticked “like bingo boxes”. Sales staff should ask customers direct for their views. Within resource management, competence, workspaces, environment and equipment, all had to be reviewed. Many companies have difficulty with corrective and preventative actions. It was suggested a company should conduct an ‘our business risk assessment’ for immediate and long-term action. Thanks to Tom Candlish, this meeting was an excellent forum for anyone requiring guidance on gaining ISO 9001:2000 accreditation. Back to top |
The last event of the session was a visit to Tarvit Home Farm, Cupar, Fife where James Logan & Son Ltd., part of Scotfruit Group, grow strawberries and raspberries for TESCO and Sainsburys supermarkets. Scotfruit, the second largest soft fruit provider, supplies 75% of their requirement Mr Andrew Logan, our host, explained that only top grade fruit is acceptable and strict specifications must be met. Strawberries must be of regulation size (min.diam. 22 mm), ripeness, husk and stalk attached and free from blemishes. Approximately 65% of the berries picked are rejected and discarded. This fruit could be used for jams etc. but at present, there is no system in place to deal with it. The Scottish picking season, normally July/August, is now artificially extended to 27 weeks by planned planting and covering to accelerate or retard ripening. Polythene tunnels, constructed at a cost of £42,000 per hectare, protect the crop from rain, wind and birds. Weather temperature at the flowering stage affects crop size and pollination is aided by the purchase of the farm’s own bees! Suitable conditions can increase individual plant yield from 500g to 1200g. Although light spraying is done public concern has influenced farmers to let natural predators control pests. The fruit from Tarvit is not strictly organic although it would meet Dutch organic criteria. The farm has a core of local experienced staff led by a technical manager who provide training but a large enough, dependable workforce is not available locally. At peak production 170 hand-pickers are employed, most are final year students from East European countries working on short-term Home Office contracts. A good picker can earn £60 per day. Quality control is vital for a perishable product. Fruit is examined, sampled and approved at all stages. Everyone and everything is bar-coded and records are kept for each picker, container, crate and pallet of fruit. Quality score cards are compiled each picking day and relevant action taken. Tarvit farm prints all labels to supermarket requirements. Correct labelling of each unit is critical and QC essential, if any label is incorrect the supermarket can reject the entire consignment. Picked fruit is kept chilled on the farm, then transferred to refrigerated transport for delivery to the appropriate distribution depot anywhere in Britain at a pre-allotted time. Most supermarkets calculate ‘shelf-life’ as 3 days + 1 day at the purchaser’s home. While picking and storage is done every day, half of supermarket weekly sales are made on Friday and Saturday. Tarvit farm monitors fruit ‘shelf-life’ and retains samples for continuous assessment. The farmer must ensure each pack is 2% overweight to allow for ‘shrinkage’, and the cost of promotions such as ‘Buy one get one free’ or special offer price reductions are borne by the grower not the seller. Despite fixed prices, rising costs and variable weather Mr Logan is optimistic and sees a thriving market for quality soft fruit. |