- Background
Notedome, a £12m turnover company which manufactures polyurethane systems for a variety of sectors, was a 2nd generation family-owned business until 2016. The Coventry-based company’s products have a variety of applications from agriculture and mining to automotive parts and body armour. - ClientNotedome
- CategoryCompliance as a Service, Health & Safety, ISO Standards
- TagsCompliance as a Service, Health & Safety, ISO Standards
The need
In 2019, Gordon Alderley, a chemicals expert who had spent the previous six years working in Switzerland for one of the largest chemical companies, returned to the UK as the new CEO of Notedome. He soon found himself in a challenging position. There was no handover from the previous CEO to smooth his transition and, whilst immersing himself in the business, he also had to develop an in-depth knowledge of UK regulations and legislation in order to minimise the range of risks the firm faced.
A challenging deadline
Whilst finding his feet, Gordon was faced with what he calls “Double Trouble.” Just as lockdown hit, he received notice of a third-party ISO recertification audit… on a business he didn’t yet know inside out and with half of its staff working from home. With his hands full reviewing the HR and Finance functions with the help of Dafferns Accountants and The HR Dept, and without a network of trusted local business partners to turn to for help, Gordon asked for recommendations for a compliance expert. Tracey Hudson, Executive Director of The HR Dept South Warwickshire put him in touch with us.
"I always joke about compliance being dull and boring, but Risk Evolves' consultants are really good at giving practical, easy-to-understand advice. Having partnered with Helen as part of the No Jargon business support team, I was confident that Notedome would be in safe hands with her and her team."
A flexible solution
Having had a frank and confidential discussion with Gordon, we recommended that we help his team develop the skills required to maintain compliance on an ongoing basis, rather than doing everything for them. Our new support package, Compliance as a Service, was the ideal fit as it allows businesses to focus on its highest priority compliance needs first and scale up the level of support received if demand increases.
Finding the right starting point
One of the strengths of Compliance as a Service is that it allows businesses to mix and match support across ISO, H&S, cyber security, environmental and GDPR. Once we’d worked with Gordon to establish the areas which would have the biggest impact, we were able to match the business to experts chosen from our pool of experienced consultants.
Preparing for the ISO9001 recertification audit
Notedome had been ISO9001 certified since 2016, but Gordon had concerns about the way the standard was being managed. He comments, “We were missing the expertise needed to reap the full benefits of the certification. This put it at risk of becoming an ‘expensive certificate on the wall’ rather than a valuable investment which increases efficiency, reduces costs and boosts customer satisfaction.”
To eradicate quality concerns and to ensure the ISO9001 system was earning its keep, we joined forces with Gordon and Notedome’s Technical Manager (who already had a background in ISO9001). Our MD, Helen, suggested adding another internal resource to strengthen operational expertise and Gordon was delighted to receive a number of applications from employees keen to expand their skillset.
The new team spent time with Helen reviewing the Management System and learning how to run effective internal audits and management review meetings. As a result, Notedome approached its audit from a position of confidence and retained its certification.
Keeping employees safe
As a manufacturer using dangerous chemicals on a daily basis, Notedome’s H&S risks were greater than most. To minimise these, Gordon wanted to ensure that the H&S mindset which came naturally to him after 30 plus years in the industry would be swiftly adopted by the team and that processes were as robust as they could be. We matched the firm with a consultant with over 25 years of experience and tasked her with ensuring that the team took a pragmatic, effective and thorough approach to H&S.
“Keeping our staff healthy is essential to our success.”
Delivering cost-effective compliance
Helen comments, “By providing one day a month of expert support on quality and another on H&S, we’re able to deliver the same amount of progress as someone who only knowing a little bit about each topic would achieve in a fortnight. This saves Gordon a lot of money and gives him confidence in his robust systems. We’re also very pragmatic and down to earth, he’ll always get no-nonsense advice from us! Whilst delivering support, we’re also coaching and mentoring his team, so they increase their knowledge and become more confident. Our end goal, as for every client, is to make ourselves redundant over time.”
Future plans
Over time, Gordon plans to reduce the amount of quality and H&S support and focus on other areas, such as cyber security and GDPR.
He comments, “I’m sure there are many million-pound turnover businesses who, like us, can’t justify having separate quality, environmental and H&S experts on the payroll. However, if you rolled the requirements into one and asked one person to do it all, they’d end up as a ‘Miscellaneous Manager’. How would they keep track of changes? What would happen if they left? This service means we don’t have to be expert on absolutely everything, which would never be achievable.”
“Our largest client in terms of volume expects its entire supply chain to be ISO9001 certified, so safeguarding this certification was vitally important to the future of the business.”
