Following a best-ever financial report in 2013, the Scottish Quality Management Centre (SQMC) has surpassed financial targets for a successive year with a 36% increase in turnover for financial year-end 2014.
SQMC provides ISO training and consultancy services to a diverse client base across a broad range of industries and services throughout the UK.
SQMC director Kenny Hannah said: “After a fantastic year in 2013 and with the continuing demand for our services, we had set ourselves a realistic growth target for 2014. However, we were pleasantly surprised to find that SQMC consultants were sought after more than ever before, perhaps due in part to recent case studies published about clients we have helped to nail their ISO certification, helping us to be more than 75% on the way to reaching this target by the end of the first six months of the year.”
“Seeing this sort of growth year on year is enabling us to reinvest more into our infrastructure and customer experience; particularly our online services and the creation of new, custom-built software that is unique to SQMC.”
Although some of the contracts that contributed to last year’s success are now complete, Kenny hopes that the business will replicate it in 2015 with fresh opportunities such as SQMC's forthcoming schedule of accredited "Transition" workshops starting on 17th June that will update previously-trained auditors to the latest versions of key Quality and Environmental ISO Standards.
SQMC have provided Quality Assurance support within the nuclear industry throughout last year, and were also able to secure new business from organisations like Applusvelosi, Score Europe, and Playfords/Hedley Solutions, supplying them with the management systems training that they already provide for existing and long-standing clients like the Edinburgh International Conference Centre, General Electric and fashion giants, Mainetti. .
Kenny continued: “With new updates to the ISO 9001and ISO 14001 quality and environmental international standards due out by the end of the year, we foresee many individuals certified to operate to the current versions of the standards requiring our transition courses.
“Eventually, various organisations will require to revisit their certified Quality Management System and bring their procedures and documentation in line with the requirements of the new standard, and I hope that our consultants will play key roles in helping these organisations achieve this.
In 2014, SQMC also boasted exceptionally high pass rates for a number of their courses, 100% for their ISO 9001 Internal Auditor course, which is accredited by the International Register of Certificated Auditors. This reflects the quality of training SQMC provides through its trainers, some of the UK’s most experienced and most talented, and presents the best possible opportunity for students to minimise their financial outlay.
Kenny explains: “Trainers of the calibre we require to maintain our success rate in the classroom don’t grow on trees, and I’m constantly on the lookout for talented individuals with the right blend of teaching skills and auditing experience to add to our team here. The rise in demand for SQMC courses mean there is an increase in opportunities for such candidates.”
Quality management practices, like those taught by SQMC, have been found to contribute considerably towards the UK’s economy and the success of individual organisations. For example, a report commissioned by the CQI and CMI found that in 2011 quality management programmes added over £80bn towards the UK’s GDP and an average of a £6 increase to revenues and £16 reduce to cost for every £1 spent on such systems for businesses.1
1The Contribution of quality management to the UK economy is a 2012 report by the Centre for Economics and Business Research (Cebr) commissioned by the Chartered Quality Institute (CQI) and the Chartered Management Institute (CMI).