Sandaig Engineering were delighted to see a great turnout at the third ETZ LTD Low Carbon Quality Management-focused event ‘Quality Beyond 9001: The Risk Dimension’ today. The workshop explored risk management and leadership in conjunction with CQI | The Chartered Quality Institute Renewable SIG and the North of Scotland CQI branch.
The workshop focused on SMEs looking to become established in the low carbon supply chain and Christopher Bird CEng, MSc, FIoD, FIMechE, FAPM, FEI of Riskwell facilitated an interactive approach to living with uncertainty and making quality decisions for business success. The energy in the room was testament to the engaging group tasks delivered by Chris.
We then heard from Inch Cape Offshore Limited’s Steven McDougall & Chris Allen CQP MCQI for highlighting supply chain risk and opportunities across the developing offshore wind sector. Their insights into the ongoing challenges within the sector followed on well from Chris’s previous input.
We then heard from Sarah Stalker & Catriona Wilson of Optimus Plus (Aberdeen) Ltd, experts in the management and framing of risk. Tally Singer from CQI closed the event by underlining the need for Quality professionals to lead in order to centre quality and ensure businesses are successful in the volatile global markets.
The UK Government’s post Covid Build Back Better initiative will aim to accelerate the transition to net zero. The Offshore Wind Sector is looking strong in Scotland by pushing the boundaries in terms of reducing costs while innovating new technologies and Quality plays an integral part in this. We know that learning from the oil and gas industry has helped accelerate floating offshore wind development and cut costs. (https://www.windpowermonthly.com/article/1665801/oil-gas-sectors-lessons-floating-offshore-wind).
Sandaig Engineering delivers industry best practice in management systems and strategic quality programmes within the energy sector supply chain. We have experience of delivering consultancy and operational support for Oil and Gas operators and Tier one Contractors where there has been a large focus on defining service criticality, supplier assessment and supplier auditing.
However, here at Sandaig Engineering, we believe our approach to QA and QC consultancy services in the Oil ang Gas industry can be equally applied to the Offshore Wind Sector. Our specialist knowledge has been developed from years of experience of helping companies get it right first time to reduce expensive outages and downtime. This approach strengthens supply chains and drives up performance.
At Sandaig Engineering we can work with clients from the early-stage development to provide QA/QC support through the full supply chain cycle from tendering to installation and can cover all major commodities. This ensures a culture of quality is built into the organisation, adding value and getting it right first time which in turn drives up efficiencies placing our customers at the top of their game.
Services can include:
Gap analysis on engineering, projects, supply chain and operations processes and management systems
Implementing engineering and supply chain processes either in isolation or as part of a full management system
Managing the QA and HSE portions of major supplier evaluation and ITT processes
Vendor technical and management system auditing
Management of inspection and test plans and vendor/third party inspection programs
Root cause analysis
Implementing and managing NCR processes
If you would like to hear more about our services and discuss any matter we would love to hear from.
The front cover of the New Yorker always has its finger on the pulse. Someone posted this the other day and it really caught my eye. 2020, the year where it looks like you’ve got your shit together but clearly you’ve not. It really got me thinking.
This year has seen sustained and continual crisis that has affected the global economy and people’s lives in ways we couldn’t have imagined this time last year. The need to pivot and adapt has been continual for many organisations and the continuing uncertainty becomes draining. Watching our small local pub continually change and adapt to the new regulations and government advice in order to keep providing a service and survive has been humbling.
The New Yorker cover reveals the stress that many young workers are facing. Working from home alone or pressures of living in shared accommodation with lack of space is just the beginning. The loss of human connection and face to face communication magnifies the loneliness that many people feel. Studies are showing that home working may bring many challenges and distractions.
There have been some helpful posts and articles on LinkedIn that have helped business navigate the pandemic.
As we move into a Scottish winter of dark days and long evenings, personal energy levels and those throughout your organisation may be at risk of exhaustion. At worst it can take a toll on people’s mental and physical health, causing major harm to organisational effectiveness, from a decline in responsiveness to a deterioration in the overall quality of work.
Remote working means many managers feel they do not have good visibility into employees’ performance. Employees may feel more anxious, often amid circumstances (e.g., caring duties) that might mean they can’t perform as usual. If you are a person who isn’t struggling but has the resources to help others, reach out and take the brave step to offer help to someone who you might see struggling. Asking how someone is can never make it worse…
Leadership and employee engagement play a key role in successfully navigating the new normal. Which got me thinking that these are the same behaviors that establish a quality culture in organisations. Those organisations whom place quality at the center of their business should have the processes in place to ensure that vision and values are communicated effectively and nourished by all. These processes enable organisations to be resilient through sustained crisis.
Many organisations have introduced new ways of working such as daily check-ins/-outs and regular retrospectives. This has provided an opportunity to install a more permanent feedback culture and enable leaders to continue to not only communicate but to evolve the vision and values throughout these challenging times. Using this feedback culture can develop a stronger team with shared goals that should be consistent with our shared values. Our shared values are particularly important in times of uncertainty—they can unite and strengthen us and provide something that we can be certain about.
As we move forwards through the pandemic, we need to continue to use the evolving feedback cultures to support each other and work through the developing new normal. This feedback culture could be harnessed to increase employee engagement which is related to developing positive work-based cultures of quality. Fundamentally, quality is about meeting or exceeding customer expectations year after year. That’s where the value is, measured in higher revenues from greater customer satisfaction and in higher operational efficiency and effectiveness due to increases in productivity and innovation—and of course even employee engagement….Let’s hope 2021 is a better year and if people have experienced some positives from the new ways of working, that this can be sustained.
For all organisations, the delivery of high-quality products and services is essential. The consequences of failure grow ever more significant in today’s world of increasing customer expectations, regulatory oversight and use of social media to broadcast success or failure. Yet here in the energy sector we are aware there are still too many quality failures that cause harm to society, damage lives and waste money. Organisations that are unable to transform and meet customer and stakeholder expectations see their reputations and customers slip away. Stakeholders (including society, governments, suppliers, employees and consumers) require, and in many cases are demanding, improvements and transformations in how quality is delivered.
Here at Sandaig Engineering we offer QA/ QC Consultancy services that work in partnership with organisations whom are deeply invested in creating and improving customer value. We work hard to put quality at the heart of their business and meet industry best practice. This enables positive organisational change that fosters continuous improvement across both the customer and their supply chain. We understand that to sustain delivery of high-quality products and services, organisations must establish effective systems of governance and assurance, and commit to a culture of objective evaluation and continuous improvement. We do this by taking a pragmatic and hands on approach to complex issues, investing in long term relationships and trust and providing and accepting honest feedback. If you wish to discuss how we can help your business please contact;
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