Case Study Project

Elective Quality Systems Management

A quality material, product, process, service or system is one that

meets the needs of customers. Today, customers, including
consumers, know what they want and can easily recognize
'quality. Businesses interact with a variety of customers e.g.

Internal e.g. staff who have their office cleaned, or use the

canteen

Business e.g.

suppliers

of

raw

materials,

stationery,

transport, telecommunications

End users e.g. other firms, the government or its agents, or

the general public (buyers of goods or services).

Many businesses trade at local, national and international levels.

To win customers' confidence, firms need to meet the highest
quality standards. Distant and local or national customers want a
guarantee of reliable, high quality goods and services.

Discuss the range of products and services that assist in assuring

high quality. Standards that all capture best practice. What should
be expected of a particular product, material, service, processor
technology in a particular industry?

Answer:

Introduction

Most businesses operate in competitive markets: they have to 'take on'

and 'see off' rivals. Each organization must decide for itself how best to try
and do this. Not all firms come up with the same answer and for good
reason. Firstly, As an example Portakabin's products there are several
different ways of gaining competitive advantage. Secondly, businesses
need to play to their strengths and not all businesses have the same
strengths. Thirdly, many markets are segmented and what is important to
one set of customers may be less important to another set. So businesses
need to decide which segments of the market they are targeting. Ways of
seeking to gain competitive advantage include:

Offering lower prices

Offering clearly superior products at above average prices

Delivering products more quickly

Offering superior customer service, including after sales service.

This case study focuses on how Portakabin has set about gaining a
competitive advantage in the hire and sale of temporary or permanent
accommodation by concentrating on quality.

Portakabin has positioned its products at the top end of the market: it
looks to provide high levels of quality at premium prices.

Quality is associated with consistency. A customer who is happy with the

first buying experience needs and wants to be equally happy on each
further occasion. Portakabin has the motto 'Quality - this time - next time every time'.

The company believes that clients who really care about quality are willing
to pay that bit more to obtain it and see 'the extras' as worth the
additional expense. Today the company operates in a range of European
countries as well as the UK.

What is quality?

Quality relates to 'appropriate use': how well a product does what it is

intended to do.

Portakabin's

'Ultima'

building

illustrates

quality

well.

The

Ultima

specification includes:

Modern design

High quality materials

Layout and fitting of the building to clients' requirements

Allied to:

Rapid construction

To provide:

A smart modern working environment

An image that reflects the status of the client.

The 'appropriate use' quality comes from two sources. One is internal to
the company. Portakabin has developed its range of buildings around its

own market research, which discovers customers' precise needs. The

company knows how important it is to offer optional extras, such as high
quality carpeting, fitted furnishings and climate control systems to provide
a quality working environment. Simultaneously being able to offer not only
the building but also the aforementioned accessories, gives the customer a
quality 'one-stop-shop' service.

The other source of quality control is external e.g. national building

requirements and standards. Portakabin's products, whether interim or
permanent, comply fully with all appropriate building regulations. They
also meet the demands of ISO 9001: Quality Management Systems. This is
an internationally recognised standard which acts as a form of guarantee
that everything the company does is managed to the highest quality
standards.

The group's Quality Systems Manager (QSM) is responsible for ensuring

that Portakabin has in place systems that guarantee quality throughout the
Group. To manage quality, the QSM has created an electronic system that
all PCs throughout the whole company can access. One of the system's key
features is the 1-page Quality Manual that defines the requirements of the
Quality Management System. This is easy to communicate both within the
organisation and also to customers.

Quality products

The term 'product' covers not only goods but the services that support
them. Portakabin offers a range of tangible products e.g. Lilliput (a
modular nursery building) and Titan (a modular building for office
applications). The company also offers key services e.g. Total Solutions, a
planning and project management service for customers wanting to hire
modular buildings. Portakabin also offers a wide range of support services
to clients for whom a modular building is part of a larger plan. If requested,
Portakabin will take on the customer's project from start to finish. This
includes

managing planning applications, project

management and

providing health and safety advice, as well as providing access for the
disabled.

Product quality also relates to how well a product meets changing

demands. In modular buildings, technologies are increasing the range of
what is possible. At the same time, customers are becoming more
particular about their own requirements. For example, they want building
solutions that are safe and clean, which minimise disruption, save time
and guarantee quality. Quality involves keeping pace with these demands.

Modular construction involves manufacturing a building off-site in a

controlled factory environment. For example, the steel modules used to
construct Ultima buildings are fully fitted out with all electrics, plumbing,
heating, doors, windows and internal finishes before they leave a

Portakabin production centre. This enhances their quality and also reduces
programme times.

Being registered as meeting the requirements of ISO 9001 is very

important to Portakabin. This is because many customers will deal only
with organisations that can demonstrate they meet this rigorous standard.
All

of

Portakabin's

products

meet

with

modern

standards

and

requirements, and this enhances consumer confidence. To reinforce this

quality system, Portakabin has a 'zero tolerance' quality checking system
(see section 4) in place, so that no building may leave the production site
until it has been checked against, and complies with, demanding customer
standards.

Furthermore,

because

of

their

high

quality

standards,

Portakabin are the only modular building company to offer quality

guarantees in the form of 5 and 20 year warranties.

The standards required are wide ranging. For example, the recently ratified
Kyoto Protocol requires industrialized nations to limit their production of
gases that are harmful to the environment. Portakabin takes this
requirement very seriously. As a result, all of its buildings are thermally
efficient to minimise energy use. Following Kyoto there are a range of new
building requirements and these are particularly important for Portakabin's
public sector customers such as hospitals and schools.

Quality processes

Any form of production activity involves sets of interlinking processes.

Portacabin's factory-based production process combines standardisation

with customisation. The modules to be assembled come in standardised
sizes and shapes. However, the way they are put together and their
interior design depends on clients' individual specifications. For example,
modules that are assembled for Sainsbury's to train new checkout staff are
different from those designed for an easy jet office.

To ensure that all customers get what they want, Portakabin deploys the
Quality Systems approach referred to earlier. A Corporate Quality Team
(comprising senior managers) is responsible for ensuring that individual
teams understand quality processes.

Communication takes place by means of process charts. These are clear

illustrations that set out the processes involved e.g. in creating a new set
of school classrooms or laboratories.

The essentials of the Quality System are:

1. Say what you do

By studying the Quality Manual, teams working on a particular process

know what the job requires. If in doubt, they can ask team leaders. This

process enables everyone involved to understand and state the process

and their role within it.

2. Do what you say

Once they understand the process, team members are able to implement
it e.g. by constructing a new building for a specific client.

3. Record what you have done

Construction teams record all actions taken, so that all those involved
know the current position, what has gone on before and what still needs to
be done.

4. Review what you have done

Records are regularly reviewed both to ensure delivery targets can be met
and to identify any problem areas.

5. Take remedial action where necessary

If problems or potential problem areas are identified, steps are taken to

eliminate or reduce these.

6. Then start the process again

This procedure is followed for each stage in each process to ensure that
everyone benefits from solutions to problems, which have already been
devised.

These essential steps can be illustrated in the form of a hierarchy of

quality processes:

An essential part of improving quality is to identify problems as and when

they occur. These can then be addressed and resolved immediately. This is
what Portakabin mean by 'zero tolerance'. To address any issues,
Portacabin deploys a 'commando team' as part of its Quality Team. This
team scrutinizes products and processes from the customer's viewpoint.
On one occasion the team found blistering on the walls of a particular

building, a quick 'alert' to the manufacturing team led to the fault being
eliminated before it became a problem for the customer. Teams complete
quality reports with the purpose of:

Fixing the immediate problem

Identifying its cause

Making changes to prevent the problem reoccurring.

Quality Service

Providing customer service is another vital part of Quality Management. See

steps 6 and 7 in the chart below.

The company believes that providing exceptional levels of customer service

is as important as the quality of the products it makes. To support this
commitment, it has developed a number of initiatives aimed at continuously
improving service. Portakabin:

Guarantees to complete projects on time and on budget

Operates a Customer Charter that sets out minimum standards that

customers of its Hire Division can expect to receive. This charter

includes the pledge where Portakabin will recompense the customer if

it fails to deliver a building on time

Offers a complete plan, design and build service, whereby a client can
choose simply to accept the keys and open the doors on completion

Runs a comprehensive customer satisfaction survey every month.

Today however, most of the existing products are limited in functionality

and performance and are suitable only to a few niche markets. Further
efforts are needed to address the main technology barriers of Portakabin,
in particular the lack of more efficient and stable materials and of more
complex Portakabin circuitry and functionalities. The performance of
components

and

the

integration

level

should

also

be

increased,

connectivity should be enhanced and the route to manufacturability

improved in terms of reproducibility and yield.

Overall, the Portakabin

value chain needs to be further developed and become more applicationdriven while paying attention to recyclability issues.

Scope:

a.

Research & Innovation Actions

To advance the state of the art of Portakabin technologies and

manufacturing processes and increase the performance, functionality and
complexity of Portakabin devices suitable for smart systems. Focus is on
conformable/flexible/stretchable substrates and on the development of
advanced material, technologies and scalable manufacturing processes for
achieving more functionality, better performance, longer lifetimes, higher
mobility/conductivity,
Portakabin devices.

more

uniformity

and

better

encapsulation

of

Actions may include related work on design tool development, modeling

and design styles/rules. They could also include hybrid integration of
micro/nano-electronics, photonics and organic electronics or specific needs
for fibre and textile electronics.

All actions should demonstrate strong industrial and user commitment and
be driven by user requirements. They should include standardisation,
validation of results for the target applications and address the supply
chain, as appropriate.

b.

Innovation Actions

To develop and demonstrate novel, innovative products enabled by

products technologies in smart packaging, advertisement and sensing by
using suitable manufacturing options (sheet-to-sheet and/or roll-to-roll,
printed and/or deposited) with the right balance between performance and
volume. Each action should build a dedicated innovation value chain
(preferably covering the full value chain). Proposals should contain
prototype development and demonstration and may include small scale
pilot manufacturing.

All actions should be driven by concrete business cases, and by a thorough

attention to user needs and target medium- to high-volume markets. They

should include business plans for the targeted products with strong
commitment to industrialise and manufacture them in Europe.

c.

Technology Take-up and Innovation Support actions

Access services to industry, enabling the wider adoption and deployment

of Portakabin technologies in innovative products, in particular by SMEs
and driven by concrete user requirements and business cases. The action
should be led by the products excellence centres and innovation clusters.
It could include activities for improving skills development in products and
for promoting Portakabin to young people, entrepreneurs and the general
public.

Close synergies should be sought with existing similar actions and regional
/ national research and innovation strategies for smart specialisation.

d.

Innovation support through pre-commercial public

procurement actions

Enabling the take-up and deployment of electronic and photonic textile

technology developments for health care applications.

Expected impact:

a.

Research & Innovation Actions

Reinforced industrial leadership in advanced PRODUCTS technologies

and products addressing high-impact, high-volume applications.

Demonstrable break-through innovations in PRODUCTS functionality or

performance

and/or

in

PRODUCTS

manufacturability

with

high

reproducibility and yield.

- Improved business opportunities and value creation in Europe by

reinforced cooperation along the value chain.

b.

Innovation Actions

Effective market introduction of new and highly competitive PRODUCTS

products

targeting

high

impact

markets/applications

in

smart

packaging, advertisement and sensing.

Overcoming

the

"valley

of

death"

and

building

advanced

manufacturing capabilities and first exploitation opportunities in

Europe.

c.

Technology Take-up and Innovation and support Actions

Reinforced innovation effectiveness of products excellence centres and

innovation clusters in particular towards SMEs.

Broad take-up of products technologies in innovative products by at

least 40 SMEs substantially improving their innovation capacity and
time-to-market and with demonstrable revenue growth.

d.

Increased awareness and education and training skills in products.

Innovation support through pre-commercial public

procurement actions

Wide diffusion of innovative and cost-effective electronic and photonic

textile technology developments by pre-commercial procurement at
the hospital or the point of care, enabling significant patient's care
improvement while boosting

Many businesses trade at local, national and international levels. To win

customers' confidence, firms need to meet the highest quality standards.
Distant and local or national customers want a guarantee of reliable, high
quality goods and services.
The British Standards Institution (BSI) provides a range of products and
services that assist in assuring high quality. It was the world's first national

standards body and is the best known worldwide (as indicated by its official
'Super brand' status).
There are approximately 20,000 current standards that all capture best
practice. They are established by 1,113 different committees of specialist
experts who reach a consensus about what should be expected of a
particular product, material, service, process or technology in a particular
industry - e.g. the structure of a gas pipe, the design of an electrical wiring
system. Committee members have a wide range of interests and skills from
manufacturers, sellers, research organizations and government departments
to campaigners, users and consumers. The standards produced are regularly
reviewed to meet the changing demands of society and technology.
Today, the majority of UK output has moved to services. So, in addition to
providing standards for products and materials, BSI creates standards for
services and systems, including management systems. It leads the
development of standards for many important new areas of business activity.
These include:
1. Improvement

of utility billing services (e.g. gas and electricity

suppliers)
2. Products being developed with new technologies e.g. Nano technology
(the creation of miniature products and processes)
3. Implementation of web design processes, to ensure characteristics like

usability and readability.

BSI is a global group of companies, offering a wide range of standardsrelated services including certification and product testing.
The 'British Standards' division - the part that creates the standards - also
serves as the UK's National Standards Body. Some of its funds come from the
government for promoting and protecting UK interests worldwide, as well as
helping British businesses to be innovative and competitive.
The rest comes from commercial activities e.g. selling standards to a wide
range of companies including SMEs, providing advice and training and selling
books/guides explaining how to meet and get the most from using standards.
At a personal level we can see why standards are important. They provide a
guarantee of safety, predictability and usability. We do not have to worry
whether our electrical wiring is safe or that a piece of paper will fit into an
envelope and we can play any CD in any machine.
Standards provide a safety net for many areas including clothing, food,
furniture, and transport and air quality. They remove anxiety for consumers
by assuring the fitness for purpose of items we buy and use, as well as
creating confidence in the businesses we are buying from.
BSI's 'Kite mark' is a quality assurance mark appearing on a wide variety of
traditional and new goods. It is a form of guarantee that a product is made to
a quality standard. It can be found on a range of well known products tested

by BSI to make sure they meet the relevant standards e.g. crash helmets,
refrigerators, electrical plugs, Christmas tree lights.
As consumers we want standards because they:
1. Inform us about the reliability and fitness for purpose of the goods and
services we buy and use
2. Enable us to use more things more widely giving us greater choice
3. Bring peace of mind.
Manufacturers and retailers welcome standards, because they:
1. Provide clear guidelines on targets that reflect best practice
2. Protect manufacturers against poorer rivals who might otherwise
damage an industry's reputation
3. Provide an excellent selling point
4. Provide a benchmark that can be used for communicating the
specification and characteristics of the product, process or system, and
from which improvement/innovation can be easily explained
5. Provide competitive advantage by making it easier, cheaper and more
efficient to produce and sell things in the UK and internationally.
Today there is a range of internationally developed standards: European
Standards (ENs) created for operations within the European Union and
International Standards (ISOs) which can be used worldwide.
The most successful modern companies manage to identify their customers'
needs and create the processes that enable the business to deliver them.

One most important aspect of BSI's work is helping organizations to develop

management systems which meet the ISO 9001 standard. This involves
setting up systems to ensure that processes are customer focused. It also
requires a company to improve its quality management system continually.
From 2004, companies wishing to be registered for the certificate must
conform to the latest version of the standard ISO 9001:2000 Quality
Management Systems Requirements.
1. It is attention to customers' needs that drives the system.
2. The starting point is discovering what customers want through market
research.
3. The most important end result is customer-focused products or
services. Market research determines what to produce and how.
Checking on customer satisfaction measures how effective the quality
system is.
4. Managers have a responsibility to discover what customers want and
to satisfy their needs. To deliver, they manage the organization's
resources, including people (human resources), machinery and raw
materials.
5. By measuring and reviewing results continually, the organization's
performance improves continuously.
To implement a quality management system, an organization will need to:
1. Identify the processes that will make up the quality management
system i.e. carrying out market research to identify customer needs,

conducting a customer satisfaction survey to monitor the existing

2.
3.
4.
5.
6.

service
Determine the sequence and relationship between these processes
Identify methods to ensure these processes are carried out well
Make resources and information available to run these systems well
Measure and record how well systems run
Carry out actions needed to achieve planned results, and to ensure
continual improvement.

To achieve ISO 9001:2000 a company must show that top managers are
committed to the quality system and regularly communicate with all of the
organization's members about the system's importance. A vital part of
developing the quality management system is to plan and deliver training
about quality issues throughout the organization.
The company must also register with a registrar (a body like BSI) who visits
and assesses the company's quality management system (QMS) and, if
satisfied, issues an appropriate certificate. Follow up visits are carried out to
ensure the processes in place are continually revised and improved.
Working with BSI, companies are able to reap many benefits from achieving
ISO

9001

certification

and

other

standards

(e.g.

standards

for

the

development of Environmental Management Systems - ISO 14001, and

Information Security Management Systems - BS 7799).
These include:
1. Achieving greater levels of customer satisfaction
2. Meeting legal requirements
3. Winning the trust of suppliers and customers

4. Improving the management of a company by meeting management

standards
5. Reducing costs and making better use of time
6. Building a reputation for integrity.
Conclusion

In a competitive market, businesses stay ahead by offering products that are

different and/or superior in ways that matter to customers. Portakabin has
positioned itself at the top end of the modular buildings market in terms of
quality, whilst at the same time providing value-for-money products that fully
meet key standards set out in IS0 9001. The most recent external audit of
Portakabin's practices showed that the company is meeting the required
standards in all aspects of quality. This outcome is the result of a great deal
of thought, careful planning and ongoing education and training of a skilled
and dedicated workforce.

Specific Challenge: Portakabin is an emerging technology and is the basis for

advanced products in large area electronics that are thin, light weight,
flexible and/or stretchable, suitable for large market sectors such as the
textile, automotive, health, paper, plastic, advertising or construction
industries.

These all enable company's to build superior, more prestigious brands.

Additionally, companies are able to strengthen their international reputation,
thus building up their export business productivity and employment.