AGUA FABRICS LIMITED

Agua Fabrics is a privately owned company based in London. The company has built its reputation in the healthcare, education, leisure and custodial markets by providing quality products and excellent service to customers for over 70 years. The origins of the company date back to the 1930’s, supplying linens, textiles and uniforms to the health service. As the linens and textile market became more commodity orientated, the company began to develop a branded portfolio of products. In 2002 the Agua brand was created to encompass a collection of waterproof upholstery fabrics. The company chose to implement ISO 9001 because it is the world’s most established quality framework. ISO 9001 seemed an appropriate means to demonstrate that Agua Fabrics had processes in place to monitor and improve performance in the purchase and supply of textile products in their expanding product portfolio. ISO 9001 certification also provided independent assurance of reliability to customers. Agua Fabrics selected BSI as its certification partner due to the reassurance that BSI’s market-leading position and brand reputation would give to its customers.

Agua Fabrics made initial investigations at the end of 2007 with the process getting underway at the start of 2008. The first certification was achieved in September 2008 and then extended in January 2009 and February 2011 upon review. Agua Fabrics acknowledges that changes to internal systems and processes were initially met with some resistance. Staff had concerns about the potential increase in administrative duties. However, benefits soon became apparent once the new systems were implemented which assisted with staff buy-in. Involving staff in the development and implementation also helped.

ISO 9001 certification is becoming a pre-requisite for many customers. Certification therefore meant new business opportunities and increased profits for Agua Fabrics. Adhering to the ISO 9001 framework enabled the company to simplify some internal processes and improve efficiency. For example, the retrieval of data needed to follow up customer queries was made easier and quicker leading to improved customer relationships. Regular reporting on debtors reduced debtor days by five, which also impacted positively on cash flow. By introducing the practice of minute keeping business meetings became formalized which kept the management team focused on their objectives and helped with supplier negotiations. Highlighting the significance of key performance indicators also boosted internal motivation to achieve and improve results.

1. What are the benefits that Agua Fabric realized after ISO certification?

2. How ISO 9000:2005 and 9004:2009, 19011:2011 would have helped Agua Fabric in getting ISO Certification?

3. According to ISO 9001:2008, Agua Fabrics need to focus on which four generic business processes?

4. ISO stands for International organization for standardizations. Why do standard matter in Agua Fabrics?

5. Explain five quality management principles that are utilized as an input by ISO 9001:2008?

6. How does ISO certification will provide business excellence to Agua Fabrics?

7. Mention various criticism that Agua Fabric will face from its employees?