The concept of standardisation is to ensure that industries around the world produce the best products and services by optimising the use of their assets and available resources. Standards bring uniformity and justification to every process thus minimising wastage, providing safety to the workforce as well as the company's equipment.
Manufacturers' dealing with recent advances in technology and the expansion of companies into multinational giants, have always felt the need for a set of benchmarks that would ensure high quality and best practices and this goal was achieved by delegates of 25 countries who set up the International Organisation for Standardisation (ISO) in 1946. ISO officially began to function in 1947 with the objective of facilitating international co-ordination and unification of international standards.
Since its inception the ISO has grown into a global clearinghouse for all standards activities and has 123 member nations on its roster. The 'World Standards Day' is celebrated each year since 1970 to raise awareness of the importance of global standardisation to the world economy and to promote its role in helping meet the needs of business, industry, government and consumers world-wide.
Like other member nations, Pakistan also celebrates the World Standards Day as a mega event. This day not only signifies the spirit of the Pakistani business community but also puts the country on the international front as a member who has been successfully implementing ISO standards and has been able to revive many lost causes.
This also coincides with ISO's theme for 2006 ie, Standards: big benefits for small business highlighting the fact that small and medium business owners are not only a significant part of the world economy but also stand to benefit substantially from international standards.
The advent of WTO and entrance of international brands in our local markets had put many entrepreneurs thinking that they should also bring their products up to the international level in order to compete with them.
This change of thought has turned the face of our industries and local standards of production. Not only has the style of management changed, but also manufacturers have gone ahead and invested heavily into plant and machinery that meets international requirements and have also implemented safety procedures as per the ISO standards.
Amongst the most successful models of business restructuring is that of English Biscuit Manufacturers (Private) Limited. EBM was on the verge of bankruptcy when Mr Khawar Masood Butt, Managing Director EBM took its reigns and turned it around into Pakistan's most loved biscuit manufacturer with evergreen favourites like Sooper, Marie, Rio, Gluco, Whole Wheat Slices and so forth.
The company has also maintained its position as one of the highest taxpayers in the country. Mr Butt's visionary outlook and hard work resulted in policies and organisational structures that were unheard of at the time of their implementation. Today these policies have borne fruit and have made EBM not only an ISO 9001 certified company but also the first biscuit manufacturer to receive the prestigious HACCP certification.
The journey towards the attainment of these awards has not been an easy one. The task involved changes in management and hiring of highly qualified individuals who were well informed of international standard requirements; training and development; remodelling and installation of plant and equipment and implementation of health, safety and hygiene rules within the premises.
EBM devised the concept of 'food between meals' as its corporate communication theme conveying to the consumers that 'biscuits is food'- nutritious and healthy. This theme encompassed all the fundamentals of a brand where consumers subliminally developed 'trust and confidence' in the company eternally committed to giving the highest quality products.
The company thus assumes a persona like any human being. The company believes that its life-giving elements are its shareholders, management and workforce. These partners in business have led the company to become a 'living company'.
The subject of Food Quality Control has assumed new dimension with the recent advancement in the food industry. The world "Quality Control" not only applies to the question of conformity of the product to laid down standards of identity, strength, purity and other characteristics but also it embrace its efficacy weighed against safety to health. It also covers everything that gives into it to ensure the production of food with assured quality and maintenance of that quality while food product passes through commercial and various other distribution channels before it reaches the consumer.
EBM believes that working together for a common goal gives a much deeper meaning to the work done rather a person doing a job alone. EBM was the first to work on a concept of 'food between meals', developing the notion of supplementing meals with biscuits and cookies as a nutritious and healthy option in the daily diet.
Previously the industry had largely focused on further promoting the long established social custom of 'biscuits with tea'. By making a slight but vitally significant change in its strategy, the company introduced a new model, whereby it actually moved forward and changed the public perception of biscuits and cookies and encouraged consumers to consume biscuits virtually at any time, tea or no tea.
This innovative approach testifies to EBM's sensitivity to change, its capability to adapt to varying situations and its determination to be the industry leader. As can be expected, EBM's innovative re-positioning of biscuits benefited all in the industry as the consumption of biscuits in the country increased rapidly. In the process EBM built for itself a clear identity in the marketplace and in the community.
The pioneering business model adopted has enabled the company to grow exponentially over the years and invest over Rs 1 billion from its own resources in new state-of-the-art equipment and technologies in the past five years.
It has also developed an extensive in house R&D centre, equipped with highly qualified professionals. Deeply appreciating that at the end of the day it is the people within the organisation that make the real difference between success and failure and in the way the organisation is perceived, the company has also taken on the task of education and grooming its employees so that they can adapt better to change and follow new technologies and innovations.
Recently English Biscuits Manufacturers has received the prestigious Environmental Excellence Award 2005 by the National Forum of Environment & Health. The company has also been awarded with the prestigious ISO 14001:2004 certification from URS auditors recently.
The certification has been given to the company after two days of in-depth audit of the entire plant. The company took on the initiative of reaching this goal in August 2004 and conducted monthly gap analysis to check their progress.
ISO 14001 Environmental management system is an international standard that enables an organisation of any size or type to control the impact of its activities, products or services on the natural environment.
A company or institution that complies with the requirements can obtain a certificate according to the standard. ISO 14001 has established performance objectives and environmental management systems that companies can follow to prevent pollution ensure compliance with regulations and achieve continual improvement.
At EBM quality assurance procedures are strictly followed at every stage starting from the procurement of raw materials to the final packaging of the products.
Further the Company ensures that its value standards are passed on and are followed by its suppliers and vendors on the one hand and the distributors and retailers on the other. Thus it is also playing a leading role in spreading awareness and adherence to quality standards within the larger community.
According to EBM's Chairman Mr Khawar Masood Butt, the best practices of an innovative company are its context, leadership, core values and culture. Mr Butt strongly supports the operational elements or 7Cs that help in making a company more innovative.
THESE ARE:
-- Challenge
-- Creativity
-- Communication
-- Customer focus
-- Collaboration
-- Completion
-- Contemplation
EBM has become a centre of innovation since its revival in 1969. The company has changed one degree at a time to become one of Pakistan's greatest assets gaining international recognition and respect. Recently EBM initiated a project of developing "Centre of Excellence" which aims to provide a knowledge based environment to enhance the Company's in house capability to re-engineer processes and develop innovative new technologies in product development and Packaging for efficient use of its production facilities.
The objective of establishing a Centre of Excellence, in fact, goes far beyond EBM, in reaching out to vendors and suppliers to inculcate in them a culture of standardisation and societal up-gradation. The concept being to put in place a professional foundation with a state of the art laboratory for use, exchange and interaction between industry and academia pursuing PhD/ Doctorates in Food Technology, Biochemistry, interdisciplinary Sciences or basic research and help to develop excellence oriented human resource to take Pakistan into the 21st century.
The EBM business model is a shining example for the industry to follow and for all those who wish to study the impact of standards and their subsequent effects on the company and all those who come in contact with it. EBM continues to work on the latest upgradations by ISO and thus remains on the top of the list of innovators and leaders.
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