Chamber strives for business excellence

“Improvement is an ongoing process, and this is why aiming for business excellence is an imperative,” said Helga Ellul, during the third Annual Business Excellence Conference organised recently by the Malta Chamber of Commerce, Enterprise and Industry.

“This is the way that we should manage our businesses in the face of growing competitiveness. This applies to all organisations regardless of size, and involves every employee, as well as suppliers and above all, customers.”

Keynote speaker Everard Van Kemenade, senior consultant quality management at Fontys International Projects described the paradigms of quality over time. In the past companies would focus only on product quality. The focus later shifted to organisation improvement, and today, we also find a focus on the human being and corporate social responsibility.

Mr Van Kemenade also pointed out that when in the past companies would review the product or service once it was completed, today companies must take a reflection-in-action approach, with monitoring taking place at each stage of the process.

Mr Van Kemenade was followed by John Magro, managing director of Magro Brothers (Foods) Ltd who said that his company considers quality not as an imposed necessity but as the driver for their business.

“We have learnt that through quality management, business operators are more open to accept change,” he said. Mr Magro explained that big organisations expect quality; only the rest can be negotiated. “To service world class clients one needs to have these international quality credentials in place before they even respond to you.”

“Organisations and indeed governments and the European Commission need to balance out expensive quality programs with sustainability, flexibility and efficiency,” said Mr Magro.

During his presentation, Alex Aquilina, managing director of Eagle K-Wear Co. Ltd, focused on the experience of taking one’s business overseas. He stated that in order to do so, a company must identify its competitive advantage, core competence and expertise. A company must also have the ability to recognise and identify market change, and be flexible and responsive enough to make the change.

“Quality in your business culture and ethics will help you overcome the wave of globalisation and consumerism by differentiating your company from the competition,” he said.

The interactive conference also included parallel sessions focusing on manufacturing, IC and financial services, involving a number of speakers including Konrad Saur, director of global quality and management systems at Trelleborg Limited; Maria Micallef, partner at RSM Malta; David Walsh, CEO, Crimsonwing Limited; Nonzio Bonello, European QA/RA director at Microtek Medical Malta Ltd; Mario Vella, foreign direct investment director at SmartCity Malta.