ISO 9001 : 2008

The same week in November that some of  the deegee team were exhibiting at SPS/IPC/Drives in Nuremberg, the rest of the business hosted a UL auditor for the triennial ISO9001:2008 audit.  During triennial audits the complete Quality Management System is interrogated, and a decision taken whether to re-issue certification for a further 3 years.

Deegee has had a certified Quality Management System for many years, being one of the first SMEs to realise its value as a business development tool.  Rather than take the view of some companies that it is a collection of paperwork which gets dusted-off every year for the external audit, deegee have embraced it as the backbone of the company, on which everything we do and how we behave hangs.

Instead of holding annual Management Review Meetings, the agenda of the company’s Monthly Team Meeting covers each of the key sections of the standard as an indicator of how the business is performing.   Having introduced  Critical Success Factors relating to each area of the ISO standard, the business has a quantitative measure of Customer Satisfaction, reaching far beyond a Customer Feedback Form.  “Is the customer satisfied?” is the question ISO 9001:2008 is fundamentally trying to answer.

The UL Auditor was staggered at how deegee is using the Quality Management System in these ways, transforming what is often still treated as a “bolt-on” for companies into a core strategic business tool.  He had never seen the standard implemented in such a way, stating that “the Critical Success Factors are really it, an absolute measure of whether the [Quality Management] System is working”.

The Auditor was also extremely complimentary about the standard of knowledge of the business’ operations and objectives amongst all of the staff he interviewed during the audits.  Wendy Whiten, Operations Director said after being told that the recommendation was for the certificate to be re-issued, “It is essential that the business maintains its ISO certification, but to do so with such a positive report makes me so proud of all the team.”

We have now received the new ISO9001:2008 certificate and this is available for download from the deegee website.

SPS 2011

Given the success of the previous 2 years, SPS/IPC/Drives in Nuremberg has become a regular feature on the deegee exhibition calendar. This years show takes place from Tuesday 22nd to Thursday 24th November 2011, at the Nurnberg Messe.

SPS/IPC/Drives is an exhibition for electric automation technology covering components, complete systems and integrated automation solutions. The trade fair and its adjoining conference are the ideal platform for comprehensive information on products, innovations and current trends within the electric automation industry. Manufacturers exhibit from the sectors of control technology, drive systems and components, human-machine-interface devices and industrial communication.

Deegee can be found in Hall 8, booth 602, demonstrating their extensive range of warning beacons and sounders.

deegee sponsors First Aid Course

 

Deegee was the proud sponsor of a Basic First Aid Training course recently, run by the Diocese of Derby.

Hosted by St. George & St. Mary’s Church, Church Gresley, deegee sent 2 employees for refresher and 3 for beginner First Aid training.  The remaining 12 places were offered to the leaders of the Children’s and Young People’s groups associated with the church.

The course was delivered in a hands-on way, employing a special combination of humour and gravity for what could have been a quite onerous experience.  After bandaging each other up in appropriate fashion and demonstrating our resuscitation skills on “Resusci-Annie”, the trainer advised that everyone had successfully passed.

The Basic First Aid Training course is recognised by the Health & Safety Executive (HSE), and as well as being a great enhancement to the deegee skill-set, may also equip those trained to help save a life one day, in work or out.

deegee expands support team as sales soar

Everyone at deegee is delighted to welcome Jo Lovatt to the team.  Jo started with us a couple of months ago and was really thrown in at the deep-end when the other members of the sales team manned the booth at the Hannover Messe, leaving Jo to “hold the fort”.

Jo’s career started on the hot chicken counter at Morrisons, but she then progressed into an accountancy office before joining deegee, working on an AAT (Association of Accounting Technicians) home learning course since last year.  Whilst Jo will start to take a key role in the buying-function, the best way of learning any business is by familiarisation with the products it sells.  For this reason Jo has already taken much of the responsibility for following-up quotes and enquiries, so that our response time to you continues to get even shorter.

Jo is a Staffordshire girl, the youngest of 4 children.  She is learning to play acoustic guitar and loves music but is really a rock-chick at heart.

Having settled really well into deegee,  Jo says, “The things I like most about working at DG are being part of the team and getting to know everyone.  I also love learning all about the products and speaking to the customers. I think my biggest challenges are getting to know all the ins and outs of the job.”