The latest official statistics from the manufacturers’ association EEF show very strong growth for UK manufacturing – the best improvement since 1994. With growth of 1.4% in Q1 and 1.6% in Q2, it seems as if UK manufacturing is on the up. This evidence is supported by the British Chamber of Commerce which has also [...]
The saga over the Audit Commission’s demise took an interesting turn this week when its Chair robustly defended accusations made by Eric Pickles MP, the colourful Secretary for State for Communities and Local Government, about alleged excessive costs for items including staff training at Newmarket race course, bagel lunches and potted office plants.
It’s easy to be deflected from the real issues over these trivialities – and story hungry journalists during silly season have proved no exception – but we all, not least the government, have to be clear what can be gained, and what may be at stake, as a result of the Audit Commission’s planned closure and the drive to deliver efficiencies across our public services.
At the heart of this row and the often adversarial debate about what and where to cut is a need to deliver what the CQI and our accredited certification sister body, IRCA, exist to provide – confidence and assurance.
Another high profile victim of quality failures made headlines last week with the announced departure of the chief executive of De La Rue, the world’s biggest bank note printing company following problems with its paper production operations. The company, that supplies the Bank of England, has been experiencing production problems relating to the testing of [...]
Three pieces of company news making the headlines in the last week are very revealing in terms business success and the pursuit of quality.
Last week Ladbrokes’ new chief executive delivered a withering assessment of the business’s performance which he said had “too much brand over-reliance, too much wasted investment, too little strategic focus, too many sub-optimal supply terms, too many priorities and too many excuses.”
