Like most businesses, there are several values and priorities that are important to us at SL Controls. One of those values is quality. Over the years, we have developed our quality-first approach and constantly work to improve quality strategies, standards, processes, and procedures at all levels within the company.
Importantly, the phrase “quality first” means more to us at SL Controls than being a currently popular buzzword. When there is no substance behind phrases like quality-first, their use is often met with scepticism. That scepticism is genuine and understandable because when crunch points arrive, organisations often drop quality down the priority list, usually in favour of short-term financial considerations.
At SL Controls, we take a long-term view, with quality being the foundation of everything we do.
Quality And The Services We Deliver
In fact, quality is a central component of all the projects we work on for clients, making it a key deliverable that is more than just ensuring our services meet an acceptable bare minimum.
For example, a significant proportion of our clients are in the pharmaceutical and medical device industries. For manufacturers in those industries, quality is crucial for compliance, patient safety, business reputation, and, ultimately, the financial viability of manufacturing facilities. We deliver systems integration and related smart manufacturing solutions to our clients in these industries.
So, when we talk about quality at SL Controls, we mean quality in our company culture, in our processes, and the services we deliver, but it is also essential the services we deliver help our clients achieve the quality standards they require for the large-scale production of compliant and profitable pharmaceutical and medical device products.
Examples Of How We Put Quality First At SL Controls
There are many examples of how we put quality first at SL Controls. One of those examples is our decentralised management approach, where individual teams and business units are empowered. Company values and priorities are disseminated from the senior leadership team, with those involved in the direct delivery of projects given the autonomy to make the right decisions to ensure that quality is designed into the services that we provide to our clients.
We also have a well-established and constantly nurtured learning culture at SL Controls, where employees at all levels are encouraged to engage in training and continuous professional development (CPD) initiatives. We believe there is a direct connection between this and our commitment and approach to quality, as we constantly work individually and as a team to improve.
Automating critical aspects of our Quality Management System (QMS) is another example of our quality-first approach. Automating manufacturing processes is one of the central services that we offer at SL Controls. We practice automation internally too. Automating critical aspects of our QMS delivers a range of benefits, but one of the most important for us is the quality improvements we achieve by eliminating delays and input errors, and by improving system access and usability, plus outcomes and analysis.
Our software development process is another example of our quality-first approach. A lot of the work we do for clients involves the delivery of engineering services. Our clients have confidence in our abilities to ensure that the services that we provide are of a very high-quality standard.
The quality-first approach that we take ensures that quality is designed into the services that we provide from the beginning of the project, and that quality is clearly defined in the functional requirements, scope, and objectives. Our project managers and subject matter experts work with our clients to ensure that this high level of quality is maintained throughout the project life cycle.
Continuously Striving For Excellence
The advanced Industry 4.0 technologies that we work with here at SL Controls offer exciting benefits to our clients in the life sciences and technology sectors. However, many of those technologies also bring into sharper focus the importance of quality. Our quality-first approach ensures we can continue delivering for our clients.