Allied Hygiene Limited has been manufacturing quality non woven products since 1990, maintaining a focus on continual innovation, investment and development to meet the changing demands of industry today.
With an extensive portfolio, Allied Hygiene Limited supplies a range of products from advanced hydroentangled wipes and sanitized wet wipes to a range of industries for various applications. At Allied Hygiene Limited’s production operation in Belvedere, South East London, an integrated manufacturing process allows complete control over the entire production procedure. This system means Allied Hygiene Limited has the flexibility customers demand when considering product and specification. As a leader and innovator in the wet wipes market, Allied Hygiene Limited has recognised the increasing demands of industry and has adapted to meet these demands. Allied Hygiene Limited invests in both time and resources to understand client’s needs and then develops products to meet their stringent hygiene control requirements.
As one of the only UK companies to maintain a complete in-house operation, Allied Hygiene Limited can provide customers with bespoke designed products as well as significant cost savings. Moving from ready made formulation for wet wipes to creating our own blends allows Allied to maintain its reputation and integrity.
The Assignment
In order to benchmark its quality systems, and achieve a recognised accreditation in its industry sector, Allied Hygiene Limited commissioned Independent Advice for Business Limited to identify and implement a suitable quality standard. The target was to take the company to accreditation within six months.
Making it Happen
After discussions with management and key customers it was decided that the British Retail Consortium (BRC) Global Standard for Consumer Products would be suitable. The BRC standard is aimed primarily at companies, like Allied, who supply products into the consumer chain. It also has the advantage of providing specific procedural guidelines for ensuring product quality and is less ambiguous than ISO9001:2008.
Although the time scales were ambitious, the project benefited from strong support at all levels and the appointment of a full time Quality Assurance Manager who championed the implementation across the whole company.
Commencing on 1st October 2009, over 60 internal audits were undertaken at weekly intervals. With constant reference to the standard, corrective actions were carried out by the Quality Assurance Manager and usually completed by the next visit.
After a two day external audit in April 2010 by Intertek Limited the company was awarded certification.
Benefits
Although it’s early days yet the company has already seen benefits in achieving accreditation:
Operating procedures now to a globally recognised standard.
- Increased customer confidence.
Improved internal quality controls.
Better focus on quality issues by all company personnel.
Managing Director’s Comment
“Quality Accreditation specialist, Peter Jones, has worked closely with us during the last 6 months to document and streamline our existing systems. As a result we are better able to answer the quality related concerns of our customers and seen an overall improvement the companies operations. We are now seeking ISO9001:2008 accreditation in 2011,” John Prentice, Managing Director of Allied Hygiene Limited.
