In the first half of 2008, Bushcomm used Atamo's services to research its market. One conclusion is the revamped Bushcomm website identifying six main market sectors. Another was that to successfully penetrate these sectors, Bushcomm needed to add ISO 9001 to its "CV".
"We found that selling to the UN and to become preferred suppliers to many Defence organisations, Bushcomm needs ISO 9001 to get in the door", says Atamo's marketing manager, Mike Gamble, who conducted the research. "It is analogous to gaining a degree at university; it tells potential 'employers' that a company is committed to continually improve its business."
Bushcomm established a Process Improvement Programme in 2007 which has included purchase and integration of new IT systems for customer orders and inventory; reorganising the factory floor for smoother workflow; rationalisation of products to maintain margins but reduce non-performers; and the introduction of mechatronic automation for some of the product lines. The company was a few days away from submitting an AusIndustry Commercial Ready application for another manufacturing robot when the Rudd government canned the programme in 2008. Assembling the information for the application reinforced Bushcomm's belief that the new wire-winding robot would be good for business, and the company is now investigating alternatives for funding the development.
The Atamo management team is no stranger to ISO 9001. In the early 90s Atamo CEO Stewart Snell and Mike Gamble as chief architect were the R&D Division's part of a steering team that lead to former employer QPSX Communications gaining certification. The resultant quality management system was paperless, which was recognised as innovative in the local media. This system was actually created before the worldwide web, using Windows Help files embedded with data flow diagrams, via a Novell LAN. The status quo at the time was to issue paper manuals to every employee, and then meticulously provide updates after previous copies were returned to the designated QA manager.
This time around, the "QMS" is being constructed over the Internet, using wiki technology, multimedia, VPNs, and a healthy respect for gathering sufficient quality records before calling in the external auditors. The system is based on the latest ISO9001:2008 version released in November of last year. Operations Manager Andrew Holmes is setting it up with Mike's assistance, who with his auditor training will double as the internal auditor. Bushcomm believes this direction will genuinely create a more consistent product for customers, and the company aspires to become Australasia's primary supplier of HF antennas.
A secondary goal for the quality system is to be able to "backport" the approach and material to Atamo itself after Bushcomm's certification is attained.