words
W
elcome to this edition of Windows
magazine. The third quarter of the financial
year has already come and gone! The
months fly by so quickly these days, it’s often difficult
to pause long enough and look into our business to
see whether we have a ‘Culture of Quality’.
michael
o’keefe
Chairman
of the Board
New technologies have empowered customers to
not only seek out and compare a large array of our
products, but with a simple click, they can additionally
broadcast their dissatisfaction with their purchase.
Studies show that 26 per cent of customers go
straight to social media to air their grievances about a
company and its products or service.
So, as our margins for error have decreased,
studies now show that the likelihood for error in
manufacturing has risen. With lead times compressing
in a competitive environment, there is now a real need
for a true ‘Culture of Quality’ in our businesses.
A
tracey
gramlick
ccording to Wikipedia, product market
surveillance ensures that products on
the market conform with the applicable
standards, regulations or laws. This helps foster
trust from consumers buying products or services.
It also ensures consumers or professionals do not
get injured or worse from non-compliant products. It
helps companies that do comply to stay in business
and not lose market share to rogue traders. If market
surveillance fails to fulfil its function, non-compliant
products could circulate freely, posing risk to endusers.
A true ‘Culture of Quality’ is defined as an
environment in which employees not only follow
quality guidelines but are consistently seeing others
taking quality focused actions, hear others talking
about quality and feel quality around them.
Listed below are the four essentials to develop this
environment. Take a moment to see if they exist in
your business:
• Leadership Emphasis
• Message Credibility
• Peer Involvement
• Employee Ownership
And as you ponder, please enjoy this autumn edition
of Windows.
Internationally and locally, markets and industry are
now asking for more market surveillance, be it from
companies or their industry associations. In response
to this, and as an outcome of the extensive work the
AWA has undertaken in this area over the past 17
years, we have now incorporated market surveillance
and testing under our NATA Accredited Inspection
Agency to effectively close the loop in our AWA
Accreditation Program.
For more information, please read the article on
page 6.
Executive
Director
W
elcome to the autumn edition of Windows
for 2015. This edition kicks off 2015 in great
style beginning with Tracey Gramlick’s
article on alterations to the AWA accreditation
scheme and the introduction of market surveillance.
gary smith
Marketing &
Communications
Manager
Harley Dale has fantastic news claiming the new
housing sector is on fire, David Esler reveals some
secrets of body language and there is a great case
study, ‘Reflecting the Past, Researching the Future’,
about the new home for the Institute for Marine and
Antarctic Studies (IMAS) in Hobart.
In our news section, Hanlon Windows turns to solar
power and Soft Tech introduce their newest team
member. There are some great new products in the
market, including Schüco’s parallel opening window
2 Australian Window Association Autumn 2015
and Kintrol’s new V1 Electric Smart Door. All the
information can be found in our products section.
Read about our latest scholarship winners and meet
some of our more remote members in our member
profile article.
Do you have a picture that would make a good front
cover of the Windows magazine? If you do send it to
[email protected]