Staff and management at Stolt Sea Farm are celebrating achieving the prestigious ISO 9000 quality management standard.

Stolt has a fish processing plant on the Island of Scaplay but also has other sites in the Western Isles and Skye.  The awarding of ISO 9000 status is a real boost for the business, with the standard being a must for any company trading in Europe, where 90 countries have now adopted ISO 9000 as their national standard.

The ISO 9000 is a quality management standard which is accepted world-wide and involves a company assessing its own processes and procedures with a view to making the business more efficient, reducing waste, improving communication and ultimately, improving the product or service.  As a result of going through the ISO 9000 initiative, the company compiles a manual covering all its processes and procedures, which can be built on in the future.

Stolt's location manager, Yvonne Macdonald said: "It was no easy task, working towards ISO 9000 but it has been worth all the effort.  We had to document all our processes and procedures at the plant in Scalpay and our other fish farm sites and facilities.  All the staff were in involved in this exercise, which enabled best practice to be absorbed from one site to another as well as allowing us to scrutinise practices that were being done differently.

"It has been a very good exercise and all the staff have become involved, but just because we have now achieved the credit does not mean that the process is over.  This is a live system, which can always be changing for the better and allowing us to grow as an organisation."

She continued: "The standard has also helped different company departments become far more knowledgeable about each other's tasks and any training needs can now be easily identified.  We have now established a regular flow of feedback and actions from all our staff with improvements continually being made and problems dealt with.  Maintaining this standard will involve regular internal and external audits."

Western Isles Enterprise (WIE) has helped the company through the rigorous ISO 9000 process.  WIE chief executive Donnie Macaulay said: "We would encourage other companies in the Western Isles to follow Stolt's example and look at the benefits of working towards ISO 9000. 

"Being able to boast a quality management standard like ISO 9000 is a boost for any business because it is an assurance of quality for the customer.  It also becoming a necessity as ISO 9000 moves towards becoming a requirement for contracts in various areas of endeavour."

Western Isles-based businesses who would like to learn more about the ISO 9000 quality management standard are being encouraged to contact WIE for advice and information on how to get started, tel: 01851 703703.