Controlling what you can
(Continued from last month)
Controlling what you can
There are many things that a grower cannot control, from weather to market prices, and these cause a great deal of discussion each season.
However, rather than worrying about things that can’t be controlled, it should be comforting to know that there are a many things that can be controlled.
QA systems offer a great opportunity to bring many aspects of the business under control for very little effort, as follows:
- Each QA system comes as a ready-made package. You don’t have to do any thinking; just download the framework and the internal audit forms and you’re away (HACCP-based systems do take more work)
- Except for marketing and finance, every other functional aspect of the business is considered—from the quality of inputs, to the storage and distribution of product
- Influencing the constructive and useful behaviour of people is a big part of QA work. It’s about training, monitoring, and reviewing how people operate processes safely and well
It’s a process that can operate all year, quietly working in the background of the business. Once people, from the owner to the lowliest employee, become attuned to ‘the way things are done here’ it has the capacity to create a dynamic quality ethos through the business. The seasonal audit will be easy because the business works to a high standard all year anyway.
But I rarely hear about the ethos of quality, and trying to do things well and right. Discussion is more about cost, picky auditors, and paperwork.
I tend to agree that some aspects of QA systems can be paperwork-driven, and I am aware of other industries where auditors raise the bar each year because they must find something that isn’t quite right. However, this does not detract from their capacity to offer businesses a better way of working, and a significant degree of control over people and processes.
Add your own elements
It is also possible to dovetail in additional, simple, process controls to cover things such as pruning skills, energy use or finance controls, for example.
(continued next month)
See this article in Tree Fruit June 2016
