Furniture maker builds sustainable improvement

Spurred on by the threat of competition from China, QFC embarked on Oliver Wight's Integrated Business Planning programme as part of its journey towards Class A accreditation. QFC's factory is in Grantham, Lincolnshire. The business is wholly owned by Vernon Goldberg, managing director, and David Bramwell, operations director. It employs 200 people, turns over £21 million and is producing one sofa every 31 seconds – or 4,500 per week. Its products are sold via major high street retailers such as Argos, Tesco, Next and Sainsbury's with a significant proportion of sales now coming via the internet. "While we are located at the same premises and employ many of the same people, the way we work is totally unrecognisable from a few years ago," says Bramwell. The business is looking forward to accreditation for Class A and although the final prize is yet to be attained, "the journey has completely transformed our business," he says. Data accuracy has improved, helped by the gradual introduction of a measurement culture within the business. More recently, QFC has introduced a balanced scorecard, assigned KPI responsibilities and created a measurement room: "We use the room for meetings. We display measures and results in there, and it emphasises the importance of them to everyone," says Bramwell. The introduction of Integrated Business Planning has dramatically improved demand planning and forecasting. Management business reviews now incorporate a wealth of data such as performance versus latest budget, reconciled to a three-year plan; forecasts of profit after tax; variances on volume, margin and overheads; and much more. The company also has monthly demand reviews and monthly supply reviews. The focus on one set of numbers led to the implementation of master production scheduling. "This was a new process for us and we worried whether we could do it," says Bramwell. "Eventually we did and it has transformed our customer service levels." So great has the change been that now QFC can even model the stock position for its customers, effectively offering them a vendor managed inventory service. "We have improved our performance dramatically and we received platinum supplier status from Argos." Bramwell firmly believes that Oliver Wight's Integrated Business Planning process has saved his business from falling victim to low-cost competition. "This is a template for how to run a manufacturing business excellently. Don't try to adapt it; just do it. The crucial thing is that Oliver Wight won't do it for you, you have to do it for yourself – that's good because it costs less, but it also means the results will last." QFC expects to attain Class A by the end of this year.