Standing out from the crowd
McGrattan and Kenny, a leading mechanical engineering contractor based in Dublin, puts quality at the forefront of their business. Here, Eamon McGrattan, Managing Director of McGrattan and Kenny, talks about how The Q Mark has helped their standards impro
McGrattan and Kenny has been providing building services nationwide to the industrial and commercial construction sectors since 1968. They specialise in plumbing, ventilation, air conditioning and heating. Coming up to their 50th year in business, their prime objective is customer satisfaction and growth through repeat business.
“When a company reaches 50 years, there is a lot of responsibility in making that business the best it can be,” says Eamon McGrattan. “We have an employee that has worked here for 32 years and another for 30 years. We pride ourselves on our longevity and we look forward to celebrating our big milestone.”
RECEIVING CERTIFICATION
When applying for The Q Mark in 2013, McGrattan and Kenny were looking to achieve an industry standard of quality that they could show to their clients and make them distinct within the construction sector.
“Our clients expect us to have quality systems and accreditation to show that we work to an industry standard,” says McGrattan. “The reason we applied for The Q Mark over any other quality rating is because it focuses on employee engagement. Our employees are our key resource and they are what make us different from our competitors. Our employees are the ones who help us to achieve our long-term goals.
“Having The Q Mark accreditation makes us stand out in the industry. Having client confidence in our business is incredibly important and The Q Mark shows that our business is effective at all levels. It facilitates continuous improvement and having the accreditation pays for itself, as it encourages you to get things right the first time round and reduce waste.
“The construction sector can be affected by numerous external factors such as the weather, labour resources, peaks and troughs in the industry, suppliers, and deliveries. Any one of these factors can affect the sector negatively or positively. Having a systematic framework to work towards allows us to manage the chaos and create a better outcome for our clients and our business.”
INDUSTRY RECOGNITION
McGrattan and Kenny proved their high quality standards when they won The Q Mark Award for Quality Management Systems in 2016.
“We didn’t expect to win an award but we believed it would be a good experience to go through the competition process. It is an amazing feeling to be recognised by The Q Mark in this way. There was a lot of high-fiving in the office after we won! It acknowledged the effort made by everybody in the organisation to work to a system ensuring we were all pulling in the one direction. It took real effort every single day thinking about quality, reducing waste and driving the business towards continuous improvement and development.
“We received so much support through Facebook messages and phone calls from people congratulating us on winning. The Q Mark is a well-known brand so our clients were able to hear about our award quickly. It’s great to be recognised but it’s also amazing how it can add to the promotion of the business. It’s all part of what makes a business successful.”
McGrattan says he was intrigued to find that The Q Mark was more than just a quality mark.
“When we applied for The Q Mark, I thought it was just going to be a generic quality standard. It covers everything that makes a business what it is in great detail through the audit process. I would recommend The Q Mark to any business looking to improve themselves and focus on quality management.”