The Next Generation of Risk

Generally one of the first things I afford myself when I get into the office in the morning is to catch up on world news. I’m not into newspapers and watching T.V. so I get the majority of my updates on current events from the Internet. Every now and then I will come across an article that catches my attention and will trigger some serious thought processing to happen. Such a situation happened the other day when I came across an article on a Deloitte study, entitled "Supply chain's last straw: A vicious cycle of risk”. “The report concluded that as companies cut costs to become more efficient - and more competitive globally - the more vulnerable they tend to become to lapses in the supply chain.”

I am no expert in supply chain management and generally when it comes to business I apply general knowledge and my education to the situation to problem solve. In reading about what leading global companies are doing came as no surprise to me. Cost cutting across the board at a company, in particular when it comes to raw materials, labor and production costs, leads to a shoddy product and problems with quality control as we’ve seen recently in the news.
When it comes to reputable companies, no names mentioned, making top of the line laptops or high-end consumer goods, then quality control is a pertinent issue. The act of creating the position for a senior executive exclusively to manage supply chain risks should go without reason for these large companies. Companies supplying consumer goods, which Mendis is also part of, have a social responsibility to its consumers and the public in general to make sure the product they are supplying is produced in a safe, clean environment, free from any harmful elements that threaten the well being of the public.

Generally, supply chain management issues are associated with, lost and broken product in transit, quality control, logistical issues (both technical and human), weather conditions, etc. I view quality control as the most important area for our business, or for any business come to that. Quality control is the area of a business that can spell disaster for a company if not done well.

As a business, quality control of Mendis is our first concern. It’s where we control the standard of our product and the purity of the product we provide. The placement of an executive from our board of directors to oversee quality control was one of the first matters we dealt with as a company. In the production of Mendis, we only work with the leading companies in their respective field for supply of product. For bottling we use only the finest glass from Europe, for production only the most reputable French company was sourced for our pot still. Everything from the raw material to the final bottle we package Mendis in is of the up most purity and quality, anything less would not carry the Mendis name.

It goes without saying as consumers, when we buy a quality brand name we naturally expect such, though more and more often in the media we are now hearing about foreign objects/substances getting into companies products. In a post 9/11 era companies need to take complete control and surveillance of their product from raw material to end product, a company’s longevity is so dependant upon the success of its products and customer satisfaction. All too often these offenses of breach of quality control are coming from large corporation, run by a board of directors more in touch with their bonuses than their clients.

At Mendis, as a family business, our brand is our life, the name comes from the founder of the distillery and we carry the name with great pride, we protect its image though our quality control. A mark on the Mendis name is a mark on the founding family and we take that seriously. When it comes to global corporations, there is no attachment to the brand like a family owned business, maybe conglomerates should start having some heart, if you take pride in your product you naturally care about your customers well being, then quality control is just as much a part of the brand as the brand is itself.