It’s all about customer satisfaction

Reflecting on our commitment to working closely with customers to address their needs and meet their expectations, the DS Smith Plant in Vilnius has achieved ISO 9001:2008 and ISO 14001:2004 accreditation. This ensures customers receive consistent and timely responses and has also driven down the number of post-sales enquiries received.

It is now 18 months since Vidmantas Zickus became Quality Manager at the recently acquired DS Smith Plant in Vilnius. "In the beginning, I would look around and see that there were too many customer claims and claims that were being handled inconsistently, with customers not always receiving a response," he recalls. Zickus dug deeper and found that the source of the problem was that claims investigations touched a lot of departments, but there was no single department (or process) that had overall responsibility and he decided this needed to change.

Working together towards certification

After gaining sponsorship from senior management, Zickus set up two working groups: one to focus on ISO 9001:2008 certification, knowing this would improve claim management; and another for ISO 14001:2004. "When we started, enthusiasm was high but our knowledge was limited," he remembers. However, everyone set to work – documenting ideas, processes, and requirements. Then the teams defined concrete actions, responsibilities, and deadlines for correcting processes.

It wasn't easy at first, with people finding it difficult to complete their tasks on top of their day job. The project even met with some resistance for a short while, but by the halfway point, as the first results began to be seen, any disappointment disappeared.

Zickus is proud that, considering how lengthy these processes can be, his teams were able to attain the certifications using only internal resources in just one year. In addition, that year saw claim numbers drop by 30%.

A better understanding reduces claims

Working more closely with our customers means we have a better understanding of their needs and can take action to prevent issues from arising. "We still do get claims, but customers are now guaranteed a timely response," asserts Zickus.

Next financial year, the aim is to reduce claim numbers even further by really making sure that each of our customers is satisfied. The key, according to Zickus, is not about waiting for something to happen and reacting, but about being proactive and finding solutions before the need arises.