WADE WALKER ACHIEVES ISO ACCREDITATION

July 2011

Wade Walker, leading electrical, control and instrumentation (EC&I) contractor in the mining and construction industry and part of the Murray & Roberts Group, has achieved ISO 9001:2008 accreditation, also obtaining a four-star IRCA rating on its quality systems.

“It has been neither an onerous, nor a particularly lengthy process,” Larry Davin, marketing manager at Wade Walker, says. “Our quality standards were already well above the norm, so relatively few adjustments needed to be implemented. We took existing procedures and refined them to comply with ISO requirements, rather than working through the standard mechanistically to ensure compliance. We were able to complete the entire process within nine months, being accredited by international body, DQS.”

As a result of unreserved buy-in driven from executive management, staff at Wade Walker were quick to embrace the modified procedures and systems, with each department head accountable for adoption and compliance in his/her area ensuring that all were kept updated with developments. “We were also able to benefit substantially from the experience which our managing director, Tim Wakefield, had gained while implementing the ISO system at Murray & Roberts Cementation,” Davin continues. “He was an ideal sounding board in determining what we should be doing and how.”

According to Davin, the ISO system has been implemented not merely for the purposes of formal accreditation to provide improved access to sectors such as the petro-chemical industry, but rather for sound business sustainability and efficiency reasons. “We are using it effectively as a business tool and have already been able to improve our pro-activity towards lowering operating costs,” he says.

“The regular audits are an incentive for continual improvement that will challenge us to keep raising the bar. We do not stop here and; in parallel with ISO 9001 accreditation work, commenced with restructuring the company safety and health system to OHSAS 18001, taking advantage of the knowledge gained through engagement with DuPont. Our safety and quality systems will fairly shortly be fully integrated for all our operations.”

Wade Walker has considerable work experience in Africa and has an impressive record for completing projects which are logistically challenging thanks in part to its in-depth understanding of clients’ businesses and its ethos of partnership.

In addition to its core business of electrical and instrumentation procurement, installation and commissioning, Wade Walker offers localisation of designs to environmental and country conditions, including wider discipline project and site management to best practice systems. It also undertakes design, procurement, installation and commissioning of overhead lines from 6.6 kV to 33.0 kV.

“We also have the ability and experience to offer wider construction solutions involving mechanical, structural and piping work by working together with sister companies,” Davin points out. As a wholly-owned subsidiary of Murray & Roberts, Wade Walker can bring in the significant resources within the Group.