BUSINESS STANDARDS
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Trial and fewer errors
29 May 2008
Topics: Business continuity, BS 25999
TDG, one of Europe's leading supply chain management companies, became the first logistics company in the world to achieve certification to BS 25999 Business Continuity Management (BCM) in November 2007, following a review of its BCM approach during the first quarter of 2007. It took the decision to run a pilot project designed to provide one operation with a BCM system developed and implemented following the BS 25999 code of practice.
There were three objectives: to develop and implement an effective BCM system for a "normal" TDG site - in this case, the company's distribution facility at Rugby; the second was to obtain early certification to the BS 25999 standard; and the third was to develop a revised BCM strategy for TDG, based on the results of the pilot.
"As this was the first time we had developed such a comprehensive BCM system, the complete process was a learning one," says Simon Beesley, business continuity manager, TDG. "As a result, we learned a lot about the tools, templates and techniques deployed, and have made numerous changes to assist the development of all future BCM systems on sites.
"All implementations we undertake are reviewed on an ongoing basis through the project and then formally at the end to identify the improvement opportunities that can be deployed in the future," Beesley explains. "This is a key part of the Plan-Do-Check-Act approach TDG deploys in all aspects of its operations."
As a consequence of the pilot programme and subsequent certification, TDG gained a greater understanding of the possible difficulties that could arise, and has been able to put in place plans for these situations.
"For example, the risk assessment showed that we would need to cover not just loss of IT, but also loss of people, skills and access-to-site in our business continuity plan," Beesley explains.
Achieving certification has also given TDG a competitive edge. "Our major clients such as supermarket retailers have long insisted that we prove we have solid plans in place to provide business continuity and thus assurance of supply. Now that we have this certificate, proving that fact is considerably easier. We will now be insisting on it from our key suppliers and expect it to be widely adopted throughout our industry," said Beesley.
"Having completed the pilot, we now have plans to develop and implement BS 25999-certified BCM systems within a minimum of five other operations during 2008, with an expectation that this figure will rise in subsequent years," says Beesley.
"We are also reviewing our approach to managing disruptions that affect TDG as a whole (as opposed to on a single site), taking into account the learnings gained in achieving certification on our Rugby site. The Rugby site has also achieved ISO 14001 certification and was pleased to see that the existence of its BCM system assisted in this process."
For more information, visit: www.bsigroup.com/may08bcm
Business Standards © 2007. Editorial produced by Caspian Publishing in association with the British Standards Institution. Editorial opinions expressed on are not necessarily those of BSI Group or Caspian Publishing. Neither Caspian Publishing nor BSI Group accept responsibility for advertising or editorial content, nor for that appearing on linked third-party websites. Reproduction in whole or in part is forbidden without written permission from BSI Group or Caspian Publishing.
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