CEO Speak: New aspirations

SKM Air Conditioning has won the Dubai Quality Appreciation Award on first attempt. How does it feel?

Abdul Karim Al Saleh: We are highly honoured to be a recipient of the Dubai Quality Appreciation Award (DQAA) for 2019, which also coincides with Business Excellence Awards’ silver jubilee. We are proud to be a part of this momentous occasion. Our first attempt at Business Excellence Awards wasn’t just based on our desire to bring home the award. Our focus was on adopting the EFQM excellence model and evaluating SKM’s performance over the recent years, primarily identifying our strengths and weaknesses to improve our performance and come out stronger than ever.

We take pride in our accomplishments and approaches we have implemented across the organisation.

Winning DQAA was a collective effort, under the direction of our Chairman, Mubarak Al Besharah, and a realisation of our shared goal of becoming the best in what we do. We are humbled and pleased to get the confirmation that we are on the right path by winning this prestigious award.

SKM Air Conditioning has been in the business for over 44 years. Did any revelation during the evaluation come as a surprise to you? What were the main challenges during the application process?

Ahmed Fahmy: We started in the air-conditioning business and we have become one of the pioneers of the HVAC industry locally and internationally over the years. We regularly conduct internal evaluations to identify areas for improvement. We had the opportunity to get feedback from a team of competent assessors during the DQA assessment. Such an external review brings objectivity, lack of vested interest, and the ability to look at matters from a fresh perspective. The assessors highlighted areas for improvement that were not captured during our own assessments. This is significant and all input shall be taken into consideration.

For us, the limited knowledge of the EFQM model, lack of prior experience and our decision to apply without the help of a consultant turned out to be stumbling blocks. We had to work hard on data collection, prepare and write our submission, ensuring that all enablers and results were presented and defined. When we realised it was a big challenge, we created a committee comprising representatives from each department headed by the DQA team to ensure smooth project implementation and coordination of all data requirements through brainstorming sessions.

The incomplete benchmarking data was also a shortfall that we have to focus on. We look forward to enhancing our comparative data analysis among our industry peers. We have included benchmarking activities as one of our objectives for this year.

What are the key factors that helped your organisation raise and maintain standards of excellence?

Ahmed Fahmy: Creativity, motivation and innovation are vital to SKM’s successful performance. This mindset begins at the top management and permeates to every level. We continue to upgrade our facilities and equipment by sourcing the best technology. Our benchmarks are the best practices in the manufacturing industry. We consistently think outside the box to design transformative solutions and apply them to our products and processes. We adapt to changing economic and technological environments through frequent consultation with customers, clients, certification bodies and regulatory boards.

What’s the next milestone in your journey with Business Excellence Awards?

Abdul Karim Al Saleh: After the DQAA win, we feel more confident and are motivated about our journey to excellence. SKM will continue participating in other Business Excellence Awards. Our next step is to implement new approaches and action plans. We also aim to increase awareness of the importance of promotion of excellence not only within our organisation but also strategic partners. Establishing SKM as a role model of excellence with sustainable performance in our society has now become one of our aspirations