Case Study – BlueLine Laundry - Hobart’s most experienced commercial laundry has been operating since 1893. It is a commercial enterprise staffed by valued, experienced and skilled employees, committed to providing a quality service to customers and the community. BlueLine is a recognised high performer; both in terms of its commercial success and also in terms of achievements with its supported employees. They are in the top 5 across Australia in terms of the percentage of work hours per supported employee, with 80% of staff working 4-5 days a week. Their facility is purpose-built and is commercially sustainable and able to stand alone. The key success factors described by BlueLine Services Coordinator Ron DiFelice are: Sells based on quality - it offers a quality product Has quality tender writers Provides excellent customer service The marketing approach is to sell the quality business first, rather than focus on it as an ADE Is quality accredited to both DSS and ISO 9001:2000 and to Australian Standard AS4146 Is reliable and has long-term contacts Loyal staff and a fully integrated workforce Strong and skilled administration and great governance Places the right people in the right jobs Meets budgets and works as a team BlueLine is growing and has doubled the amount of laundry it processes over the past 6-7 years, and has increased its capacity by acquiring new machinery. Further, it provides on the job training and has a Framework for Sustainable Operations, which aims, “To provide caring community leadership for change towards sustainable development and to promote the role of eco-efficiency, innovation and shared responsibility of both social and corporate life.” Barriers and challenges to doing business with Government There are many barriers and challenges confronting ADEs in doing business with Government. Some of these are related to the ADE itself and some are system issues with how Governments procure and particularly in how they utilise (or do not utilise) exemptions from tendering processes that are available for ADEs. The key issues raised and qualitative feedback from interviews are summarised both in Table 2 below and in the following points.
Mira Zivkovic Senior Project Officer Gateway Industries Alex Neitz CEO Government of WA, Department of Finance, Government Procurement Lil Paskos A/Senior Procurement Manager, Client Procurement Services Government of WA, Department of Finance, Government Procurement Alex Taylor Director, Client Procurement Services Hands on SA Claire McAlary Deputy CEO Horizon Foundation Inc. Trevor Hulbert Joe Gamblin General manager CEO House with no Steps John Piper General Manager Hunter Business Group HPA Incorporated Peter Joyce CEO Jack Mail Sally Richards Founder and Owner Jewish Care Elena Tsetlin Manager Print 35 Koomarri Miranda Garnett CEO Launceston City Council Leanne Hurst Manager- Community, Tourism and Events, Launceston City Council Launceston Travel & Information Centre Sandy Avens Team Leader Launceston Travel & Information Centre LEAD Contracting Wayne Herbert Resource Team- Social Development Advisor Mach 1 Australia Inc. Steven Steel CEO National Disability Recruitment Coordinator Lucy Macali Manager National Disability Services (NDS) Scott Holz State Manager NSW New Horizons Gary Pearce Head of Enterprise Services Newleaf Communities Peter Williamson General Manager
Sue Hallam Finance Officer Telstra Steve Jones Michael Marrett Bert Ciavarra National Contract Specialist National Contract Specialist; Service Delivery unit, Telstra Operations Manager- Disability Programs WCIG Peter Couch Geoff Stokes Manager Coordinator WISE Jim Dinnuccio Mathew Lambelle State Manager Wise Social Enterprises
Providing a quality product/service at a competitive price!! Being totally reliable and continually engaging with them so that we develop strong ongoing relationships. This can suffer if people move on. Commercial approach, Quality, DIFOT, Customer Service, responsiveness, understanding their markets and customers. Keeping up with demand/deadlines with the current structure of our business. Relationships - reliability - capability and capacity. Know what they want. Big business is more accepting of ADE concept and is willing to pay for services, communication and service is key to success. Being competitive and informing them of the social enterprise factor. That you have good product to sell the business and that you deliver on time a good quality product. Being cost competitive and meeting their supply requirements. This generally requires mechanisation to improve productivity (and bring prices down), which results in the necessity to find more work for supported employees, as mechanisation requires less workers and higher skilled workers. Also to have the capacity to supply on a national level. Developing networks with key individuals within Big Business who understand about our workforce strengths and limitations and will work with us to gain an acceptable outcome for both parties. Quality. Service. Professionalism. Pride… The ability for a high qualified and experienced Business Development Manager. Availability of products when required, price and discounts on all sales to meet their sales forecasts. Quality and the ability to meet deadlines. Talking with key people. Being able to get in front of them with our product. Having big business in your locality to start with (perhaps with the exception of IT related contracts) Big business understanding what ADE's have to offer. ADE understands what big business wants. Work with them, provide a good product, don't be their slave although do your best to accommodate their needs. Maintain a competitive price and always ensure that quality standards are met. Consistency in work scheduling. Excellent product priced competitively. Finding someone who understands the social benefits of the business and the advantages a partnership can bring.
Product, accounts, service Be professional, look professional and sell on the quality and service not employment of people with a disability. Getting in front of the key decision makers to have the chance to quote and also finding out which pieces of business are available to outsource Meet their needs… Treat them with a friendly approach and meet their every need Getting to the people that make the decision or have the influence Whilst they claim they're all about triple bottom line and would love to do business with an ADE for CSR reasons, the reality is something different. It is a naive, academic view to suggest that for big business the prime core focus is value maximization for the firm/ shareholders and not social or environmental matters for that much. However, I must admit that it is getting better. ADE's should use this as part of their strategy. High Australian dollar impacting manufacturing in SA, reducing potential markets Perception of using a Social Enterprise a) Competitive price; b) Quality Product; c) Reliability of delivery/service. Have something worth selling, sell the quality of products and services before selling the social purpose of the organisation