The Business’ Origins
The Australian Business Services Network was officially founded in April, of 2010. It was seven years prior to that though when the ideas started coming together in the shape of a business format.
Starting out as a contract welding & office administration business, it was the constantly changing Australian environment that caused the business structure to diversify. One of the first projects was to streamline a cleaning business – minimising downtime, and implementing a methodology to ensure quality and efficiency were provided to the business’ clientele.
From there, the needs of other businesses were scrutinised, to see how to place ourselves to offer outstanding customer service, and increase the capabilities of the clients.
So what TABS Network is now is a business consultancy, aimed at making YOUR business succeed by means of analysis and implementation of the best techniques.
Meet the Team
The founder of The Australian Business Services Network is Ray Brown. Ray works as the Principal Advisor, and ensures consistency through the business.
Qualifications:
- Diploma in Legal Studies and Business
- Diploma in Lean Manufacturing – Process Management
- Diploma in Quality Management
- Diploma in Warehousing Management & Logistics
- Diploma in Educational Psychology
- Cert IV in WHS/OHS
- Cert IV in Laboratory Techniques
- Ray is a Lean Six Sigma Black Belt.
Additional certifications:
- ISO 19011 Lead Auditing
- ISO 9000, 14000, 45000 Management Systems
- HACCP (advanced)
- Welding (first class)
- Construction (numerous tickets)
- Various safety certifications (e.g. Electrical spotter, Spotting for Service Assets, Test/Tag, RF Awareness, Nuclear Densometer Operation, Working at Heights, Confined Spaces, Safe Container Loading)
- Approved Accredited Person & Biosecurity Measures
Experience
Ray’s experience has been in developing policies and procedures in businesses since around 2005 through his business, and has audited around a dozen businesses to different standards, including:
- ISO 9001:2000
- ISO 9001:2015
- ISO 14001:2018
- ISO 45001:2015
- AS4801
- OHS/WHS Regulation 2017
The application was in these environments:
- Mining maintenance
- Crane services
- Laboratory environment
- Food & Manufacturing
- Cleaning
- Welding
- Warehousing & Transport
- Electrical Safety
- Retail
Key Events
Here are some highlights from Ray’s history.
Story 1
In the late ’90s, Ray was involved in food manufacturing, and as part of the HACCP system, identified two issues and resolved them while on the frontline.
The first was a newly discovered source of contamination, which prevented the food manufacturer from potentially being closed down to address the issue. It was not in a usual place, and was found through thorough examination of the production system, as Ray had learned the manufacturing flow from bulk ingredients in, out to palletising and logistics.
The second was a product that had what at the time seemed a mystery error, whereas the product damage rate was so high, it was less than a sigma one. In fact, it was a 91% fail rate. Through analysis of the manufacturing process, the issue was found, and that product now has a much lower fail rate, reaching the six sigma standard, and is still on the shelf.
The company that these events happened to had a turnover of $670M in the mid ’90s, so these were large issues.
Story 2
Other projects worked on include developing a mining maintenance business’ documentation system, bringing it into harmony with ISO 9000 and AS4801, in the late ’00s. This was set in place originally to provide a contractual agreement so that good workers weren’t being poached from the client’s business. It led to a complete business system overhaul and redesign to ensure that all policies and procedures were addressed for the mining maintenance crew to successfully utilise as required.
Story 3
Additionally, Ray has audited a business and assisted in ensuring that the director was informed of their responsibility, due to the lack of input from their former auditor. The auditor was not complying with their responsibility of informing their client of THEIR responsibilities, and allowing the business to float on manufactured documentation that was generic in nature. They weren’t showing the importance of implementation, and provided no guidance in how to ensure the application of the principles.
Strengths
Fault-finding, logical reasoning, experience in a broad range of business and industrial environments, multiple systems knowledge.
