Case Studies
Issue No. 20 - December/January 2005
Calbic Pty Ltd
Steady Success
Elizabeth South based toolmaking engineers Calbic Pty Ltd is a surprising package.
Winner of a Telstra small business award and the 2004 WorkCover Employer of the Year — Small Business, Calbic is a very sophisticated and successful business, against the odds.
Managing director, Roger Callow is a careful man, but he doesn’t live down to his name. Rather, he routinely takes bold decisions based on confidence that his firm can meet challenges in a very fickle and demanding industry.
Calbic supplies precision parts, tools and services to a wide market base including mining, automotive, defence and whitegoods.
Roger attributes Calbic’s steady success to its systems, inspired by the thinking of business pundit, Michael Gerber.
Toolmaking, a business of painstaking precision, hinges on timetables and quantitative accuracy. Near enough is never good enough. Roger says the Gerber-inspired business planning is directly responsible.
“It keeps us on track and aids credibility with customers,”Roger says.
Quality Standard ASN/NZS ISO 9001:2000 the gospel Calbic lives by, along with strict attention to OHS&W and environmental standards.
Margins being extremely tight, Calbic can’t afford losses through carelessness or accident.
“We have six-month audits in all three areas,” Roger says.
“We also make the effort to participate in appropriate business awards programs, such as the Telstra Small Business Awards.
“Awards programs are a good way to make you look carefully at the way you do business. They are also very good for staff morale.
“Our business plan is a living document. We consult it weekly and it’s updated every month. We also maintain a ‘wish list’ of objectives we plan to reach...”
Investment in new technology is big. That’s not to say computers and communications, but $200,000 to $300,000 machine tools. The machinery can make dramatic c...
