Case Studies
Issue No. 7 - October/November 2002
Bates Group of Companies
Success is Assured
The Bates Group of Companies started in 1988 as a small, hands-on management consultancy directed by John L. Bates. Today, the group has offices in all states of Australia and overseas, and has guided more than 500 companies through certification of their business management systems to international quality standards.
John’s son, Craig Bates heads up the group, which includes JLB (Australia’s largest management consultancy in Quality Assurance, Environmental Management and Food Safety/HACCP Programs), TQCS International (a JAS-ANZ accredited, third party certification body operating throughout Asia), FQS (a Melbourne-based food safety auditing company primarily involved in laboratory proficiency testing) and AMS (Adelaide’s only commercially operated, private food and water testing laboratory).
The darling of the Group is TQCS International.
“The company was formed to satisfy a demand from many of JLB's clients for a local accreditation provider,” Craig Bates says. “TQCS commenced operations in 1995 as the only SA-based third party certification body auditing and certifying business management systems to the international standards.
“TQCS quickly spread to operating throughout the country and in 2000 commenced operations in Asia. A name change to TQCS International ensued and since then TQCSI has grown into an international success story with offices in eight countries and plans to expand further.
“Rod Hamon, TQCSI Certification Manager and Australian General Manager has led the development of policy and auditing standards so crucial to the success of a certification body.”
Craig says the group remains “fiercely South Australian” with no plans to move headquarters away from Quality House on Tapleys Hill Road in Hendon.
He believes TQCS gains a marketing advantage from its customer-focussed approach that fits a certification process to the business, rather than forcing the customer to ...
