Is there anything more important than customer satisfaction? In today’s competitive world, the answer is ‘no’. With a rich legacy of nearly 200 years, Bureau Veritas is today a name synonymous only with ‘quality’ – And when you assure quality, you make customers happy. “There are many testing and audit agencies around the world, but what makes us different is our intent to respond quickly and satisfy customers. We have done it consistently over these years and that is why we have reached where we are today,” averred William Nguyen, Business Development Executive, IAAS, Inspection, Audit & Assessment Solutions, Bureau Veritas Consumer Products Services, while speaking to the Apparel Resources team.
Bureau Veritas was started in 1828 and is today counted among the best names in testing, inspection and certification organizations. Some of the services that the company provides are auditing, inspection, and certification to comply with QHSE (Quality, Health, Safety and Environment Compliance). With 1,400 offices and laboratories in over 140 countries, the company entered Vietnam in 2004 by setting up its first laboratory in Ho Chi Minh City for consumer products testing, inspection and audit for both soft goods and hard goods. The success of the laboratory in Ho Chi Minh City propelled the company to start another laboratory in Hanoi in the north of Vietnam. Both the laboratories offer all kinds of testing facilities that range from physical testing and analytical testing to food testing as well as DNA testing (non-human). For the garments and accessories sector, Bureau Veritas offers physical testing which covers almost all testing for performance, dimension, function, as well as restricted substances for US, EU, Japan, China, Australia, Saudi Arabia and Vietnam market.
The company offers its services to eight global businesses which are: marine & offshore, industry, in-service inspection & verification, construction, certification, commodities, consumer products, Government services & international trade.
“We offer all kinds of solutions, starting from supply selection stage to post-shipment stage, be it material inspection, in-line inspection, post-production inspection and also post-shipment inspection,” mentioned William. These services have helped Bureau Veritas build confidence in their clients that their products, processes and installations comply with international and local regulations, voluntary standards and their own requirements.
Apart from testing services, Bureau Veritas also offers pre-audit services to vendors or factories who want to improve themselves. “Before conducting an official audit, we do pre-audits wherein we analyse and tell the factories or the vendors where their problems are and how they can plan to improve,” said William.
An audit is a systematic evidence gathering process and helps validate compliance with regulatory requirements and industry standards. William adds “We do audits. Besides, quality management systems audits, our organization conducts capability and capacity audits. Under technical compliance, we design checklist and ensure that the garment factories follow the checklist that complies with industry standards or best practices. This also helps clients manage their supply chain and mitigate risks. Quality management means producing quality and compliant products.”
Inspection involves verifying on-site that finished products fulfil all the required norms. Prior to inspection, Bureau Veritas validates all the suppliers of its clients – validation that is done entirely on the basis of technical and social compliance. Once the client places the orders, the company does inline inspection to check whether all the orders are produced in compliance with the clients’ requirements. Then, the company also does final random inspections to ensure the buyers that there is no compromise on quality, and that shipment is also good.
The company today has over 4,00,000 clients across the world. Though the company caters to many local clients in Vietnam, it also serves various US and European customers in Vietnam, which includes world renowned brands like JCPenney, Walmart, Sears, Adidas, Under Armour among several other big retailers.
Every factory or company needs to ensure that all their employees completely understand their policies and approach and are committed to achieving them. This is where training becomes a significant part of successful QHSE management. “For testing, we provide technical training to technicians for in-house laboratories of the factories. Every factory wants to establish an in-house laboratory and wants to train their technicians to comply with third-party standards. We provide training on how to do the test and how to validate the results. Then, for inspection, we provide training for factory QC and fabric QC. We also have certain quality management systems for social audit training,” said William.
Certification is another service that Bureau Veritas offers. It can improve reputation, open up new markets or simply enable the company to operate. Once the training is done, Bureau Veritas conducts an evaluation test. William further remarked,“Once the evaluation test is cleared by companies/factories, we issue certification that the factory is trained now.” There is no bigger achievement for a factory than getting a certification from Bureau Veritas.
William is also extremely confident that Bureau Veritas will be as successful in leaving a mark in Vietnam as it has been across the globe. He says that with a good amount of foreign direct investment (FDI) companies coming up in Vietnam and simultaneously the local companies also finding their foothold in Vietnam, the country is only going to grow. He reasons, “The country is definitely growing. Earlier simple shirts used to be made but now lots of jackets and complex trousers are also being manufactured; so, the change is seen in textiles as well. This is not only in the garment sector but also in other sectors. Vietnam is very important in SE Asia for Bureau Veritas.”
Besides, William feels that many buyers do not want to depend on China despite the country’s dominance in textiles and therefore are investing lot of money in setting up fabric mills, good enough to justify the changing and growing Vietnam. One must also realize that only if the companies invest on advanced systems and technologies, will the production efficiency improve. “It is the only way you can create a niche for yourself in the market,” said William. Interestingly, many local companies have already started working on this and are innovating themselves – which is a progressive step. The country also boasts of a stable economy, good increasing GDP and industrious and skilled workers.
One major concern is the constant increase in salary, which seems to be a perpetual issue among all the manufacturers and exporters in Vietnam. “There is 6.5 per cent increase in basic salary this year compared to last year, which is worrying,” mentioned the Business Development Executive from Bureau Veritas. Despite the garment industry thriving in the nation, the salary hike can thwart the nation’s growth. There are other countries like Bangladesh, India or Indonesia who are good competitors. William said “I spoke to other vendors in Taiwan. They said they want to move to Africa and middle of USA as the cost is less and have actually stopped making any further investment for more expansion in Vietnam, which is not good.”
Competition is everywhere and Bureau Veritas too has its share, despite being an almost 200-year old brand. “Earlier a company would ask us to do everything – testing, auditing, inspection and so on, but now they might ask one company to do testing, the other to do audit and a third company to do inspection. The customers will compare every category and will compare the price too. Then through bidding and tenders, the companies will decide whom to select for what service. Bureau Veritas too has to bid with other competitors. The decision makers are vendors and these vendors want to cut the cost. So, it’s not easy,” explains William.
Then what makes this company stand out?
Integrity and professionalism makes it stand out. Integrity breeds authenticity and this builds Bureau Veritas’s reputation. With the longest history in the industry and experience in the whole supply chain, the company offers holistic solutions for clients in a professional manner.
