Although jewellery manufacturing is a traditional industry, Kathy Ng, president of Hang Fung Gold Technology Group, believes that modern business management techniques are helping her company to enhance the quality of its jewellery products and expand its market share.

"Due to advances in production techniques it is now much easier to produce hollow gold ornaments, for example. The benefit to the consumer is more affordable jewellery items, and companies like ours get to target a larger market," she explains.

Hang Fung, which produces gold, platinum and silverware jewellery products, apportions one per cent of its turnover to research and development. The company employs over 100 people in its design and R&D team and develops new techniques in jewellery design and manufacture by leveraging off the expertise of local universities, the Hong Kong Productivity Council, and mainland scientists.

The company is in the throes of developing its brand and instilling quality throughout its distribution, wholesale, retail and export processes. "We hope to enhance consumer confidence in our company. Our goal is to gradually improve quality so that we can compete with prestigious foreign brands."

With this goal in their sights, Hang Fung applied to the Q-Mark Council for certification last year and joined the Hong Kong Q-Mark Service Scheme.

"Q-Mark consultants asked us to define our service provisions, monitor and control processes, and provide available documents to define methods of compliance with any mandatory code of practices, or regulatory or statutory rules," she says.

Hang Fung then set about defining new service targets with the consultants. These covered a range of areas like the competency level of staff, the working environment, customer service and means of monitoring and controlling service levels.

"The certification process was a valuable learning experience in itself," says Ms Ng. "And we expect our image to benefit because Q-Mark is a widely recognised and respected scheme."

As part of its marketing activities, in early 2001, the company unveiled its "3D-Gold" Tourism Exhibition Hall in Hung Hom, which houses the world's most expensive washroom, among other attractions. The showroom stands out as the hive of activity in the otherwise dull industrial environment. Coach load after coach load of mainly Mainland tourists can be seen paying a visit all day long and leaving clutching their purchases.

Ms Ng describes the showroom as a public demonstration of the Group's determination to manufacture and retail innovative gold and jewellery products. "Our goal is to turn '3D Gold' into a globally recognised exhibition that will demonstrate to the world that Chinese jewellery is globally competitive and uniquely innovative."

In the past, jewellery companies tended to each perform a single role - as a manufacturer, designer, importer/exporter or retailer. However, the structure of the industry is changing and producers now usually undertake more than one of these functions in the quest for improved profitability and competitiveness.

Aside from quality improvement, Ms Ng says Q-Mark has boosted staff morale. It has given employees a renewed sense of satisfaction and awareness regarding quality issues. "Our employees realise that our long-term competitiveness depends on how well our products measure up to the standards demanded in the market."

The Q-Mark licence is subject to regular review by the Q-Mark Council and can be suspended or revoked if subsequent checks reveal failure to comply with prescribed standards. "This places pressure on us to work to preserve present standards," says Ms Ng.

Indeed, Hang Fung now embraces the culture of continuous improvement. This involves it regularly reviewing whether it is achieving its pledges and/or service performance commitments, measuring customer satisfaction, and implementing appropriate documented action to rectify identified nonconforming services.

"Our experience is that good quality management builds customers' confidence, and having our services certified by the Q-Mark Council helps us reassure our customers that we are a quality focused organisation," she concludes.