In September 2018, Fletcher Steel agreed to participate in the the Steel Construction New Zealand (SCNZ) Structural Steel Distributor Charter Scheme.
The Structural Steel Distributor Charter is the latest quality assurance initiative led by the structural steel industry, complementing the Steel Fabrication Certification scheme launched in 2014.
The Charter ensures that structural steels supplied to the local steel construction sector are sourced using best-practice procurement; it represents a mark of excellence for structural steel distributors in New Zealand.
The initiative requires that chartered structural steel distributors operate a Quality Management System (QMS) that guarantees steels are consistently supplied to satisfy an audit checklist and therefore, the requirements of the new Fabrication and Erection Standard, AS/NZS 5131. Additionally, the QMS must be independently audited by an accredited assessor who reviews members’ procurement and compliance practices.
Our procurement and due diligence processes were audited by British Standards Institute (BSI) in October 2019 and we received our audit certificate in December 2019 without any corrective actions required.
At Fletcher Steel we have always maintained a stringent vendor compliance and procurement practice across our product sourcing. Signing the charter enhanced that by providing the opportunity to re-engineer our processes to provide engineers and fabricators confidence that supplied steel and documentation always meets the new AS/NZS 5131 requirements. This was an activity that called on all our departments (Procurement, Operations & Sales) to work together to ensure a best in class compliance and traceability process.
We undertook this process to provide a guarantee to our structural steel customers who are under stringent compliance pressures that we adhere to a new standard and providing greater transparency as a complaint steel distributor.
“The team have done a tremendous job ensuring our quality processes are robust so we’re able to provide our customers with the confidence they require. The third-party audit last year (for the SCNZ Distributor Charter) was an opportunity to have our processes independently examined. We’re pleased with the result and we’ll continue to refine and improve these processes when and where appropriate.” Peter Foot, Supply Chain Manager, Fletcher Steel.
In terms of our suppliers, all of the mills we source our structural steel from are put through a thorough onboarding process which can take 6-12 months in order to ensure that they meet all our requirement criteria.
We can offer our customer the guarantee that our sourcing practices ensure that supplied structural steel meet AS/NZS 5131 and that all product will be supplied with test certificates from accredited test facilities.