Management Systems in the Retail Industry

A Middle Eastern jewelry company managed its rapid growth with a quality system in place.

Published: Thursday, July 23, 2009 - 06:09

Joyalukkas Jewellery is one of the world’s favorite jewelers, with a retail chain of more than 70 showrooms across the Middle East, India, and Europe. The company has grown over the past two decades to become a household name for the wide range of contemporary, ethnic, and traditional jewelry it provides.

Joyalukkas commits to offering its customers the highest standards in quality and service across all of its outlets. The company identified that implementing a strong quality management system (QMS) throughout its operations was vital to being able to ensure this, and key in helping it achieve its goal of becoming a global brand by "ornamenting the world."

Upholding quality throughout expansion

Since starting with a single showroom in 1987, the Joyalukkas chain has expanded to include more than 70 showrooms (including the world’s largest jewelry showroom, located in Chennai, India) each offering 43 different brands of jewelry sourced from around the globe.

“Quality is key in every walk of our operations,” says Joy Alukkas, the company’s chairman. “Whether we are looking at Joyalukkas as a corporate entity, an employer, a service provider, or as a responsible member of society, we have identified that throughout our expansion, the quality of our systems and processes would be the key to upholding our reputation as a progressive company.”

The company has enlisted Intertek for third-party certification to ISO 9001, the international QMS standard, as a critical step toward ongoing business excellence.

“Without quality policies and standards, it’s difficult for us to attain our corporate goals, especially in this competitive world and with our expansion strategy,” says Alukkas.

His Highness Sheikh Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum presents a Quality Appreciation Certificate to Mr. Joy Alukkas, chairman of the Joyalukkas Group.

Growth of an integrated system

The company began training employees and implementing their QMS in 2002. Two years later, Joyalukkas moved to incorporate environmentally sound business processes into its QMS. In 2004, it became the first and only jeweler in the United Arab Emirates to be certified to both international standards, ISO 9001 (quality management system) and ISO 14001 (environmental management system).

Since 2007, Joyalukkas has progressively extended that certification across 19 sites in India, including the Chennai showroom. “Having implemented our management systems in the Middle East, and seen the impact on our staff and our business processes, we then moved to implement them in our Indian operations as well,” says Venugopal K., general manager of the company.

Joyalukkas also has a number of corporate social responsibility (CSR) activities and procedures. As the company has grown, Intertek has helped Joyalukkas to integrate CSR into its quality management system; this integration has increased efficiency and reduced the duplication of audit visits. “We have created a streamlined, structured documentation process,” explains Venugopal.

Processes for structured growth

That core documentation process has helped Joyalukkas effectively manage its rapid growth across several countries while staying in line with its corporate values. Through Intertek’s ISO 14001 audits, Joyalukkas ensures that the environmental aspects involved in the construction and renovation of their new stores are closely reviewed. In other areas, regular auditing ensures that the company stays in line with their global policies on the sale of “conflict diamonds” and the use of cadmium in solder.

Further, by having a strong management system in place, large corporate customers such as Unilever and Coca-Cola have seen Joyalukkas’ management system as an indicator of its ability to fulfill the detailed parameters of their gifting programs and given business to them.

Joyalukkas’ global management system has also helped the company to instill its vision and mission in all levels of the organization. Their employees’ focus on customer satisfaction has helped the company earn several prestigious awards, including the Dubai Quality Appreciation Program Certificate (issued under the patronage of His Highness Sheikh Hamdan bin Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Crown Prince of Dubai.

Erik Landgren, Intertek’s EMEA director of auditing and systems certification, cuts the ribbon to open the Joyalukkas showroom in the Dubai Mall.

Partners in progress

From the initial documentation review stage to conducting regular audits, Intertek has actively supported Joyalukkas and their integrated management system. “The certification process from Intertek keeps us on our toes,” says Venugopal. “Every audit has been a learning experience for us, and at Joyalukkas, we are always open to learning. Intertek also provides us with training on the latest updates in the standards, which helps us make an easy transition to the new standards. Our commitment to our management system is critical to our success, and Intertek has been a valuable partner. We consider that Joyalukkas and Intertek are partners in progress.”

About The Author

Stacey Corbin

Global Marketing Manager, Business Assurance for Intertek