“When I joined Champion, I was aware that the company boasted an outstanding record in after-sales care,” said McNamara. “Building on that reputation will be a major focus. At the front end, for example, more service technicians will be on the road in NSW by 2010. A further initiative is to involve our clients in the early stages of product development--right back to the R&D stage. By listening to our clients and acting on their feedback, we have a tremendous opportunity to ensure our new product designs are exactly what the market needs.”
McNamara’s emphasis on forming close alliances--with both clients and suppliers--is drawn from his extensive experience in Australia and overseas. Such roles have provided McNamara with a solid grounding in both engineering and financial management.
While the externally focussed initiatives are a high priority, employee safety and welfare are paramount at Champion. “We are currently introducing ‘joint-venture’ training with industry partners and recently added the state government’s new OH&S training modules to our training set,” said McNamara. “This is leading-edge training--it incorporates newly developed, industry-specific modules.”
“It’s not good enough nowadays to just provide generic OH&S training to our people,” he continued. “Air compressors are often used in the most extreme conditions thus demanding the highest quality standards from both equipment and technical support from companies with very high safety standards in place. Our people need to be well prepared and, as a responsible employer, we need to be highly targeted in the training we provide.”
The new initiatives typify the collaboration that can be expected under McNamara’s leadership. “This approach is the way of the future,” he said. “I am looking forward to working closely with our industry partners, and providing them with enhanced business outcomes through top-level service from Champion.”
