This year has been a great one for JOD Engineering. We’ve been spending our days providing cost-effective, innovative solutions that improve the daily lives of users and engineers while maintaining required levels of security and safety. Behind the scenes, our skilled team has been growing and we’ve also been working hard to gain accreditations that ensure the quality, safety and effectiveness of our products and operations.
We spoke to John Cowell, JOD Managing Director and Founder, to find out more about what 2022 held for the business, as well as how JOD is preparing to expand the reach of the Easi-Lok access cover throughout 2023.
Can you tell us about the highlights of 2022 for JOD Engineering?
The first highlight is that JOD were awarded a framework contract by United Utilities for the provision of on-site mechanical services. We’ve also been working on our accreditations; in addition to ISO-9001-2015, JOD successfully developed and implemented ISO 14001-2015 and ISO 45001-2018 which we’re all very proud of.
Are there any standout projects this year that you can tell us about?
JOD were engaged by a local council to supply replacement access walkways/platforms and screens at a public waste disposal site. This was a deliberate step away from JOD’s historical focus on the water utilities industry and allows us to capitalise on JOD’s new CAD expertise, existing workshop capability and on-site experience. Feedback from the council has been entirely positive which is great.
Have there been any team changes or new recruits this year?
Anne Gornall took over as Office Manager replacing Barbara McCormick who left JOD. Anne’s background as the office manager for a local school has enabled her to adapt quickly to the mechanical engineering services contracting environment.
Sarah Hayhurst joined the team. Sarah has a background in CAD and her expertise has greatly enhanced JOD’s ability to deliver projects, such as the walkways/access platforms for the waste disposal site mentioned previously.
Finally, Alan Wilkinson joined the site team. Alan has a background in mechanical services and his expertise compliments the work carried out by JOD.
How are things going with Easi-Lok, and are there plans for any new products in the range for 2023?
The focus this year has been on marketing the existing Easi-Lok range of secure access covers. There is huge scope to expand the Easi-Lok range and a number of options are on the drawing board.
Can you tell us a bit about the accreditations/certifications you were awarded this year?
JOD’s management team saw the value that ISO-9001 had brought to the credibility of the business and their ability to manage the business. Looking ahead it is JOD’s belief that certified Health, Safety and the Environment systems and processes will be required to substantiate the company’s HS&E performance. This belief resulted in JOD committing in-house resources to develop and implement ISO-45001-2018, occupational health and safety management systems and ISO 14001-2015 environmental management systems.
Both systems were externally audited in Q2 2022, and JOD was confirmed as meeting the ISO requirements for both ISO 14001 and ISO 45001.
What’s in store for 2023? Are there any goals the business wants to meet next year?
Easi-Lok will be an exhibitor at the Utility Week Live 16-17 May 2023 held at NEC Birmingham. Utility Week Live is the UK’s biggest annual gathering of utilities professionals, attended by representatives from across the energy and water sectors.
We want Easi-Lok to reach as many potential clients and customers as possible from the water and energy sectors. We want to let them experience the benefits of Easi-Lok covers and appreciate why Easi-Lok should be their cover of choice.
Our goal is for Easi-Lok to be included by utilities companies on their purchasing frameworks for access covers.
We’re look forward to another year of providing problem-solving mechanical engineering services in 2023. If you have an engineering problem, why not see if the JOD team can engineer a solution? Get in touch today to find out how we can help.