We have all heard this expression, “A person is only as good as their word”. In essence, this is what Southwestern Controls strives to do by being true to our mission statement: “For Southwestern Controls to be the best company in our field by striving for continuous improvement in all facets of our company through our commitment to our Customers, Employees, Suppliers, and Investors”. We go further in our mission statement (this portion could also be called our values) by giving our commitment to each of our “partners or stakeholders”.
What does “striving for continuous improvement in all facets of our company through our commitment to our Customers, Employees, Suppliers, and Investors” mean? Let’s start with “continuous improvement”. This can be defined as a set of activities designed to bring gradual, but continual, improvement to a process through constant review. The Shewhart cycle is among the best known methods, and is typically described as Plan->Do->Check –>Act. This is most commonly drawn in a circle to demonstrate that, once the solution is acted upon, it can and should still be improved.
Our mission statement goes on to say “in all facets of our company”. This statement means that there are no “sacred cows” at Southwestern Controls. Any areas of the company or process in it are candidates for improvement which, by its nature, means they are candidates for change.
The final part of our mission statement says “through our commitment to our Customers, Employees, Suppliers, and Investors”. Many companies give mixed messages with slogans like, “the customers is always right”,“our employees are our most important asset”,“our company’s purpose is to maximize shareholders’ value”. At Southwestern Controls we feel that it is important that we achieve excellence in the eyes of each of our partners/stakeholders.
Whoever is reading this is either currently or has the potential to be one of those stakeholders/partners. I expect you and in fact urge you to hold us accountable to our mission statement by our being in your eyes the “best in our field”.
Russell Church
President
Southwestern Controls