ISO 9001 is the internationally recognised standard for Quality Management Systems (QMS). It provides companies with a tangible framework and structured set of principles that ensures a sensible and clear approach to the management of business activities to consistently achieve customer satisfaction.

ISO 9001 accreditation recognises a very high level of achievement. It recognises excellence across the following fields:

• customer focus, leadership;
• involvement of the public;
• ensuring a process approach;
• a systematic approach to management;
• a factual approach to decision making;
• mutually beneficial supplier relations;
• continuous improvement.

Strong Vend has held ISO 9001accreditation since 1995, however this year, the quality standard the company carries has been upgraded to the newly introduced 9001:2008 accreditation which came into force as of November 14th 2008.
As an ISO 9001:2000 quality standard company, Strong Vend submits to yearly external audits performed by NQA. During this year’s audit, Strong Vend received a recommendation for renewal and an upgrade to the new quality standard ISO 9001:2008.

NQA auditors are not a small one man band auditing firm, but an internationally recognised organisation working in over countries across the globe. They continue to be the UK’s leading assessment, verification and certification body.

Strong Vend’s Steven Booth said, “This is a fantastic achievement for Strong Vend and a great vindication of the business principles we have, as a team, strived to achieve. Strong Vend is highly committed to bettering itself as a company year-on-year so that our customers continue to enjoy the highest possible level of customer satisfaction. We’re all very proud of what we have accomplished.”

Strong Vend is highly committed to continuing to improve standards across every field of its operation, from the delivery of its bean to cup coffee machines to impeccable customer service.

For more information about the ISO 9001 quality standard, click here.

Whilst Strong Vend has been supplying the people of Britain and The Royal Householder of Her Majesty the Queen with delicious bean to cup coffee and other hot beverages and snacks for over thirty years, Strong Vend online is a very new invention indeed.

This week marks the Strong Vend website’s first birthday. Reaching the year mark seems like the perfect opportunity to remind ourselves of the past and also look forward to the future.

Since the big launch a whole twelve months ago, the site has undergone some exciting changes to make sure it’s as user-friendly and engaging for our clients as we planned it to be.

The website was put together by award winning London web design agency Cyber-Duck who came up with the initial user-centric layout, created and built fantastic and unique flash banners and introduced state-of-the-art 3D imagery of each bean to cup coffee machine.

Since the initial launch, Cyber-Duck has also helped us to convey the message about the impact we have on the environment and the way we source our raw materials by introducing dedicated pages featuring our recycled products and our Fair Trade partners. Visitors to the site are able to see how being ecologically conscious can have huge benefits – financially, ethically and domestically.

We’ve had some fantastic feedback from our customers, many of whom have been with us since the beginning, thirty years ago! The site has also helped us to considerably grow our client-base, reaching a brand new market of web-savvy coffee-lovers and facility managers alike.

The site will be undergoing changes in the coming months – be sure to look out for our brand new calculator on how much a Strong Vend machine could save the average employee in pounds per year (all those visits to Starbucks adds up fast). Bosses will even be able to work out how much one of our machines could save the whole company.

The bean to cup coffee machine specialist was approached by an existing customer after an increase in the number of blind staff in its workforce.

The client, London’s Magistrate’s Courts, told Strong Vend that its visually impaired workers felt demoralised by the fact that they could not make a hot drink for themselves at work and had to wait for someone to offer to get one for them.

Strong Vend came up with a simple, yet effective solution to the problem; the custom-updated bean to cup coffee machines with Braille instruction panels and drinks labels, allowing visually impaired staff to enjoy a hot drink throughout the working day without having to ask for help.

Strong Vend also organised for each visually impaired staff member to be given training in machine operation.

The project required a huge amount of research as two forms of Braille exist in the UK, Grade1 (a formal version) and Grade 2 (a shorthand alternative). The Braille language style was overseen by the Royal National Institute of Blind People (RNIB) and the translation into Braille was done by PIA Transcription Services.

Sharon Bowell from RNIB said, “In the workplace, it’s often the small changes that make a big difference for blind and partially sighted people. We’re happy that Strong Vend consulted with us about the best way to make their machines user-friendly. We are always looking to work with companies who are keen to incorporate inclusive design into their work.”

Sharon Williams from PIA said, “This particular translation project was really interesting and a very practical example of how organisations can allow their employees to be independent in the workplace. It’s great to work with our customers to find practical, cost-effective solutions to every day issues.”

Steven Booth of Strong Vend added, “Strong Vend prides itself on high-quality products and services. It is very important to us that Strong Vend’s products can be enjoyed by all.

Accessibility is something that Strong Vend feels very passionately about, whether that be ensuring our website is available for people of all abilities or modifying our machines – our message is inclusivity.”

Learn more about Strong Vend or its Accessibility or Corporate Social Responsibility policies.

Having half of the workforce leave the office to purchase hot drinks at various points throughout the day is hugely detrimental to productivity- a fifteen minute trip to a local coffee shop amounts to over two days out of the office per year just getting coffee!

Providing staff with one of Strong Vend’s gourmet coffee machines within the office could help to significantly increase worker productivity.

Socialising for a few minutes during an in-office coffee break can also help to boost staff morale.
The average coffee from any one of the coffee shop chains costs over £2 for a standard sized cup.

By installing one of Strong Vend’s bean to cup coffee machines within the office, staff could save themselves over £520 per year and your business will reap the rewards- increased productivity, motivated and happy staff, making for a pleasant and thriving working environment.

Strong Vend’s Steven Booth said, “Effectively staff get a pay rise when the employer gets a quality coffee machine, they could give themselves a £520 pay increase per year, not too bad in these credit crunch times”
Strong Vend has a wide range of different coffee and hot beverage machines to suit any size of business as well as can machines, water coolers and snack vending systems.

Call 020 7511 3511 for further details of our bean to cup coffee machines and other products or fill in our contact form online and a member of the team will be in touch as soon as possible.

Not all paper cups can be recycled, most have a thin wax coating on the inside to stop the paper from disintegrating. This wax coating makes recycling out of the question. This has a huge impact on waste to landfill and is totally unnecessary. Strong Vend can provide UK businesses with fully recyclable, environmentally friendly beverage cups.

Unlike their polystyrene and waxed counterparts, which do not break down easily, Strong Vend’s polycoated hot drink paper cups are made from wet-strength high quality paper fibre. The thin coating of polyethylene prevents the drink from soaking through the paper but makes up less that 5% of the cup’s overall mass and can be easily removed during the recycling process.

Since the introduction of the recyclable cups to the product line in May 2006, Strong Vend has supplied UK workplaces with over 3.5 million of them, making these cups the perfect solution for companies wanting to reduction their carbon footprint and move to a greener office environment.

Strong Vend offers a wide range of recyclable goods to supplement its recyclable cups: our unique recyclable sip-through dome lids, and wooden coffee stirrers can be pulped down and made into something else after use in much the same way as the cups.

Strong Vend aims to supply as many work places as possible with the eco-friendly paper cup, helping to cut waste to landfill, reducing a company’s carbon footprint and benefitting the environment for us all.

Each paper cup can be customised with brand logos as well, making them perfect for events as well as everyday office use.

View our full range of recyclable products.

The Royal Warrant is universally acknowledged as the highest mark of excellence. Suppliers who are granted a Royal Warrant supply the Royal household with goods and services.

The Royal Warrant was first awarded to Strong Vend by Her Majesty the Queen on 1st January 2005. The warrant was granted in recognition of Strong Vend’s commitment to service and excellence, having been a supplier to the Royal household for several years.

The warrant is an honour that acknowledges Strong Vend as an official supplier by Royal appointment of drinks and snacks vending machines.

The Royal Warrant is incredibly hard to come by. There are only 850 companies and suppliers who currently hold Royal Warrants.

For more information on Strong Vend and its Royal Warrant of Appointment for coffee vending machines, click here.