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| 2005 Delta Faucet “Plumbing Contractor Of The Year” Award |
Gem Plumbing & Heating Services, Inc., located in Lincoln, RI, a family owned company provides plumbing & HVAC services, coupled with world-class customer service, to residential and commercial customers throughout Rhode Island, Massachusetts, Southern New Hampshire, Southern Maine, and nearby Northern Connecticut. The company is one of the largest plumbing & HVAC companies in the United States with over 300 employees and 135 trucks. Our 100% money back guarantee promises that we will provide the very best in plumbing & HVAC service, coupled with world-class customer service. Our workforce, as diverse as it is large, allows us to take pride in knowing that our employees embrace our company as if it were their own. They are empowered to make any necessary decisions in the best interest of the customer without repercussion, and are encouraged to practice random acts of kindness everyday.
Our mission statement is “Through our world-class customer service, our dedication to excellence, and our random acts of kindness, we will exceed your expectations…everyday”!
Gem was the recipient of the State and Regional 2004 SBA (US Small Business Administration) Small Family Owned Business of the Year Award, The 2004 SBANE (Smaller Business Association of New England) Innovation Award and the 2003 HVAC News Best Contractor to Work For Award, The 2004 and 2005 Construcutech Award for Innovation, the 2004 Excellence in Business Award – Companies over 100 Employees (Providence Business News), the 2005 Training Company of the Year (Airtime 500), 2005 Training Company of the Year (Plumbers Success International), the Wosley “World Cup London” For Innovation – Ferguson Integrated Supply, and the 2004 Team Spirit Award (Plumbers Success International).
In addition to these awards, Gem has also been recognized as 54th in the largest privately owned companies in Rhode Island in 2001, 52nd in 2002, 51st in 2003, and 31st in 2004 by Providence Business News, Gem has also made the top 100 fastest growing companies in Rhode Island for the past five years, ranking 9th in 2000, 13th in 2001, 22nd in 2002, 32nd in 2003 and 11th in 2004 by Providence Business News.
Gem Plumbing & Heating is a candidate for the 2005 Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award. This prestigious award is the administered by the US Department of Commerce and signifies performance excellence throughout an entire company or organization. The Baldrige Award is presented to winning organizations by the President of the United States.
In 2004, the Gemma Family established the Gem Institute For Performance Excellence™ in an effort to share their knowledge; and, help other companies achieve world-class results through performance excellence. The Institute offers tours of Gem Plumbing & Heating, and also offers a number of courses specifically designed to help organizations reach maximum efficiency, and to assist them in beginning their journey to performance excellence. Organizations from all over the United States as well as Canada have participated in the Gem Tour as well as taken courses specifically designed for their individual industries.
Gem Plumbing & Heating is also committed to the local community. The Gloria Gemma Breast Cancer Resource Foundation was established in early 2004 in memory of their mom who died from this horrific disease. The mission of the foundation is to provide help to breast cancer organizations in their fight to raise breast cancer awareness and to bring help and comfort to the patients and families in the local community that are suffering from this disease. 100% of the net proceeds remain in the local community and Gem donates a portion of the proceeds from every service call to the Foundation. Gem was also awarded the “Outstanding Partner in Philanthropy” Award from St. Mary’s Home for Children. In addition to the award, St. Mary’s Home for Children also dedicated a newly established wing of their facility to the Gemma Family for their outstanding dedication and commitment to the community.
The Corporate Headquarters of Gem Plumbing and Heating is a 30,000 square foot building, and is one of the most technologically advanced companies of its kind in the United States. A winner of the SBANE (Smaller Business Association of New England) 2004 Innovation Award and several other similar awards, Gem is at the forefront of technology.
Gem Plumbing & Heating offers employees a state-of-the-art training facility. This facility offers classes in plumbing, HVAC, drain cleaning, apprenticeship training, professional training, and specialized classes for the many different products we use everyday, as well as actual equipment modules for the most innovative hands on training known to the industry. Gem University can accommodate up to 60 people at one time and is equipped with the most innovative training equipment known to the industry including, real time videostreaming. In 2004, Gem Plumbing invested over $ 550,000 in employee training and plans to exceed that amount in 2005. Gem service technicians attend approximately 250 hours of paid training per year. Many of our suppliers also offer training classes and product update sessions in which our training center is utilized.
Gem Plumbing has recently partnered with Associated Builders and Contractors and now offers all trade employees full, comprehensive apprenticeship programs, in-house at the Gem Universtiy. This program is in full compliance with all state and federal licensing regulations required for all apprentices.
Fully operational training pods are provided to all field technicians in an effort to educate them on actual equipment. These pods simulate an actual installation of equipment and are used to provide tech’s with a hands-on training technique. These pods also provide troubleshooting techniques for problems that may occur in the field.
Customer Satisfaction is our top priority at Gem. Several measures are taken to ensure customer service remains world-class at all times, including caller wait times, on hold wait times, gender of caller for marketing purposes, types of calls booked, level of customer satisfaction with the technicians work performed, attitude and appearance, whether the customer would use Gem again, and many other measurements. Client Care Representatives (CCR’s) are extensively trained in customer service skills as well as optionizing techniques and customer relations. Our CCR’s reinforce our reputation and quality by completing our mandatory ensuring that ou customers complete a Customer Satisfaction Survey after every service call. Customer Care Representatives follow up the survey with a “Happy Check” call, which was designed to indicate areas of improvement for our technicians and service procedures. CCR’s personally contact each customer who has received service to ensure that our quality of workmanship and business reputation were strictly adhered to. All comments are forwarded to the respective managers and to the President for follow-through.
The Gem “Random Acts of Kindness”® Program allows our employees at all levels to practice random acts of kindness whenever they wish. Whether it be buying someone a coffee in line behind you, paying for a bridge token for someone, changing a tire for stranded motorist, or carrying a customers groceries into her home, our employees are empowered to make these decisions whenever necessary. Our employees are encouraged to perform one random act of kindness every day whether it be to a stranger or a fellow co-worker.Random Acts of Kindness is defined as the considerate unexpected good deeds that we do that have a positive impact on the recipient.
Our “Above & Beyond” reward and recognition program is also a great incentive for our employees. This program allows our employees to earn points which can be redeemed for merchandise of many types.
Gem Plumbing & Heating Services, Inc. is located in Lincoln, RI in a pristine 30,000 sq. ft. facility equipped with a state of the art call and dispatch center, the first of it’s kind inventory management warehouse and innovative classroom facility for training.
The Gem Call & Dispatch Center is the most innovative, technologically advanced call center of its’ kind in the home services industry. Beginning with our call processing, Gem utilizes Successware® Software for optimum tracking and one of the most comprehensive customer databases known to the industry. When our telephone rings, our state of the art telephone and communication system provides our client care representative with the name of the customer calling, which enhances the speed in obtaining the customers’ information, saving time and money for our customer. Once the call is processed, it is automatically forwarded to our dispatchers who immediately schedule the call and then communicate the details to a qualified service technician via our Nextel Communication System. The dispatchers prepare our service technician for the type of service or problem our customer is experiencing. Our dispatchers utilize a 12’ digitally projected traffic screen which continually provides current images of all of our local highways and byways, allowing our dispatchers views of up to the minute scans of every major highway in the state. The dispatchers also utilize a 12’ digitally projected dispatch board for optimum usage of time. This board allows for easy access to available appointment times and scheduling needs.Our Call & Dispatch Center is also equipped with a 12’ GPS (Global Positioning System) Screen for ease of locating our service technicians. This system provides access to the exact locations of our trucks at all times and is used during situations when an emergency service call is placed and we need to know which service technician is the closest to the customers home. It is also used to re-route our service trucks in the event of traffic back-ups or blocked roadways.
The Integrated Supply Division of Ferguson Enterprises has partnered with Gem Plumbing & Heating in an effort to better organize, control and purchase our plumbing and heating inventory. This is the first partnership of its kind in the plumbing industry in the United States.
Ferguson Enterprises manages all the aspects of purchasing and stocking our inventory up to and including bar coding at both the warehouse and truck levels, affords access to the most innovative warehouse training, and provides new and innovative products and services to our customers. Feguson maintains our truck stock and ensures that nearly every piece of inventory that our technicians could possibly need on a service call will be in his/her truck. This results in reduced parts runs and increased productivity, allowing us to pass the cost savings to our customers.
Gem has implemented several innovative, technological advancements. Gem incorporated Harrington Software’s Quality Management based E-QMS, in early 2005. This technology is a web based SQL database designed to provide secure company-wide access to quality system information. This information can be used to take actions that have a direct positive impact on customer satisfaction, efficiency of office personnel and reduction of quality costs. E-QMS is a full featured product that addresses all quality system elements, yet remains flexible and scaleable to suit a variety of business needs. E-QMS is a suite of integrated web applications that together, make the most powerful quality management system available anywhere in the world. Each module has been systematically optimized to blend the information Gem needs and report it directly to employees, suppliers, and other stakeholders at the touch of a button. Such tools as tasking, meeting notification and information, document control and many other facets of the software have helped to streamline communication and ensure that employees are well informed of the company’s actions.
Gem’s state of the art tehcnology allows for maximun efficiency in dispatching of technicians. The installation of GPS in all of the service vehicles allows for up to the minute dispatching and efficiency in routing our technicians around heavy traffic patterns. Our promise is to be on-time. GPS allows for that to happen nearly every time. Gem also uses NEXTEL Communications. Our technicians are equipped with Nextel telephones so that precise dispatching, as well as debriefing, is as efficient as possible. Gem also utilizes Vettro Software which allows for our technicians to receive service calls, debrief from service calls, and process credit card payments directly from their Nextel telephone. This allows for accurate, instant processing and provides value to our customers.
Creative marketing efforts included a mission to increase the perception of technicians. The implementation of the “Smell Good Technician™” campaign, telephone number recognition from our “8-6-7—5-3-0-9®” campaign, and extensive yellow page advertising has helped to raise the bar in the plumbing industry. Gem’s name recognition increased from 27% to almost 50% in one year.
The “Smell Good Technician” campaign was implemented to brand the image of a Gem Technician. The message was clear…Gem Tech’s are clean, drug tested and security screened, knowledgeable and most of all, they smell good! This campaign has made a significant impact on the plumbing & HVAC industry in that our colleagues and competition throughout the country have begun to adopt the image of “the classic technician”.
Another extremely beneficial marketing campaign for the company is the 8-6-7—5-3-0-9 (parody) telephone number branding campaign. Highly successful, this telephone number was known infamously from the Tommy Tutone’s “Jenny” song which features this number. When conducting top of the mind (TOMA) studies, we found that 49% of the people recognized our company. This information represents an 81.4% increase from 2002. This campaign had initially, and still continues to have, a huge impact on our business.
Yellow page advertising continues to be one of our strongest marketing tools. With a presence in nearly 40 books, Gem is at the forefront of each section related to the plumbing, heating, cooling, drain cleaning, electrical and handyman fields and yellow page advertising consistently remains the number one lead source.
Since the company’s inception from a one-man business to where it is today, the core family values and culture were established in the beginning by the company’s Founder. The dynamics of the culture have transcended into the business and have been identified, documented, and adopted by the leadership team as their own internal mission statement that encourages a creative, supportive atmosphere, innovation, a diverse environment, professional development, open communication, and a clear mission. These core values, now inherent in the culture and reflective of the strategic planning process, have since evolved to reflect a changing business environment and continue to evolve into the framework for all of the company’s business practices. Senior leaders embrace these values and vision, and through their commitment to this culture, have both verbally and non-verbally communicated this to all employees.
The Gem Culture has since been transformed into the Gem Blueprint For Success (BFS) program, which encompasses the organizations mission, vision, values, workplace policy, leadership pledge, traits and behaviors, shared values, profitability pledge, and the workmanship guarantee. The BSF Program is a gear system which aligns the culture (mission, vision, values, etc…) with individual employees and the company. If the gears stop moving, the company stops as well. Integrated alignment is critical at all times to ensure adherence to the BSF Program, employee well being, and business results.
Gem Plumbing & Heating incorporates the most innovative management techniques and procedures in the plumbing and heating industry. From our state of the art call and dispatch center, to our first of it’s kind inventory management program, Gem Plumbing & Heating places innovation as a top priority. Gem recently won the 2004 SBANE Award for Innovation. Over 100 companies competed for this coveted award and Gem was one of only five winners of this award.
All Gem employees are trained in-house in our innovative training facility. Our training sessions are recorded in real time and videostreamed for repeated use. Our technicians can view the training sessions from their home PC if they are not able to attend a class. If they need to review a training session, it can also be done from the comfort of their home.
Gem utilizes sophisticated computerized scanning and tracking for staging, ordering and coordinating jobs. Prefab assemblies are made for various tyes of work that we perform, saving our customers both time and money. Time saving installation procedures include prefabrication of commercial piping systems whenever posssible. Another time saving program is our truck re-stocking system. This allows for rapid re-supply of our vehicles and allows the technicians to have the right parts on the job over 90% of the time. This results in less parts runs and increased customer satisfaction in getting the job done quicker, saving the customer time and money. Gem Plumbing & Heating has recently added a local courier service to rush parts to all of its residential and commercial jobsites. Gem has contracted with two independent same-day courier services to handle its requests.
The new courier service is designed to supply needed parts within one hour of a request for them. Gem service technicians have been supplied with wireless tablet PCs equipped with Field2base software that links to Gem’s in-house inventory at headquarters in Lincoln, RI.
In the event that a service tech discovers that a part is needed for a particular job, a request for that part can be submitted via the wireless tablet. If the part is available from Gem’s standing inventory, the courier service picks up the part and delivers it to the job. If the part needed is not in Gem’s inventory, the courier service is directed to the nearest wholesale supply house to claim the part and deliver it. While the part is enroute, the tech can continue with his work rather than leaving to retrieve the part himself.
Through our state-of-the-art partnership with Feguson Supply, a valuable time saving program is our truck re-stocking system. Ferguson is also in the process of bar coding inventory and the estimated date of completion is fall of 2005.
Gem Plumbing & Heating Services, Inc. is an active member of several trade associations, including the BBB (Better Business Bureau), ABC (Associated Builders and Contractors), PHCC, as well as many local chambers of commerce. Gem is also involved in the State Apprenticeship Programs. With nearly 250 field personnel, many of them are enrolled in the Apprenticeship Program. Careful analysis is maintained in an effort to track ratio’s and state educational requirements. In September 2004, Gem Service Apprentices were able to move their formal apprenticeship training from outside schools, to the Gem University Apprenticeship Program. Technicians receive a minimum of 144 hours of instructional education combined with 2080 hours of hands on training per year for the duration of their respective apprenticeship program.
Gem Plumbing & Heating has achieved many accolades over the years for our outanding efforts in community service. The St. Marys Home For Children “Philanthropist Award”, Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Foundation “Local Hero” Award, Komen Foundation “Sponsor of the Year” Award, and many other awards have paved the way for the companys newest endeavor, The Gloria Gemma Breast Cancer Resoure Foundation, a non-profit 501c3 breast cancer resource foundation dedicated to raising breast cancer awareness, to work for its prevention and to bring comfort and help to the patients and families suffering with breast cancer in our community.
The Gloria Gemma Breast Cancer Resource Foundation was established in 2004, just two years after the death of the owners’ mom Gloria Gemma, from breast cancer. The foundation’s purpose is to raise awareness of early detection and to raise funding for programs relating to breast cancer education, treatment, and support. 100% of the net proceeds of the foundation remain in our local community.
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