In the year under review, Correctional Services Industries focused on moving up the value chain of its industrial trades. The purpose was to fortify and to create more meaningful work opportunities for the prisoners in supporting the Department's mission of quality custodial and rehabilitative services. This was achieved through a comprehensive set of activities including refurbishment of plant facilities, advancing qualities of products and services through workplace reengineering, identifying opportunities for greater value-added services to sustain customer loyalty, and conducting training programmes to align the hearts and minds of the industrial staff.
Wilfred MA
General Manager (Correctional Services Industries)
Provision of industrial employment for prisoners is indispensable in contemporary penal management and rehabilitative process. The work of the Correctional Services Industries (CSI) realises the Department's mission in keeping prisoners in a secure, safe and humane environment through providing purposeful work to prisoners. Purposeful work will enable prisoners to establish regular living pattern, and help them cultivate employability skills to gain employment upon their reintegration into the society.
CSI directed prison labour towards the provision of products and services for government departments and tax-supported bodies to contribute savings in public expenditure. The commercial value of the products and services provided in 2007 was $455 million. A breakdown of commercial value by trades is at Appendix 19. |
Employment of Prisoner/Inmate
On average, 5 856 prisoners were employed in 13 different trades in more than 141 workshops in 2007, while other prisoners took part in essential domestic duties and minor maintenance work. Among the 13 trades, garment trade was the largest trade employing over 2 200 prisoners. A breakdown of the employment by trades as at 31 December 2007 is at Appendix 20.
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Marketing and Business Environment
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| A prisoner conducts water-proof test to shoes under instruction. |
Despite being a preferred supplier of goods and services to government departments, CSI is not immune from competition. New government initiatives such as total outsourcing and Public Private Partnerships (PPP) have changed the business environment in the public sector market. In 2007, CSI marketed beyond government departments to cover government outsourcing contractors and PPP partners.
CSI provides value-for-money products and services in order to deliver higher customer satisfaction. Through value-chain analysis, CSI moves up the value chain from an ordinary goods and services provider to a solution provider. More CSI's products were blended with value-added elements. For example, researches, designs and consultancy services were provided to government departments to enhance the functional performance of their staff uniforms.
In 2007, Service Level Agreements (SLA) for the operations of Hospital Authority's (HA) laundries were renewed for another five years. In addition, a new SLA for the provision of laundry services was signed up with the New Territories East Cluster of HA. |
Facility Management
CSI continued to refurbish worn out or out-dated facilities to enhance its production capacities and capabilities in the provision of products and services to government departments.
The worn out equipment in Tuen Mun Hospital Laundry was replaced during 2006, and similar replacement programme were being carried out at Shum Wan Laundry in the later part of the year.
During the year, shoe-upper sewing equipment was installed at the Lai Chi Kok Correctional Institution to increase the job variety for short-term prisoners. The production process of metal bins for litter containers was revised to employ spot welders for achieving better quality and output. |
Quality Management
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| Correctional Services Industries is a certified manufacturer of shoes bearing the Gore-Tex mark. |
We benchmarked our quality system against international standards and best practices. Quality improvement programmes on the setting up of quality assurance committees, formation of process improvement teams and quality control circles were carried out to promote team work and to heighten quality awareness of staff.
Over the year, audits were conducted by the Hong Kong Quality Assurance Agency (HKQAA) on the two ISO 9001 certified Sign-making Workshops and four commercial laundries, and by the Federation of Hong Kong Industries on the Q-Mark certified filter masks workshop. The findings were positive and effectiveness of our quality practices was recognised.
In October, the HKQAA conducted Gap Assessments on the quality management system of Fibreglass Workshop in Ma Po Ping Prison & Tong Fuk Centre, Carpentry Workshop in Pik Uk Prison and Precast Concrete Workshop in Tai Lam Correctional Institution. Their findings were adopted for continuous improvement. |
Application of Information Technology
We leveraged on information technology to enhance the efficiency of our industrial operations, and to create edge and deliver higher customer satisfaction.
A computerised uniform tracking system was implemented at Pik Uk Laundry to improve our operational efficiency as well as customer service. Add-on software modules were being developed to enable our Manufacturing Management and Control System (MMCS) to exchange traffic sign stock information and order status with the Transport Department to shorten signage order lead-time and better stock management.
In June, the Office of the Government Chief Information Officer conducted a high level business process reengineering (BPR) study on our customer order management process. The BPR study supported our request to expand the MMCS to include e-ordering function to meet customers' needs. |
Staff Training and Staff Development
In 2007, 45 training and development programmes were conducted for more than 180 industrial staff. The training courses focused on enhancing the skills of our industrial staff on production management, quality assurance, technical skills of the trades, occupational safety and health as well as handling of prisoners at work. In addition, lecturers and consultants were invited from the University of Hong Kong, the Hong Kong Polytechnic University and the Hong Kong Productivity Council to conduct development programmes for our officers to advance their knowledge in manufacturing operations management. |
Occupational Safety and Health (OSH)
The Department is committed to providing safe and healthy working conditions, and to establishing and insisting upon safe practices at all times by all staff, inmates and visitors.
In 2007, the OSH Steering Committee mobilised in-house resources to produce a training video with institutions as story background, wrapping up with preventions and precautions on typical cases of work injuries. Safety reviews were conducted at institutions to ensure the effectiveness of our safety management system. Analyses of workplace injuries were also carried out to reduce risks. Seminars and training courses were organised for all grades of staff in institutions to develop their ability in OSH management. |
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