The Technical teams - one focussing on Home & Leisure, the other on Food - ensure all products supplied to Asda are produced in line with Asda quality specifications. Products must be safe, legal and fit for purpose with all due diligence records are in place. Our goal is to deliver customer delight and to drive 'right first time' product quality that will reduce product returns and waste.

Over the past two years the technical team has reduced the level of complaints by 50%, our target for this year is a further 20% reduction. Consistency in manufacturing is essential to deliver this, even in everyday products like pencils, of which we sold 42 million pencils in 2010. Every single one must be as per our agreed specifications. With technical colleagues based throughout China, India, Bangladesh and Pakistan we take customers feedback and deliver it straight through to the manufacturing base, continuously improving the products that go into our stores.

The Food Product Teams develop all own label food, drink and Non Edible grocery products. Our role extends from concept development right through to final product launch covering all aspects of quality and legal specifications. The Product Managers works closely with the buyers and customer planners to ensure that they are developing the right products for our customers and that we are using the best suppliers.

The product teams look at over 1,000 products a week to check that they meet our strict quality parameters. Over the last year we have relaunched our own label brand ' Chosen by You' which has over 7,000 products across the range. All our CBY lines are tested with customers before landing in store to ensure they meet expectations and to date we have conducted tests with 64,000 consumers - the biggest research undertaking of its kind ever in the retail world.

Is it any wonder that in 2010 we won a staggering 391 awards for our products?!