Quality control - for best results

COSSMA: How is your day-to-day and that of the quality department?

Laura Polo: Firstly, I would like to make it clear that quality is not just the physical verification of manufac- tured parts but in fact includes a lot more. The quality department is part of the integrated management system:

• Quality assurance manages the tools to ensure that quality control is effective. It is responsible for “ensuring quality”, planning the controls to be performed and their frequency, the methodologies to follow, etc.
• Quality management is the admin- istrative part whose mission is to respond to customers, monitor in- cidents and meet the KPI’s that al- low us to control and ensure that the required quality level is always maintained.
• Quality control + laboratory is the most visible part of the depart- ment and most closely related to production, as it is direct verifica- tion of the product during the manufacturing process and before final shipment to the customer.

These three areas form the basis of the performance of the daily tasks focused on production control, monitoring, analysis, etc., constantly striving for customer satisfaction and the continuous improvement of our processes.

What are the tasks in a tests laboratory?

Specific physical and chemical tests are carried out in the tests laboratory to ensure the full compatibility of the cosmetic formulas with the droppers, the strength of the packaging, correct functionality etc. With a fully equipped tests laboratory we can perform compatibility and functionality tests on the packaging to determine the optimal components for each product and its decoration.

What is your department’s rela- tionship with customers like?

In Virospack we have customers who seek a closer relationship and a more indepth understanding of the pro- cess and the company, while others that work following business models are more focused on quantitative indicators without entering so much in the day-to-day and in-depth knowledge of the supplier. Our main points of contact are

• initial product requirement agreements as types of sampling, quality levels, classification of defects
• sending of conformity or analysis certificates
• joint monitoring of indicators, continuous improvement actions and
• customer advice, guidance, and support in case of any unexpected situation that may arise after shipment of goods.

Are you planning to make any in- vestment or introduce any novelty shortly in quality control?

Quality is increasingly focused on thorough and specific control during the production process to be able to guarantee quality right from the start. We are currently immersed in highly ambitious projects for artifi- cial vision systems in different pro- duction processes.

Having such a wide variety of processes (glass transformation, plastic injection, different types of decora- tion, assembly...) requires tools that are highly developed and adapted to our product and criteria.

Why is quality control so impor- tant to manufacturing?

Quality is a process applied fully throughout the company that en- sures, guarantees, and controls all the processes, particularly produc- tion. Quality control provides support during production, verifying parts in situ, and providing tools that establish the criteria.

At the end of the production phase, quality control systematically veri- fies the productions to be checked, before shipping, to ensure they meet the requirements agreed with the customer.

What different sectors are or must be involved?

All the company’s processes are linked to quality. From the approval of suppliers, approval of processes,monitoring of indicators, work and information flows, training of workers – all processes are linked with by quality assurance and management. Quality control is more associated with manufactured products, so we work continuously on providing training to and informing staff, and work with our suppliers on having common procedures and criteria.

What steps are necessary?

In terms of the quality control of parts, the systematic steps are as fol- lows random verifications in situ during production (visual, dimensional) and final control over release of manufactured batches:

• statistical sampling depending on number of boxes and parts
• visual verification with standard samples approved by custome
• visual verification with specific colour and defect panoplies or catalogues
• dimensional verification according to drawing and
• laboratory tests to ensure the correct working of the parts (tightness, capacity, part separation force). 

What about documentation?

All controls carried out both during production and in the final in- spections are recorded electroni- cally. This guarantees full trace- ability of batches and components used in each production. So, any shipment can be accompanied by quality certificates that ensure product compliance according to the specifications.

Are there standards that must be observed, possibly also control bodies?

Virospack has held the ISO 9001 cer- tification for more than 20 years, showing that it has a solid quality management structure on which the factory’s day-to-day is based. In recent years we have also added new certifications that enhance the company in general and ensure future progress, such as the ISO 14001 and EMAS.

What does quality control do for the company in question?

Apart from verifying the parts indi- cated above, quality control is also responsible for maintaining and com- municating the importance of quality to all areas of the factory and the com- pany’s departments.

The company’s philosophy is based on the quality of our products and services and is increasingly committed to the environment and sustainability. This conviction is conveyed by management, so in the company we are convinced that all our workers should make a general commitment to quality.

How quickly can improvements through the introduction of quality control be identified?

Quality works closely with the tech- nical and R&D department. This means that lessons learned in either of the two departments have an immediate effect on the other, so quality know-how impacts new designs and developments while the technical department’s perspective has an impact on the day-to-day improvements of our production processes to improve quality.

Any improvement or change imple- mented is always accompanied by follow-up and control from the corresponding manager and official approval.