ISO 9001:2000 provides Octapharma with springboard for achieving business objectives and fulfilling life-saving mission

摘要

Given the appropriate tools and support, both staff and management soon find that continual quality improvement stimulates organizational learning, ultimately leading to additional ways to meet the needs the customer. Customer satisfaction ratings have consistently improved from year to year and in 2002 Octapharma was rated by customers as the best pharmaceutical company in Portugal. Feedback from customers continues to be a key component in defining quality and for setting higher and higher standards. Health care providers, who make the choice of which plasma-derivative products to give their patients-sometimes to save the life of the patient - must be confident not only in the product quality, but also in the knowledge that their supplier is working with them, as a resource and a partner, consistently looking to improve and add value to the services they provide. Prior to certification to ISO 9002:1994, Octapharma Lda. expected the benefits to include image enhancement, increased marketability, and a competitive edge without significant changes to an organization that considered itself to be quality conscious and customer-focused. What Octapharma Lda. had embarked upon, however, was an organizational learning curve that brought quality into every area of the business, Converting over-arching philosophies into measurable objectives. Paulo Castro asserts, "You can't measure the return on investment with the classic cost/benefit ratio. We developed as an organization during this process and have found that while strengthening our position in the market, we unearthed existing capabilities that were previously untapped and which have led to new strategies in customer service, staff development, and societal contributions. We expect other Octapharma subsidiaries may soon follow suit."