Ready to Take the Temperature of Your QMS?

Maintaining quality in the supply chain is essential to successful healthcare logistics. In a recent Pharma IQ interview industry expert Tony Wright, CEO of Exelsius Cold Chain Consultancy said: "A good Quality Management System should be in the DNA of a company."

Implementation of a sound QMS within the temperature controlled logistics process is increasingly expected by the shippers and the regulators. However, many misconceptions still surround quality management systems, such as they increase cost or provide unnecessary complications.

Here’s a simple test with Pharna IQ columnist Jon Wetzel to see where your QMS really stands:

• Go through your active SOPs and find any that are older than 1 year
• Take the SOP to the work area and watch the process. (Going to the Gemba)
• See how close the SOP is to the actual work being done

Are you running a high QMS out of tolerance fever?

• Don’t freak out
• Don’t point fingers or play the blame game
• Ask the workers what the best way is to get everything back up to speed
• Empower them to get everything back on target

When you pay your staff to do a job with their hands you also pay them for their experience and intelligence. It’s your job as a company to find a way to harness that. That’s what it takes to be "Best in Class".

(Source: Putting the "Quality" back into Your QMS)