Established in 1990 by the United Nations (UN) and promoted by the Chartered Quality Institute (CQI), the objective of the World Quality Day is to highlight the importance of the concept for the productivity of organizations and their results. The date strengthens the importance of Quality Management practices applied in organizations, providing for reflections about the processes. This year, the theme is “sustainability: improving our products, people and planet.”

In Brazil, the ISO 9001 standard, under the responsibility of the Brazilian Association of Technical Standards (ABNT), describes the main fundamentals of management systems and the main concepts of Quality. The standard specifies the necessary requirements for the implementation of a Quality Management System (SGQ), collaborating on processes to improve the delivery of a better service, satisfying and understanding the client’s needs.

Quality Management System at Fiotec

The implementation of a Quality Management System at the institution started in January 2020, and, in the face of the Covid-19 pandemic, the work done by the Quality Management of Fiotec has not stopped. According to the sector’s management, Luanara Damasceno, all activities carried out for the progress of the analyses and process were taken online, so that the strategy could be outlined in a collective and integrated way among the other sectors.

The work is done through the partnership between the Quality sector and the consultancy 5S Tecnologia. At the beginning, a complete diagnosis called GAP Analysis was made, and through the results it was possible to continue the training on the ISO 9001 standard for those involved in the scope, which are the areas that act directly on the purchase processes. With the results of the analyses, it became possible the disclosure of the Quality Policy and Objectives, a document that establishes the commitment with the claimants.

For being an integrated work to stimulate the organizational culture, open training for the entire institution was offered, showing what this certification process is and opening it for possible questions. “People need to be aware of their work’s purposes and impacts. The person who takes a document has the same importance as those who approve the budgets, for example; everybody is equally important during the process”, Luanara told.

During the work, there was also training for internal auditors, given for employees from different areas to be able to audit the jobs done by the Quality, pointing out suggestions and improvements. The lead auditors, members of the Quality Management who conduct the auditing processes within the institution, had training as well.

In order to identify and understand the needs of external clients, a series of interviews was made with those responsible for some Fiocruz projects, so that training could be applied for employees who deal with these procedures. Those interviews are repeated several times, performing the PDCA cycle, so that all demands can be fulfilled. Luanara tells that all customer critiques are taken, materialized and treated during the process, improving them until it is possible to deliver a value in the final work.

Every process made by the institution’s sectors and centers has been documented in accordance with the standard, aiming to instruct the old and new employees and make them acquainted with the quality culture. According to the manager, “if a person starts tomorrow at Fiotec and I give them this document package, they can do everything that is assigned to them.”