Quality Management System
Quality Management System
Quality Management System
1. For more than two decades “quality” and “quality management systems” have been
leading buzzwords in the business world. Quality Management System (QMS) is an
internationally harmonized guidance is intended to assist industrial manufacturers by describing
a model for an effective quality for the industry. In case of pharmaceutical industry QMS is of
great importance as product quality is a major concern here.
Japan and USA played a great role in the history of development of QMS. The push for
increased quality began in American manufacturing companies in the 1980s, following in the
footsteps of Japanese manufacturers. Japanese companies found themselves with a distinct
competitive advantage over American companies with their ability to produce much higher
quality products with fewer defects.
2. ISO 9000 is a series of quality management systems (QMS) standards created by the
International Organization for Standardization, a federation of 132 national standards bodies.
The ISO 9000 QMS standards are not specific to products or services, but apply to the processes
that create them. The standards are generic in nature so that they can be used by manufacturing
and service industries anywhere in the world. The Quality management system standards of the
ISO 9000 series are based on eight quality management principles. These principles can be used
by senior management as a framework to guide their organizations towards improved
performance.
Customer Focus
Leadership
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Involvement of people
Process approach
System approach to the management
Continual improvement
Functional approach to decision making
Mutually beneficial supplier relationships
2.1.1. Customer Focus: Organizations depend on their customers and therefore should
understand current and future customer needs, should meet customer requirements and strive to
exceed customer expectations. Pharmaceutical industries should recognize their customers and
correctly evaluate their current and future needs.
Benefits:
I. Increased revenue and market share obtained through flexible and fast responses to
market opportunities.
II. Increased effectiveness in the use of the organization’s resources to enhance customer
satisfaction
III. Improved customer loyalty leading to repeat business.
2.1.2. Leadership: Leaders establish unity of purpose and direction of the organization. They
should create and maintain the internal environment in which people can become fully involved
in achieving the organization’s objectives. In case of a sensitive industry like pharmaceuticals,
there must be a unique leadership for overall development.
Benefits:
I. People will understand and be motivated towards the organization’s goals and objectives.
II. Activities are evaluated, aligned and implemented in a unified way.
III. Miscommunication between levels of an organization will be minimized.
2.1.3. Involvement of people: People at all levels are the essence of an organization and their
full involvement enables their abilities to be used for the organization’s benefit. To maintain
quality pharmaceuticals should ensure the best desired participation from every employee. Every
person should be considered for his own action.
Benefits:
I. Motivated, committed and involved people within the organization.
II. Innovation and creativity in furthering the organization’s objectives.
III. People being accountable for their own performance.
IV. People eager to participate in and contribute to continual improvement.
Benefits:
I. Lower costs and shorter cycle times through effective use of resources.
II. Improved, consistent and predictable results.
III. Focused and prioritized improvement opportunities.
Benefits:
I. Integration and alignment of the processes that will best achieve the desired results.
II. Ability to focus effort on the key processes
III. Providing confidence to interested parties as to the consistency, effectiveness and
efficiency of the organization.
Benefits:
2.1.7. Factual approach to decision making: Effective decisions are based on the analysis of
data and information. This is why every action taken should be recorded and archived to use
them as a reference and as a statistics.
Benefits:
I. Informed decisions.
II. An increased ability to demonstrate the effectiveness of past decisions through reference
to factual records.
III. Increased ability to review, challenge and change opinions and decisions.
Benefits:
3. Purpose of QMS:
4. The quality movement and quality systems have had many different names or terms of
reference in the past few decades, and might look like a short-lived business management trend
at first glance. With ever increasing competition and consumer expectations, professionals and
business managers cannot ignore quality issues and expect to maintain or improve their
competitive position. Quality systems, time and again, have been responsible for substantial
increases in the bottom line of businesses in every industry and have given organizations the
boost they need to meet overall goals and objectives. Organizations that do not accept that
quality improvement is going to be ingrained into every part of their business are not going to be
around to see what the future brings. So QMS has a great part to play in case a pharmaceutical
industry growing into country’s largest one. Hence, they should have a SOP on QMS to strictly
follow and maintain it.