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June 13th, 2003 Octapharma Portugal Awarded International Quality Certification Octapharma Portugal, who in 1999 was the first distributor of plasma products in Europe to achieve ISO accreditation for its quality standards, has recently been awarded further certification in recognition of their continuous quality improvement processes. International Quality Certification The International Organization of Standardization (ISO), is a non-governmental organization composed of national standards institutes from 146 countries. ISO maintains rigorously high quality standards and imposes strict and extensive criteria for certification. As such the ISO accreditation is an internationally recognised benchmark for quality. Recognition Following three years of intensive preparation, and significant investments in human resources and infrastructure as well as numerous, internal and external quality audits, Octapharma Portugal was awarded its first quality certification - ISO 9002:1995 in December 1999. 
This certification encompassed all aspects of plasma products distribution performed by Octapharma Portugal including procedures relating to the management, safety, documentation, warehousing, storage, transportation and delivery of products to customers. However the commitment to quality did not just start and end there… Ongoing commitment Since inception of the subsidiary in 1992, Octapharma Portugal has been extremely quality conscious. Motivated by a strong desire to set itself apart from its competitors through customer-focused initiatives, Octapharma Portugal was amongst the first national pharmaceutical companies to set up its own quality department. The primary objective of this dedicated team was to introduce a quality certification programme and achieve quality recognition through APCER (Portuguese Certification Association), a recognised partner of the International Certification Network (IQNet) of ISO. Having achieved this goal with ISO 9002:1995 recognition, Octapharma Portugal underwent annual internal and external re-auditing to ensure quality standards were maintained. When a new quality standard was introduced by ISO in 2002, Octapharma Portugal was ready to meet the challenge. Investments In order to meet the even more rigorous demands of ISO 9001:2000 a new internal quality management system was implemented. This included management tools for each level of Octapharma Portugal operations - from executive management to warehouse staff. With the formal creation of interdepartmental teams, work processes became central to operations rather than departmental management. Furthermore, Octapharma invested in and jointly developed a highly specialised, custom built IT software to organize quality measures and objectives, store SOP's and directives, generate quality status reports for each operational process, and provide a mechanism for continuous improvement and feedback. Progress towards goals in the quality program is evaluated by the general manager of Octapharma Portugal, Paulo Castro, every three months. He asserts, "Maintaining and improving quality and total customer satisfaction is the driving force of Octapharma Portugal. This philosophy guides all our working activities." Customer Focus In 2003, Octapharma Portugal's' enhanced quality standards were officially recognised by the awarding of ISO 9001:2000 certification. These new standards of quality include more measurements pertaining to continuous improvement processes throughout the entire scope of business operations at the subsidiary. In particular, the focus has been on increased customer satisfaction. To assess and ensure this, the subsidiary has invested in numerous customer service initiatives and evaluated their effectiveness through the use of independent market research. Octapharma Scores Top Marks from Customers While management has benefited by incorporating quality into the subsidiary at every level, it is the customer who drives these efforts. Following the first certification, Octapharma Portugal opened the doors to its warehouse to reveal to its customers quality processes in practice. Feedback from customers continues to be a key component in defining quality and for setting higher and higher standards. Notable results include a rapid response to orders from customers because attention to detail throughout the supply chain has minimized errors and delays. Customer satisfaction ratings have consistently improved from year to year, and in 2002 Octapharma was rated by customers as the best company in Portugal.  "The sunflower is the designated symbol for quality in Octapharma Portugal. While simple and beautiful in its appearance, the sunflower reveals its elegance due to the perfected function of each of its parts. Octapharma Portugal, shown on the inside of the sunflower, also pursue a perfected organization by incorporating continuous quality improvement processes throughout."
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