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My journey at FLM Textil and how I embraced the ISO Project

Today we bring you a closer perspective on the person in charge of implementing processes that lead us be to ISO certificated!

My journey at FLM Textil and how I embraced the ISO Project

This April we have concluded one of FLMTEXTIL’s most ambitious projects, the implementation and certification of the Quality Management System – the ISO9001:2015 Certification.

This certification is just a formalization of the quality of the work done in recent years in defining the best processes and work methods to ensure maximum customer satisfaction through exceptional product and service quality.

As the person responsible for the quality and implementation of the quality management system, I want to tell you a little about my experience.

I started my career at FLM Têxtil in 2019 through a professional internship process whose objective was to support the commercial department. At that time I was in the final year of the master's in engineering project management where tools for project management were discussed and, as such, it became evident that I would be the right person to take on the project of implementing the quality management system - so I embraced this challenge!

FLMTEXTIL was my first full-time job experience. My knowledge of ISO or quality systems was next to none, but even so I accepted the challenge and started to get familiar with these new concepts.

At the time, I am not sure who was bolder: Mr. Filipe Marinho for giving such an ambitious project to someone young and inexperienced, or I for having said yes, without the slightest hint of doubt in my mind. I must say that the greatest allies in my journey to understand the Quality Management System and implement it were academic articles and YouTube, as out there as that sounds!

When I took over the process, there were already some documents created and some simple processes established and my job was to take this material and make it actually useful and able to simplify one's work, increase efficiency and improve quality.

Just to give some theoretical context about ISO and about quality, the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) is an international body that sets standards in different areas of knowledge, such as quality. These standards are just global guidelines that reflect best practice, but they are not exactly a turnkey project, and they require internal efforts as well as trial and error to make it work in the realities of each company.

And that was basically my job. My main objective was to really simplify people's work, improving its the quality and, consequently, the quality of the product and services provided to our customers. For that I needed the whole team to understand that this is really what a quality system offers when properly implemented.

I must say that this was, and is, one of the biggest struggles of the whole process.

In my opinion, a quality management system does not work if it doesn't have people's commitment and getting that is a really challenging task.

What we tried to do in all aspects of the system was to identify the knowledgeable people of a particular issue, bring these people together, present the problem and search for solutions. It was in this register that we defined processes, goals, objectives and responsibilities. This allowed for a system built by the people themselves and adapted to the company's reality.

We also created some tools to bring the system closer to people, such as the improvement suggestion box, the proposal for internal projects and the internal training program.

The Quality Management System makes it possible to simplify and clarify the business's necessary processes and the role and responsibility of each one of us.

One of the advantages of the entire system is the set of data and information, which, when properly treated, allow for better management and decision-making. Every year a review is carried out by the management, which is basically a meeting that can take days between me and management, where the results of the system are presented and where the objectives and strategies for the next year are defined.

All of this allows us to produce better and better, with more quality and satisfy all the needs of our customers, our employees and, ultimately, our planet.

Nowadays, I have a permanent position here and, in addition to quality, I have several other projects with equal weight as the ISO certification, such as the GRS and GOTS certifications, which reflect the audacity and courage of FLMTEXTIL's top management in believing and investing in young people. This way of being in business is what sets FLMTEXTIL from other companies, this willingness to hear those around them without prejudice regarding their age, experience or background. Here you feel that your ideas are heard and that your contribute matters. 

The CEO and the Project Manager Elisa

by Elisa Tinoco
 

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