Long-term ISO 9001 support for chemical distributor
Orange Chemicals operated an international sales and logistics network for bulk chemical distribution until its acquisition by IMCD in 2023.
We started working with Orange in late 2017, redesigning their QMS for the ISO 9001:2015 transition. This began a six year project to maintain and improve that QMS as the business developed and saw off the great challenges of Covid, Brexit and geo-political supply chain chaos.
6
year partnership
QFactorial Service offering
Implementation
We spent time with the team to understand the business context, stakeholders, drivers,operating model, 3PL partners, supply chains and critical quality/safety aspects. From this we mapped the entire business process on a single A4 sheet then built a slim BMS Manual around that core. Following successful transition, we embarked on a quarterly programme of internal audits, management reviews and compliance processes. The simple QMS served the business well (even through the tumultuous period of 2020-22), maintaining their ISO certification throughout.
Consultancy is as much about establishing a working relationship as it is about sharing knowledge and workload. With such a switched-on client and well-established business model, what should have been a cake walk suddenly took on a whole new flavour as the upheavals and commotion of Brexit, Covid, supply chain disruption and geo-political issues took over. Management reviews suddenly had a bit of unexpected spice. But a good ISO system helps you manage changes when they come...and keep coming.
Sometimes a business is so well organised, and processes so clearly defined, that the consultant only needs to reflect that in the QMS and move immediately into maintenance/improvement mode. In this case, the fundamentals of the QMS established in 2017 were still rock solid in 2023 despite everything that had been thrown at it.
Upon transition to ISO 9001:2015: “We engaged QFactorial to develop a Business ManagementSystem (BMS) that was closely aligned to the operational activities and objectives of the company, and that would also embrace all elements of ISO 9001.Through a series of face-to-face meetings with senior management QFactorial were able to grasp the inner workings of the business and successfully develop the BMS. A step-by-step approach enabled both parties to modify and fine-tune all areas to arrive at the approved system to be adopted. The outcome was perfect.”
Upon merger of the business into IMCD: “QFactorial has provided tremendous support to Orange Chemicals over the years,engaging the whole team inquarterly audits and reviews which not only confirmed compliance, but always added value. In today’s final audit you did a fabulous job defending us against a vigorous and stubborn auditor.”