Quality
Imerys Rio Capim Caulin S.A., a company that mines, beneficiates and sells kaolin, has the following as the principles for its businesses:
meet the customer’s requirements through the quality of its products and continuous improvement of its processes
comply with the legislation and other environmental requirements
prevent pollution, minimize the consumption of resources and control the generated residues
work in a partnership with the communities with an aim at the environmental conservation of the areas where it operates.
As it is focused on the continuous improvement of its processes, Imerys Rio Capim Caulim S.A. has a Quality System based upon the ISO Series 9000 Standards, demonstrating the concerns of the Company with the quality of its products and the satisfaction of its customers.
The Company’s Quality System is made up of various tools which help in the good performance of the Company's routines. Such tools include the following:
Quality Meetings: attended by people from all departments and whereby the issues are discussed down to an efficient solution. Improvement projects are also presented. It is a means of creating an open channel of communication throughout the organization.
Audits (Internal and External): whereby each department is verified and various opportunities for improvement are verified.
Continuous Improvement Groups: these groups are made up of specific collaborators from a certain area who get together to exchange ideas and make decisions on everyday problems with an aim at continuous improvement and cost reduction.
‘5S’ Program: a tool created in Japan and implemented at RCC in 2006. It aims at the continuous improvement of the workplaces regarding organization, order, cleanliness, health and discipline. It is the base for the success of the Quality System.
Benefits of the Quality System:
1. Higher level of internal organisation;
2. Greater administration control;
3. More customer satisfaction;
4. Greater employee motivation
5.
Increased productivity
6.
Reduced wastes
7.
Greater marketing effectiveness
8.
Cost reduction
9. Increased sales
10.
Increased exporting
All these mechanisms lead to the objective of the Quality System: ensure process standardisation, department organisation, definition of work routines, and employee awareness-raising so that all of these factors altogether can generate improvements continuously and, mainly, guarantee the satisfaction of our internal and external customers.
