Quality Management System (QMS)

The main goal of this WP is to ensure the Quality management of a research lab, working in the area of Life Sciences. To this aim, we have designed a Quality system in a selected research lab in order to generate a TQM (Total Quality Management) model to be easily transferred to other research laboratories. Specifically, our pilot research laboratory works with marine animal models in the scientific area of drug discovery and embryonic development. From among various others (i.e., GLP, ISO17025, etc.), we chose to implement the ISO 9001:2008 Quality system. We had to pay careful attention to its design and application in the research laboratory, since QMS translation from the manufacturing and service sectors was not simple, and there was the need to not impose any constraints on the research work. The main objectives of this WP are:

• to define the Quality policy as specified by the ISO standard and in agreement with the heads of the laboratory;
• to define the Quality manual;
• to identify operational and support processes to be managed, stakeholders, recipients, and suppliers;
• to translate and fix these concepts for the selected lab.

We expected that this QMS model would be a new alternative for organizing labor, motivating the staff towards a continuous improvement of shared operations and enhancing communication between all management levels and personnel. The QMS model developed can be trasferred and applied to other research laboratories and would increase the prestige of the laboratory and the Public Research Institution itself.

The figure below describes the different phases of the WP, utilizing the Plan-Do-Check-Act (PDCA) Deming circle.

Last Revision 17 July 2014