Blog

Implementation of a Quality Management System

A System of Quality Management is a series of related actions performed on a group of elements (resources, procedures, documents, organizational structure, and strategies) to achieve the quality of products or services that the organization in question offers to the client. That is, it is to plan, control, and improve those elements of an organization that influence customer satisfaction and achieve the results desired by the organization. Although the concept of the Quality Management System was born in the manufacturing industry, it can be applied in any other sectors: government, services ...
Read More

Food safety

Every time we enter a cafe and order a soda or take home a frozen dinner, we assume that it is a “safe” food, i.e., completely safe for our health. However, the rules on food safety and good hygiene practices in food processing are issues of great complexity. From an industry point of view, food control points mean: Safety setting standards for microbiological and toxicological risks, and implementation of procedures and practices to ensure compliance with those standards. Nutrition The maintenance of certain levels of nutrients in food ingredients and feed formulation with nutrit...
Read More

Business competitiveness

Competitiveness is defined as the ability to generate greater consumer satisfaction than others in a specific market, once settled on a price or the ability to offer a lower price. There is an urgency to compete with others selling similar goods or services. There is a certain satisfaction once a few factors are in place. Frequently the expression loss of competitiveness is used to describe a situation of rising of production costs, since higher costs will adversely affect the price or profit margin without providing improvements to product quality.   Factors affecting competitiveness....
Read More

Occupational diseases and the determination of their causes

Knowledge about occupational disease has been available for many years. These diseases affect workers differently, depending on the nature of the risk, the type of exposure, etc. Some of the best known occupational diseases are: Asbestosis: caused by asbestos, material commonly used in insulation, automobile brake linings, etc. Silicosis: caused by inhaling tiny bits of silica, and common in mining, sandblasting, and construction. Lead Poisoning: caused by lead-based paint and lead-contaminated dust. Common in older buildings and factories. Other sources: contaminated air, water, and soil...
Read More

Meaning of Quality, its complexity and scope. Part Two

Scope of quality category using different criteria (Evans J R, Lindsay W. 2001) Criteria based on trial A common idea about the quality that consumers often use is that it is synonymous with superiority or excellence. Excellence, however, is abstract and subjective, and standards of excellence can vary considerably from one individual to another. Therefore, a transcendent definition is of little practical value to managers. It does not provide a way by which to measure or judge the quality as the basis for decision making. Criteria based on the product This is a function of a measu...
Read More

Meaning of Quality, its complexity and scope. Part One

The meaning of quality is complex and has a long way to go before being included in economic and social life. Take as a starting point some of its definitions: According to J. M. Juran (1993). Quality is the set of features that meets the needs of customers, and quality is not to be deficient. Quality is the "suitability for the use satisfying the customer needs." P. Crosby (1996). It is the fulfillment of standards and precise requirements. E.W. Deming (1988). It is the predictable degree of uniformity and reliability at a low cost that meets market needs. Quality is nothing more than "a s...
Read More

Environmental Business Policy: Principles and Tools

Nowadays, customers, consumers, and investors are demanding more and more products and services that are friendly to the environment. Thus, it is almost essential for those who want success in the business world to adopt an internationally recognized environmental management standard. An EMS (Environmental Management System) is a tool by which a company controls products, activities, and processes that have - or could have - a negative impact on the environment and thus learn how to mitigate properly. One of the regulatory and legal areas involving business management is the Environmental Po...
Read More

Competitiveness and productivity in the PyMES

Productivity refers to the ability that a company has to produce items cheaper than its competitors, but it doesn’t necessarily mean more customers will buy their products. Competitiveness, meanwhile, is the ability that a company has to get a higher profile than its competitors and therefore, make itself popular with potential customers. This capability is achieved by an original product, the quality/price relationship, customer care, or marketing techniques. Competitiveness responds to a relative ranking of companies: i.e., a company is always competitive in relation to others. In investig...
Read More

Economic valuation of ecosystem goods and environmental services. Part two

The importance of the environmental services provided by ecosystems was evident in Costanza (1997). The estimations carried out indicate that the set of services analyzed for the entire planet was approaching an annual average value of 33 trillion US $ / year, considering that the estimation is skewed by the uncertainty of the methods used and by the absence in the analysis of some biomes and services. If we compare this figure with the GDP of the entire planet at the time (18 trillion US $ / year), we can get an idea of what the ecological systems means in the economy. In the US alone, Pim...
Read More

Economic valuation of ecosystem goods and environmental services. Part one

Why should we appreciate environmental services? What do they contribute to the ecosystems? Science and technology have allowed the human species to extend its influence to cover the global scale, allowing us to conduct global transformation of the operation and structure of ecological systems. It is estimated that between a third and half of the world has been transformed by human action. Among other indicators we see: That the concentration of carbon dioxide has increased by almost 30% since the beginning of the industrial revolution. That mankind sets more atmospheric nitrogen than...
Read More