Certification top bill of health for DKSH

Claire Burgess

DKSH’s Business Unit Healthcare is the first ISO 13485 certified healthcare distributor in Vietnam. Claire Burgress, general director of DKSH Vietnam, talks with VIR’s Minh Thien about the certificate’s importance to the firm’s business in 2011.

What is the meaning of the ISO 13485 certificate to DKSH’s Business Unit Healthcare?

The services of Business Unit Healthcare are a vital part of the supply chain for our customers. We are dedicated to meet the highest levels of quality and safety to ensure the delivery of good quality products – now and in the future. For that reason, it was only logical for us to implement this standard in our distribution centre.

We are proud to be the first service provider in Vietnam to have achieved this certification. It is yet another milestone in enhancing our quality and service excellence in order to best cater to our business partners’ needs and attaining compliance at all levels.

With the certification of DKSH Vietnam, our company continues its successful certification programme across its Asian operations. The process was initiated two years ago in collaboration with the Société Générale de Surveillance which is an internationally renowned certifying body with global reach and excellent reputation. Today, four distribution centres have achieved ISO 13485 certification and another four are in the preparation process.

It is also important to note that the certification will further strengthen the company’s position as the leading market expansion services provider with a focus on Asia.

In summary, how will this certificate help DKSH to save time and costs?

In order to get this ISO accreditation, we needed to set up and apply standard procedures in all areas of our operation. We also have to ensure that these established procedures are adhered to consistently and continuously.  This means that we can avoid systematic errors and reduce the unexpected financial and time costs arising from their rectification.

Apart from two years of preparation, we also need to invest a significant amount of money to set up new infrastructure, procedures and to train the staff. But, we believe that this is a worthy and essential investment for us in Vietnam if we want to keep our position as the leading market expansion service provider in Vietnam and accelerate our growth in the future.

With this ISO 13485, we can expand our business in the medical devices industry by targeting more clients in diagnostics, dental care and optimal care. It gives us the assurance that we are in full compliance with the regulation as well as the manufacturers’ requirements on quality and safety of these products when distributing in Vietnam.

Moreover, it helps to enhance our operational excellence by enabling us to establish more appropriate key performance indicators for our various teams and offering us a good framework for training of our staff.

What was the most challenging thing DKSH faced when trying to get ISO 13485 certification and how did you resolve it?

To get this certificate, we needed to evaluate, invest in and implement specific systems and procedures to ensure our business was compliant with requirements of the medical devices industry as well as of ISO regulations.

To do this, we had to set up appropriate procedures, compare them with our current systems, adjust and adapt to suit new procedures and finally, train all relevant teams to implement accordingly. It’s really a long process and we need to coordinate smoothly and proactively between teams to get the best results. 

Effective change management is also key to our success as it helps to make sure that these new processes are well received and accepted by our people and they will be maintained in the long run.

How were your business results in 2010 and what are your expectations for 2011?

Our business results in 2010 were acceptable and we measure our success with a balanced scorecard approach. The measurements are not only financial but also from a customers’ service perspective where we scored highly and from an internal perspective we made significant progress with making our business processes more efficient.

The other key measurement in our balanced scorecard approach is implementing and measuring learning and growth which means training, training and more training and constantly introducing innovation in particular with information technology power tools.