As their companies progress to operate under a single quality framework with a common set of quality and compliance elements, these actions help to make sure the highest quality products on which their customers have relied for more than a century, continue to be available. Each Johnson & Johnson operating company is expected to make sure that:
Products meet safety and quality requirements and perform as required throughout their shelf life
All products and ingredients they purchase from suppliers meet their requirements
Changes to materials, product labeling, packaging, processes, systems, facilities, methods and equipment are reviewed and approved before they are made
Procedures are in place to prevent diversion of their products from their intended distribution channels and to protect them from counterfeiting (Johnson & Johnson, 2012).
Their companies work closely with health authorities, various standard setting bodies, and professional organizations worldwide to be sure their quality systems are up-to-date and are continuously improving. Many of their businesses and facilities have been certified to meet International Organization for Standardization (ISO) requirements for quality management. ISO certification means that a quality management system has been thoroughly reviewed by an outside audit committee and found to satisfy rigorous standards. All of their facilities that make medicines or medical devices meet current Good Manufacturing Practices (cGMP), as outlined by the FDA or one or more other national regulatory agencies. Training programs at the companies give employees the necessary tools to create and manage quality systems that ensure our products perform as intended and meet all regulatory requirements (Johnson & Johnson, 2012).
Their commitment to compliance extends to their external manufacturers who they rely on to produce ingredients as well as finished goods. The Johnson & Johnson Responsibility Standards for Suppliers helps them identify and select partners who operate...
External manufacturers must meet agreed upon quality requirements in order to provide goods and services that consistently meet required specifications and customers' needs, perform as intended and are safe for their intended use (Johnson & Johnson, 2012).
All companies have a bare minimum set of standards and quality that their product or service has to meet. Quality Control is a set of measures used and followed to make sure that the required minimum set of standards and quality are met. If the product or service is not meeting minimum necessities, a Quality Control committee must look to make changes in procedures that will help improve product or service quality. It must be remembered that meeting minimum standards in no way assures excellence in quality to the consumer. Some company's minimum required standards are really pretty poor quality in product or service. For some companies, they only do as little as required to make a product safe and that does not mean it is a good product in any way (Jacowski, 2010). In the example used about Johnson & Johnson, they have quality controls in place both internally and externally on how their products will be manufactured in order to make sure that no one using them gets sick. This does not mean that their products are of high quality it just means that they won't kill you if you use them, which is the bare minimum that they are required to do by law.
References
Jacowski, T. (2010). Is Quality Control Important for Your Business? Retrieved from http://ezinearticles.com/?Is-Quality-Control-Important-for-Your-
Business?&id=3538290
Johnson & Johnson. (2012). Retrieved from http://www.jnj.com/connect/
McNamara, C. (n.d.). Operations Management. Retrieved from http://managementhelp.org/operationsmanagement/index.htm
Stevenson, W.J. (2012). Operations management. (11th ed.) New York, NY: Irwin McGraw-
Hill.
