Gabino Garcia Serrano y Cia, S.L. receives the AENOR ISO 9001 Certificate.

The Murcia Company, based in the town of Lorca, has been one of the pioneers in implementing an ISO 9001 quality system throughout the whole tanning process, a task which they have performed after defining a functional organisation chart for the Company, altering the production rates and the schemes for staff training. Furthermore, Gabino Garcia Serrano y Cia, S.L. has extended its R&D Laboratories, has purchased precision equipment, as well as the latest generation in tanning equipment. A complete refurbishment of the factory facilities, both as regards the materials and the mentality and working philosophy which have resulted in the acknowledgement of the Certificate for the ISO 9001 AENOR Company Register, the acknowledgement for the quality of its products which was already known to large manufacturers in the main footwear-producing areas in Spain.

Gabino Garcia Serrano y Cia, S.L. currently has 60 workers on its staff and its plant in Lorca covers some 6,000 m2, all used for working skins from cattle.

Development and implementation of the system.

The work carried out in the development and implementation of the system was made up by four clearly separate stages:

Transforming an informal working system without any written procedures into a well-documented work system, which involved producing the Quality System Manual. The second stage consisted of implementing the Quality System within the Company, which was a difficult task to achieve because it meant changing the way of thinking for most of the workers. The Quality Committee was set up in this stage, formed by the Company management and the foremen. Large investments were made during this stage both in human resources and materials. A staff training plan was set up, investments were made in laboratories for gauging the equipment, machinery, etc.., all aimed at adapting the Company to meet its clients' demands. The third stage meant applying for the audit and subsequent certification of the system from AENOR. The fourth stage is keeping the Quality System in force on a day-to-day basis, analysing the internal and external non-conformities that arise so as to reach Total Quality.

With the work done every day, the current directors of the firm, Gabino Garcia Serrano y Cia, S.L., Juan José Garcia Mínguez and Juan Rafael García Poveda, have put the Company into a position to meet all the requirements demanded by our clients, by improving the working, co-ordination and productivity of our Company. We are now on an equal footing to compete with Companies of the same size.