Palabora: Quality
Our Assurance of the finest vermiculite
Quality Assurance
The benchmark for vermiculite quality
Our objective is to remain the leading supplier of vermiculite to Europe and United States by defending our market share from competitive vermiculites and substitutions by ensuring that our quality systems and business processes are totally committed to maintaining an effective quality management system, the operation of which satisfies the requirements of ISO 9001:2015.
We are committed to delivering the highest standards of excellence to our customers through every aspect of our business.
Our streamlined approach ensures excellence across our operations. Key elements include resource management, quality administration, vermiculite services, and measurement and improvement. We allocate resources effectively, administer a robust quality system, handle vermiculite purchase and sales, and continuously measure and enhance our performance. With this approach, we deliver exceptional products and services that surpass customer expectations using various quality documents to aid this process.
At Palabora Europe, quality is not just a goal; it is a fundamental part of our company culture. We are committed to maintaining our position as a trusted provider of premium vermiculite, delivering unmatched quality and reliability to our customers worldwide.
If you would like to see our Quality Manual – please get in touch as we are happy to share it.
How we ensure quality
Quality is embedded into everything we do. At Palabora Europe we focus on producing and monitoring annual plans and quarterly forecasts, providing necessary resources, administering a Quality Management System, conducting regular management and quality meetings, fostering internal communications from top management, maintaining customer-focused market awareness and development, and providing infrastructure and training based on job descriptions and qualifications.
Quality assurance transfers across all aspect of our business. Within purchasing and supply management, the company adheres to Phalaborwa Mining Company’s forecast and sales planning sheet, communicates material specifications and safety data sheets to customers, authorises independent laboratory testing of vermiculite for adherence to specifications, manages 3rd party suppliers, ensures sale and delivery to customers, and provides technical support.
All our products are sent to Institute of Occupational Medicine (IOM) in Edinburgh for testing to ensure they fall within guidelines. As well as this, all our shipments of vermiculite are tested at various stages. From the mine they come with a Certificate of Analysis, of which a copy is given to our customers. Every shipment into Antwerp gets tested again on arrival. Each ‘batch’ is separately kept to ensure the testing on each batch is accurate.
To ensure continuous improvement, the company focuses on measuring customer satisfaction, conducting internal audits, analysing relevant data, controlling non-conformances, monitoring and measuring the effectiveness of the quality system, and implementing corrective and preventive actions.
Storage and delivery
Our vermiculite is carefully stored at each point in its journey in bonded warehouses to our strategic stock point in Antwerp before being distributed to our customers.
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