Virospack, made in Barcelona and known worldwide as The Dropper Company for its extensive know-how and experience in packaging, is the specialist in cosmetic droppers and the international leader in the sector. Recognized as a top choice for quality brands and for its final packaging service, Virospack is fully committed to design and innovation, the environment, social responsibility, and brand differentiation through packaging. Above all, Virospack is strongly committed to the final quality of its packaging.

Controlling the entire production chain is possible thanks to Virospack’s in-house working methodology with rigorous quality controls applied to all day-to-day processes. Virospack performs quality control in its facilities to ensure the high quality of the final packaging. It’s no surprise that prestigious international brands who require very strict quality controls have trusted Virospack for many years.

Today we talk to Laura Polo, Quality Manager at Virospack.

Laura has a degree in Chemical Engineering and has headed up the Department for the past 6 years. She started in the Technical Department, where she spent 4 years gaining experience and knowledge on the development of each part and component of Virospack's catalogue, its manufacturing and decoration processes, and quality requirements.

With a team of 18 people that continues to grow, her responsibility not only includes quality control but also the testing laboratory, along with its qualified staff dedicated to quality assurance and management.

So Laura, tell us about your day-to-day work in the Quality Department?

To begin, it's important to stress that Quality is not just the physical verification of manufactured parts, as is so often thought, but in fact includes so much more.

The company's philosophy is based on the quality of our products and services to ensure full customer satisfaction. We are increasingly committed to the environment and sustainability.

The Quality Department is an essential part of Virospack's integrated management system. We know that Quality is multi-faceted, and includes both Quality Control with Quality Assurance and Management.

Quality Assurance manages the tools to ensure that quality control is effective. It is responsible for “ensuring quality”, planning the controls to be performed and their frequency, the methodologies to follow, and more.

Quality Management is the administrative side of quality. Its mission is to respond to customers, monitor incidents, and meet the KPIs that allow us to control and ensure that the required quality level is maintained at all times.

Quality Control + Laboratory is the most visible part of the department and is most closely related to production. It involves the direct verification of the product during the manufacturing process and before final shipment to the customer.

These three areas are the building blocks for maintaining the performance of the daily tasks focused on production control, monitoring, analysis, and more. We are constantly striving for customer satisfaction and the continuous improvement of our processes. Since more than 95% of production is exported around the world, our quality control department is fully familiar with the demands of the international cosmetics industry.

We follow the most stringent international standards and also carry out specific controls for each customer. We make sure that the brand always receives the relevant technical specifications and the analysis certificates that confirm compliance with them.

Why is quality control so important?

Quality is a metric applied fully throughout the company that ensures, guarantees and controls all of our processes, particularly during production. Having the proper criteria and processes ensure that we continue to supply the best droppers on the market.

At the end of the production phase, quality control systematically verifies the productions to be checked, before shipping, to ensure they meet the requirements agreed with the customer.

What happens in the Test Laboratory? 

In the Test Laboratory, we perform specific physical and chemical tests to ensure the full compatibility of cosmetic formulas with our droppers, the strength of the packaging, and correct functionality.

We offer a fully equipped tests laboratory for all our customers. This includes a service to test compatibility and functionality on the packaging and to determine the optimal components for each product and its decoration.

In terms of quality, how do you think Virospack stands out from other companies in the sector and from its competitors? What does it offer that others do not?

We are a company with more than 60 years' experience in the sector. This has allowed us to develop a very close relationship with some of our main customers and evolve with them at the same pace as the cosmetics sector.

This means we are also certain that we meet their most demanding requirements and expectations while maintaining a cooperative relationship with them. This is undoubtedly a mutually beneficial relationship that sets us apart from other companies.

Another one of our characteristics is the global mindset of the company focused on quality and control of the entire process that allows us to manufacture in-house. This helps us to detect any deviation very quickly and resolve it as soon as possible.

Virospack's senior management has always strived for quality as a basic prerequisite for our products, and this is conveyed to the whole team. This team philosophy is one of our strengths. When you truly believe in something, the results clearly show it!

How does your department work with clients?

Our client relations are largely focused on each company’s specific needs, which we strive to adapt and meet in every area. Every client needs something different and we are happy to meet each unique expectation.

Some seek a closer relationship and a more in-depth understanding of the process and the company. Others, however, work following business models more focused on quantitative indicators without focusing as much on the day-to-day and an in-depth knowledge of the supplier.

Since taking up this management position, how do you think quality control has changed in Virospack? Can you think of any specific techniques or improvements that you now offer that you did not have before?

The quality department has been dedicated to developing continuous change towards process automation, quality, and optimisation in order to become more agile and efficient in our day-to-day. All processes throughout the company are controlled by quality assurance and management.

We have improved our training processes for new hires, utilizing our know-how and more experienced staff in more efficient ways, developing and perfecting the use of tools, researching and embracing new technologies, and more.

For us, achieving constant growth without losing sight of our quality standard is a continuous challenge that we have been eager to meet. We are pleased to report that in the last 5 years, we have had an annual growth of more than 30%.

We know that the company continues to grow and invest in the latest generation technology, machinery, and the production line, but what about quality control? Are you planning to make any investment or introduce any novelty shortly?

Quality is increasingly focused on maintaining complete control during the production process to be able to guarantee quality right from the start. We are currently immersed in highly ambitious projects for artificial vision systems in different production processes. Having such a wide variety of processes (glass transformation, plastic injection, different types of decoration, assembly, and more) requires tools that are highly developed and adapted to our product and criteria.

This helps us to ensure an even more rigorous level of quality and to work on improving processes to achieve this level of quality. Being self-demanding is part of our philosophy.

What about documentation and standards?

All controls carried out both during production and in the final inspections are recorded electronically. This guarantees full traceability of batches and components used in each production. This means that any shipment can be accompanied by Quality Certificates that ensure product compliance according to the specifications.

Virospack has held the ISO 9001 certification for more than 20 years. This shows that the company has a solid quality management structure on which the factory's day-to-day is based. In recent years we have also added new certifications that enhance the company in general and ensure future progress, such as the ISO 14001 and EMAS.

How quickly can improvements through the introduction of quality control be identified?

Quality works closely with the Technical and R&D Department. This means that lessons learned in either of the two departments have an immediate effect on the other, so quality know-how impacts new designs and developments while the technical department's perspective has an impact on the day-to-day improvements of our production processes to improve quality.

Being a company where we manufacture every component of the end product that we sell ensures that we are able to provide a rapid response in case of any unforeseen event. It also means we always anticipate any possible impact that this may have on the next production process.

Are you interested in learning how you can work with Laura and the rest of the Quality Control team at Virospack for your dropper needs? Contact Virospack today.