Quality policy

It is the express goal of Caloy and Gustav Heess to develop a cooperation-based enduring business relationship with our customers. This can only happen if our customers are satisfied with us, and customer satisfaction is linked directly to the quality of the goods and services we provide. This principle pre-dates modern quality assurance standards and has been the guiding principle behind our business practice from the beginning. There is far more to quality than simply meeting agreed upon specifications.

For us, quality means:

• providing customers with the most suitable product
• with the agreed upon properties
• on time
• at sensible market prices
• with the necessary documentation

as well as

• using our expertise to provide customers with technical information and details of how to use our products
• using our knowledge of the market to help customers make the best decisions regarding their purchases
• selecting our suppliers carefully so as to ensure reliable sourcing
• reacting to problems promptly and, when all efforts at resolution fail, ensuring that our customers
• needs are constantly in mind when processing claims.

Our Quality Assurance

In both Europe and the United States strict guidelines exist governing pharmaceutical materials and foodstuffs, but nobody is stricter than we are in the standards that we set, which are continuously reviewed in order to guarantee that the quality of our products remains consistently high.

Comprehensive quality management, checks at source, and careful testing of all incoming goods ensure the quality of our products. Gustav Heess has a dedicated in-house laboratory, fully equippedd with analytical equipment that is run by a state-certified food chemist.

Gustav Heess uses recognised analytical processes as the basis for all of its investigations, as defined in § 35 LMBG (German Food Law), in the European Pharmacopoeia, in DIN (German Industrial) Standards, by the DGF (German Fat Science Society), the DAC (Division of Analytical Chemistry),
the AOCS (American Oil Chemists' Society),... If the analytical method is not available at the in-house laboratory, we sub-contract work to accredited trade laboratories.

The Gustav Heess laboratory carries out inter-laboratory ring trials regularly. We are investing in fat analysis research and working with the University of Stuttgart and the DGF on various projects.

ISO 9000 Quality Management

Quality management, quality assurance, and a continuous improvement upon both form a central plank in our corporate management strategy thereby ensuring that the objectives set out in our quality policy, in all functions and at all levels, are translated into concrete rules governing the way in which we go about our business. Training and information help our employees adopt and maintain a responsible attitude towards the company and in the way they work. The quality department is always ready to provide our customers with advice and to provide support in connection with correct handling and use of our products.

Product specifications, Analytical Certificates and other documents give customers all the information they need regarding the quality of goods that we supply.

Quality management systems based on the ISO 9000 series of international standards have now become established throughout the world, even in the food industry. In Germany, approximately 1500 food manufacturers have been certified compliant with this standard. Since we work alongside companies in the food, cosmetics and pharmaceuticals industries, it was becoming increasingly important for us to organize our quality management system in such a way as to make it compatible with the systems used by our customers and, in so doing, to contribute to the quality of the end-product. For this reason, at an early stage, we sought to set up a quality management system and to get it certificated. Gustav Heess first achieved DIN EN ISO 9002 (1994) certification in 1994.

Gustav Heess also came out in favour of the new DIN EN ISO 9000 (2000) with the idea that this will ensure that our high quality standard is maintained in the future.

We carry out regular internal and external audits (QM, / ISO9000, and customer audits) to ensure that we are complying with our Quality Action Plan and that it is working successfully.