Olga is the head of our quality & sustainability department. A relatively new department within our company, that quickly grew in size. It is about time we sat down with Olga and ask her all about her job!
 

I am from Guatamala and grew up there, my parents used to export foliage. At a certain point I moved to the Netherlands and started working for a company that imported the foliage my parents exported. There, I started working in logistics. At the time I didn’t speak Dutch, but I really wanted to get a job in which I could use my qualities and studies (I studied business & administration). So for me it was very important that I learned the Dutch language. I managed to do so and got promoted to a job in the purchasing department. For this job, I used to have a lot of contact with suppliers from South America. They found it was very easy to make contact with me, because like them, I spoke Spanish. I did this job until 2012, after that point I started working for Green Connect as a purchaser for the South-American area.
 

CERTIFICATION

For 5 years I’ve been a purchaser for Green Connect. During this time I was asked if I wanted to manage the ISO-certifications amongst others. I already had some experience in this field, so I took on this task with great joy. At the time Green-Connect wasn’t a very large company, so the amount of work was manageable. But we did notice that certifications started to get more and more important. Especially when Green Connect, Rosa Link and OZ-Import came together. The subjects quality, sustainability and corporate social responsibility were becoming so important for our line of work, that a special department was created and I was asked to lead that new department.
 

DEPARTMENT OF QUALITY AND SUSTAINABILITY

Since October 2017 the department of quality and sustainability became a fact. Our responsibilities are as follows:
 

– To advise our growers about the right certifications for them:
First of all, we monitor whether our growers are producing in a sustainable way. In consultation with the purchasing department, I advise our growers about the right type of certifications. Per country the type of certification can differ, so there are a lot of them. Obtaining a certification can be rather costly, so a good advice is very important.
 

An important reason as to why the certifications are getting more and more important is because several participants in the chain and non-governmental organizations have more requirements these days. They want to prevent that pesticides are used who threaten the life of bees and other insects, prevent child labor, and people being exploited. The certifications prove that the grower delivered a product that is safe for the environment, animals and humans. Products who are bred in a sustainable way, have more chance to being bought. So for growers it’s very important to get a certification. Furthermore, there is now a clear deadline within the industry. There are companies that have to get a certain certification before June 2019.
 

When we are visiting nurseries we inspect how things are done as well. Especially when I go: I make an assessment and pay attention to the work circumstances of the employees. I also ask the breeders to show me certain things. This way, we can guarantee to our customers that the rules are being lived up to. Soon I will be visiting some nurseries with several of our customers. These customers are going to ask certain requirements considering certifications. I will make sure that the agreements the clients and breeders make are being kept and that the clients stay within reason.
 

By 2020 we aim to have 90% of our products certified according to the standards of the FSI. The breeders have to be informed and guided to apply for and receive a FSI certification. This is not an easy task: organization-wide we have more than 600 suppliers!
 

– Permits:
Secondly, I make sure we get the right customs-permits. The faster our products are imported, the faster they get here and get sold. This is incredibly important for fresh products. I make sure our permits are always valid and that the law is not violated so we don’t get fines and take risks.
 

– Business procedures:
Thirdly, I think about how we can make our business procedures more efficient. Not only is this of big importance for my department, but also for the performance of the whole company. It is very interesting, fun and challenging to think about and shape these procedures.
 

– Quality control:
Quality control is one of the departments’ most important tasks. When the division was created at the end of 2017, we had a team of 5 quality controllers. In the course of a year this amount was almost doubled. This was very much needed, we just couldn’t check all of our products with 5 persons. All the flowers and foliage that enter our warehouses are quality-checked, and this happens at multiple occasions: when entering the warehouse, on the assembly line and when the flowers and foliage are being put in the cooling cell. It is our goal to check the quality right before the products leave the warehouse to go to the customers. My department has quality controllers that focus on the quality of the products 100% of the time.
 

With every delivery we quality check, we make a quality report, in these reports all the available data about the deliveries are collected. Multiple departments can use the reports we make. The sales department can use them to sell the right products, to the right customer, for the right price. The purchasing department is able to give feedback to the growers about how to grow and deliver better products, etc.
 

EXCHANGE OF KNOWLEDGE

The contact with the growers about the quality is going to be more important. We want to share our knowledge with each other in a better way. An example of this is that we have quality controllers visiting nurseries, so they can see what happens at the breeder. This way, quality problems can be identified at the source. Also: imagine that it is not possible to improve the quality of a product, our quality controller can tell us about the reasons why it is not possible. This is all very valuable information for us, and of course the breeder.
 

SHAPING THE FUTURE

In the future I would like to continue to grow in my work. Together with the management team I want to lift the company to a higher level. My department of quality and sustainability is very important, because we determine how the company works. The decisions we make are important for the future, I can’t do this just by myself, I need the support of the management team to make decisions about the future.

* ISO-Certification: Quality management norm
* FSI: is an initiative of different companies (one of which the Dutch Flower Group) to make floriculture more sustainable.