“Committed to Excellence” Certification Enhances Customer Services
Looking to consistently improve products and processes, the leak detection team at INFICON in Cologne, Germany recently qualified for a “Committed to Excellence” certification. Going beyond the normal “quality assurance” standards, it represents an ongoing quality control and product development improvement program and is implemented by leading European companies.

Sanctioned by the EFQM (European Foundation for Quality Management), a “Committed to Excellence” certification is the initial stage in the European Excellence program. We targeted three areas for improvement: quicker order confirmation response times; immediate access to INFICON experts on the phone; and uniform supplier audits for improved product quality.

Within the first year after implementation of the improvement programs, the results are promising. Order confirmation times have dropped to 0.5 days; access times on the phone were improved by 56%; and the number of INFICON suppliers was reduced to under 300 (from originally far over 1,000), and each is regularly evaluated.