Quality Improvement Initiatives
The EPNextS Group is promoting the cultivation of a group-wide Quality Culture and the establishment of a Quality Management System (QMS). We are doing this through group-wide quality improvement initiatives that transcend the frameworks of individual companies and business units (clinical trials and post-marketing).
As a company engaged in the health industry, we are implementing integrated and strategic quality improvement initiatives by practicing quality management based on our values (For our Clients, For our Business, For our People), which serve as our decision-making criteria.
Diverse Quality Improvement Initiatives Promoted by the EPNextS Group
- Defining quality-related behaviors using our three values (e.g., quality policies and action guidelines*).
- Encouraging autonomous and independent quality activities and risk management within individual companies and business units (e.g., providing risk management support through a “Three Lines Model” and mutual oversight of QMS*).
*Note:The Action Guidelines and mutual oversight of QMS are detailed in the section "Initiatives to Promote the QMS."
Quality Management System Structure
Quality Policy
The EPNextS Group will achieve both customer satisfaction in quality and our quality standards by implementing our three values.
Our fundamental philosophy is that "We will contribute to the advancement of the health industry by providing high-value-added solutions to our clients." With this in mind, we consistently strive to deliver quality that meets our clients’ expectations and use our three values as a compass for all our decisions and actions. The practical application of these values is the very core of our quality policy.
Our Values
Initiatives to Cultivate Quality Culture
To provide high-value-added solutions, the EPNextS Group believes it is essential that our employees share "quality" as a personal value based on three values, and that each individual takes ownership as someone involved in healthcare quality. Accordingly, we are implementing initiatives to cultivate a Quality Culture.
Vision for the EPNextS Group's Quality Culture
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Mindset & Attitude
Being consistently mindful of our three values.
Proactively taking action and always putting the client first.
Acting with an understanding of the fundamental principles, not with blind obedience.
Continuously asking "why" and evolving in their daily work.
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Communication
Regularly discussing good quality as a topic throughout the organization.
Passing on past knowledge to relevant employees within the company.
Having a corporate culture that allows anyone to raise issues between departments.
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Employee Engagement
Having a sense of ownership and seeing themselves as contributors to the health industry.
Participating in independent improvement activities.
Working together as a team.
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Leadership
Daily communicating quality goals and our vision.
Proactively setting an example and modeling the desired behavior.
Building a vibrant, open, and dynamic organization.
Initiatives to Promote the QMS
The EPNextS Group monitors the effectiveness of each individual company's QMS. We manage quality to ensure that each individual company's services meet or exceed client needs. We also conduct activities to improve the effectiveness of individual processes and the QMS as a whole.
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Developing Action Guidelines
As part of the EPNextS group-wide quality improvement efforts, we position the application of our three values as the EPNextS group's quality policy. We have developed action guidelines that outline key quality principles. We aim to achieve "good quality"—one that meets client needs and expectations—by implementing these three values.
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Group-Wide Quality Management
The EPNextS Group’s Quality Assurance (QA), Quality Control (QC), and Quality Management (QM) staff from each company strive to enhance group-wide quality activities by exchanging information and opinions. To prevent oversights and errors in judgment, we promote group-wide quality management by utilizing both a vertical line of quality management within individual companies and business units and a horizontal line of quality management across all entities.
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Oversight by the EPNextS Quality Management Team
The EPNextS Quality Management Team takes the lead in sharing our quality values by conducting regular surveys and cross-company and cross-business monitoring (Oversight). This contributes to the promotion and strengthening of QMS within each group company and helps cultivate our Quality Culture.
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Developing QMS/ISMS Regulations (Maintenance and Management Functions)
By having EPNextS involved in the management and maintenance of ISO 9001 and ISO 27001 certifications, we support the QMS and Information Security Management System (ISMS) structures of individual companies. We also assist in building an integrated QMS and ISMS across companies and business units.