Supported by the Ministry of Economy, the Luxembourg Quality and Excellence Award was celebrated on Friday 20 November 2015 with a gala at the Banque Internationale à Luxembourg.
The continuous effort of IBBL (Integrated BioBank of Luxembourg) to ensure the high quality of its samples and bioservices was rewarded when the biobank was chosen as the winner in the category for small companies.
The Luxembourg Quality and Excellence Award is presented annually by a member of government to recognise an organisation’s performance. The winners are evaluated based on a neutral process, led by trained auditors in a context devoid of any conflict of interest. The wining organisations are then selected based on their positive results and continuous improvement.
IBBL’s strategy to build its operations around a formal Quality Management System (QMS) has paid off in big ways. In 2014, Luxembourg’s biobank received two quality certificates: for ISO 9001 (general quality management) and for NF S96-900 (quality of biological resource centres). IBBL is also compliant with ISO 17025 (competence of testing and calibration laboratories) and is awaiting the results from its accreditation audit for this norm for the end of this year. Winning the Luxembourg Quality and Excellence Award has been the cherry on the cake. “We are beyond thrilled”, declares Dr Sabine Lehmann, Quality Manager at IBBL. “It is extremely satisfying to be recognised, not only for our QMS, but also for our efforts in terms of sustainability.”
Indeed, a large part of the evaluation process for the award focused on sustainability. The main purpose of IBBL’s QMS is to ensure its services, which include biobanking, sample processing, sample analysis and quality control, are of the highest quality, meeting customer satisfaction. But, it has also allowed the management to put in place mechanisms that foster both social and environmental sustainability. Indeed, IBBL aims to be energy efficient, protect the environment, establish a culture of knowledge sharing, engage the next generation of researchers, give back to society and promote diversity.
Reflecting on the impact that winning this award will have on the biobank, Dr Catherine Larue, CEO of IBBL, sums up: “It will reinforce the trust our clients have in us and increase our visibility to potential new clients and within Luxembourg in general“.
The Quality and Excellence Award is supported by the Ministry of Economy and sponsored by Les Caves Bernard-Massard, Post Luxembourg, Goodyear and the Chambre de Commerce.
Photo: Dr Sabine Lehmann, Quality Manager of IBBL (left), and Dr Catherine Larue, CEO of IBBL (right), accept the Luxembourg Quality and Excellence Award in the category for small entreprises. Copyright: © MLQE
