When starting a project, it’s quite easy to start doing things in no specific order even if you have a plan. The trouble comes later when you find steps were left out or mistakes were made. Afterwards you think it might be have been better if things were done differently so you design a process to reduce the effort and the mistakes. Coming up with an efficient process for any activity takes a lot of work, thought and experience. Standard Operating Procedures do just what it sounds like: they standardize procedures for daily operations so there is less room for error.
What’s often missing after all the hard work is preserving the knowledge and documenting the process that others can follow. That’s where Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) come into play. Each SOP is a single document that describes how to do something so it gets done consistently each time.
The SOP:
- Specifies the order of tasks.
- Identifies the person(s) responsible for carrying out that tasks
- Sets up a standard way of doing the task so others could step in have an understanding how a task needs to be completed.
- Ensures that all personnel are trained to adequately perform their assigned responsibilities.
- Ensures consistency when a process is performed.
By implementing standards through the use of SOPs:
- All products meet requirements for potency, purity, safety and performance.
- Quality increases.
- Customer satisfaction increases.
- Sales increase.
By investing time and resources into Standard Operating Procedures, you can avoid costly reactions later on such as recalls or FDA warning letters. You could write your own or purchase a full set from InstantGMP. Have questions? Contact us!