Quality as a Foundation for Excellence: Compliance, Third-Party Validation, and Their Role in Achieving Outstanding, Sustainable Performance

Written By Amy Brown

As well as celebrating World Quality Week this week, RPC is marking 25 years of ISO 9001 certification in 2025. At RPC, we believe that ISO and other standards are more than just a baseline – they’re a foundation for excellence. For us, our Quality Management System (QMS) is about building trust through rigorous processes and validated results. But a true commitment to quality leads to continuously improving how we work, how we collaborate and lead, and how we innovate. Which is to say, our commitment to quality leads to our ability to deliver excellence. So let’s talk about excellence and its relationship to quality.

 Why Certifications Matter and the Value of Third-Party Review

There are those who question the importance of certifications and accreditations in establishing a Quality Management System, but at the New Brunswick Research and Productivity Council (RPC), we believe that following national and international standards provides a foundational tool for establishing, in a methodical, third-party-validated way, proof that we can deliver high-standard services comparable to those offered by any similarly-accredited lab around the world. Standards provide proven frameworks for consistency, reliability, and accountability in research and testing. The standardization offered by these certifications, used in the right way, leads to improved risk management, more consistent practices, and fewer errors. In turn, these lead to greater customer satisfaction and operational efficiency. We place particular value on the independent, objective, third-party review of our Quality Management System as a tool to ensure our competitiveness and credibility.

At RPC, we provide laboratory-based and engineering services across Canada, including microbiology, organic and inorganic chemistry, biological testing, air quality testing, specialty analyses, and prototyping and efficiency projects. The RPC Quality Assurance team oversees six compliance programs across the organization, including conformity to three federal and three international standards. These standards include:

-    ISO 9001:2015 (Quality management systems — Requirements);

-    ISO 17025:2017 (General requirements for the competence of testing and calibration laboratories);

-    ISO 17020:2012 (Conformity assessment — Requirements for the operation of various types of bodies performing inspection)

-    CSA N299.3-16 (CSA Group quality assurance program requirements for the supply of items and services for nuclear power plants),

-    Canadian Welding Bureau W178.1 certification; and

-    the Natural Resources Canada National Non-Destructive Testing Certification Body (NRCan NDTCB) Authorized Examination Centres Certification.

 When you look at this list, it’s easy to “see” the stamp of quality across our operations. We operate in compliance with these national and international standards. They’re internally controlled, monitored, and in most cases internally audited. They’re externally vetted through routine external audit processes. Most require an organizational commitment to continuous improvement. All require evidence of competency, controlled documented procedures, risk management, and traceability. If you can achieve these and the other related steps for each standard, the result is certification or accreditation. These are meaningful objectives, some of which can be complicated to achieve and maintain, depending on the complexity of an organization’s processes and its size, history, etc. And having obtained them and maintained them is significant – and we shouldn’t minimize that in any way. Achieving these certifications and accreditations lets our clients know that we comply with standards that have been developed and refined over years by national and international experts. And it lets them know that we have a foundation of proven quality across our operations – not because we say so, but because a third party validates that it is so. And this foundation helps to ensure that products and services consistently meet client expectations.

Beyond Compliance: Striving for Excellence

But the question that organizations need to answer at some point in the evolution of their quality management is whether they stop there – doing the necessary compliance and continuous improvement steps – or whether they take the leap and strive for excellence. Because the terms “quality” and “excellence” are not necessarily interchangeable. As this article points out, they have distinct meanings and can create different implications for what is considered success in an organization’s quality management. While “quality” reflects an organization’s ability to meet or exceed standards, with a focus on consistency, reliability, adherence, and customer satisfaction, “excellence” reflects (and I love the definition used by Blenman (2024), so I’ll just re-state it here) “…an aspirational concept that transcends quality by seeking to achieve outstanding, sustainable performance that sets an organization apart. It requires an organization-wide commitment to continuous improvement, innovation, and leadership (Oakland, 2014)… excellence encompasses not only quality but also the holistic goals of superior performance, stakeholder satisfaction, and long-term impact.”

Examples of Excellence at RPC

Across all of our compliance programs and over our five business units, the structure we achieve through compliance better supports our ability to measure, reflect, and evolve. And we pride ourselves on continuously striving to do better – to strive for excellence. Examining the elements of a commitment to excellence as stated by Oakland:

-    an organization-wide commitment to continuous improvement

-    innovation, and

-    leadership,

we can begin by looking at continuous improvement, which is a cornerstone of many quality management systems. Continuous improvement is the systemic, incremental effort to change processes and products over time to ensure efficiency and customer satisfaction. Of course we track our continuous improvement efforts throughout the year and evaluate trends to assess where we can do better. There is a distinction to be drawn, though, between continuous improvement on the QMS-compliance level, and fostering an “excellence” environment that leads to the kind of adaptability that creates measurable value to an organization and its stakeholders. To see some of our examples of this facet of excellence at RPC, see our 2024 greener chemistry initiatives and our sustainable operations achievements in our latest Environment, Social, and Governance report here (EN) or here (FR). Through these initiatives, which are not mandated by our QMS, we are reducing our contribution to air, soil, and water pollution. In the same report, we explain our commitment to emergency/rapid response in situations that have the potential to impact the environment and/or health, as well as our community and government partnerships which help strengthen and diversify our project work. These represent the kind of excellence and adaptability that creates measurable added value to our stakeholders.

The second element of excellence, innovation, is a cornerstone of RPC’s fundamental mandate. The Research and Productivity Council Act (SNB 2017, c 3), states that one of our objectives is to “promote innovation through the use of science and technology for the purposes of improving quality of life and building economic viability and competitiveness”. We innovate processes and methods to assist industries and individuals to achieve their objectives. To date in 2025, RPC has developed four new ISO 17025-accredited methods, and another four optimized services for our clients’ benefit. In the last quarter alone, we have submitted research papers on chemistry and biological topics to three different publications, conducted projects having to do with genomic analysis in Atlantic fisheries as well as genomic characterization of disease in oysters, and have presented novel scientific approaches and ideas at multiple conferences. But we do more than that! We act as an innovation enabler. Another part of our mandate under the Research and Productivity Council Act is to “…to undertake, assist or promote scientific research… [and] to design, develop and test equipment, products or processes… [and] to improve scientific processes and methods.” We serve the business community at a speed that meets market demand with business-led applied research projects and analytical services, some of which would not be available in Atlantic Canada without us. We work with organizations on method development, prototyping, and new product design and testing. In doing so, we support the translation of inventions into innovations – taking ideas and making them better, more viable, and more successful.

The third prong of the “commitment to excellence” definition, per Oakland, is leadership. We actively mentor the next generation of scientists through a variety of educational programs and experiential learning, including all ages of students from elementary school through university. Not only do we donate equipment to schools, but we engage with a variety of graduate students to supervise research projects, and we support science honours work via supervising at least one student in UNB’s Chemistry 4000 program annually. We also volunteer our scientists and engineers as Canada-Wide Science Fair judges. Further, RPC connects with and informs the community we serve through outreach activities such as our 2024 published comprehensive study shedding light on the ongoing risks associated with illicit cannabis products, “Analysis of Illicit Cannabis Vape Cartridges and Other Products for Chemical Contaminants.” This study, funded by GNB’s Cannabis Education and Awareness Fund, revealed alarming levels of chemical contaminants in illicit cannabis vape cartridges, including a 93% positivity rate for pesticide contamination. This work provided vital information to help Canadians make informed decisions. And we also lead through the example of our good governance structure. RPC participates in federal and provincial licensing programs and safety/biosafety risk management practices, emphasizing our commitment to risk management and the protection of the health and safety of individuals and the environment. RPC’s Environmental Management Plan (EMP) builds on our existing governance framework and initiatives, detailing our plan for the management of potential environmental issues and identifying specific controls and programs we have in place to mitigate risk and minimize impact.

 

Conclusion

To re-state Blenman’s definition, “excellence” reflects “…an aspirational concept that transcends quality by seeking to achieve outstanding, sustainable performance that sets an organization apart. It requires an organization-wide commitment to continuous improvement, innovation, and leadership… excellence encompasses not only quality but also the holistic goals of superior performance, stakeholder satisfaction, and long-term impact.” This transcendence of quality into the realm of excellence is something that drives us on a daily basis. But quality – our third-party-validated ability to meet international and national standards – actively demonstrates our commitment to consistency, reliability, and customer satisfaction, and lays the groundwork for everything we do.

 

References

Amy Brown https://rpc.ca
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